I already grow: Carrots under mesh to avoid carrot root fly. Leeks under mesh to avoid allium leaf miner and leek moth. Brassica under mesh to avoid caterpillars, pidgeons, and a host of other things. Now I need to grow peas under mesh too. Perhaps I can buy a big polytunnel frame and put enough mes...

When applied in summer at least, you only need a couple of hours without rain for it to be effective. You of course want proper glyphpsate, eg Roundup 360, rather than the common or garden centre homeopathic dilutions. It works best in late summer or early autumn for perennial stuff, when it gets ta...

I don't really "get" country wines - they are really fermented granulated sugar flavoured with botanicals. Very few things have enough sugars of their own to be worth fermenting. I stick to honey and grapes.

I have tried it. Dug a hollow, put in some partly rotten pear tree, an ash trunk, some stumps etc. Covered with a layer of green waste, then soil. The results have been unexciting either way. I had my reservations; wood, especially hardwoods, takes a long time to decompose when completely burried. A...

What I don't understand is green shading netting. Seems like an error. Many plants are sensitive to green light and grow upwards in response - a competition mechanism. Some ornamental plants are grown under magenta filters - exactly the opposite - to encourage compact, stocky plants. Having said tha...

Cucumbers that have gone floppy on me have always had same sort of stem rot. They don't recover. I lost my first lot like that last year. I don't know if it was something in ths compost, or it was poorly draining, or I just planted them too deep. When I have the choice, I'd use a general purpose veg...

I should say I didn't intend that to advocate peat based composts - just that you might need to adjust your feeding regime. I've used New Horizons for many years, and as I've often said, the only thing consistent about it is that the bag size will be smaller than last years. Last years seemed quite ...

I read somewhere 3 tips for growing cucumbers. 1: never let their growth be stalled by not potting them on when needed. 2: remember, although they are in the same greenhouse, they are a squash, not a tomato ! Use feed with enough N, not tomato feed that is mostly K. 3: I forgot no 3 :oops: I would a...

I just found bread flour in Morrisons. Only in 16kg sacks though. Now I need to bake ~30 loaves. With one packet of yeast - I may have to breed my own !

If I recall correctly, some fit people have suffered quite badly from the virus; being fit is no guarantee of being safe. Personally think talk of an age related phased end to lockdown being "ageist" is ridiculous. It's like saying prostate cancer should be banned for being sexist ! Nature...

Not much help with runner beans I know, but the lack of aviation putting reflective water vapour into the upper atmosphere may account for an extra degree or so warmer by day and colder by night - extra caution needed this year.

A local- ish Frosts garden centre (Milton Keynes) are still delivering for orders over £60 up to 15 miles, for £5, so I got supplies of feeds and compost. Worth checking the individual store's website - they weren't set up for internet shopping, so it was more like give us your wish list and we'll s...

We do. But nothing is wasted, what won't shred for composting goes in the stove the following year. Our soil tends towards alkaline, so composted pine needles make a good mulch where the pH would be better a bit lower. In fact I also scrounge other trees from the neigbourhood for this too :oops: The...

How strange. A problem I've never had. But I do have to clear up frequently after neighbours cats s**ting amongst them, which might be linked.

What is all this fuss sowing broad beans under glass in pots ? Mine go straight in the ground, in November. Suitable varieties (Aquadulce, Sutton, de Monica, ...) will do fine provided the ground is free draining. What you want is good root system development over winter, not a lot of top growth whi...