Ideally you should run the beds north south as this gives your veg the maximum amount of light preventing shading this is not so much a problem in the summer but in the low light levels of winter shading can cause you problems with poor growth and sickly plants that are shaded. On my lotty for examp...

I dont see why the seeds would not have the same properties as the parent as long the parent is not an f1 hybrid.Try planting early and late types like i have so you get a longer harvesting period.I put in Rudolph(early) and Claret F1(late). I have just started taking the sideshoots from Rudolph and...

Hi Phil,there are three excellent books to help with you starting a new plot , Practical Allotment Gardening and The Allotment Handbook both by Caroline Foley and the RHS Fruit and Vegetable gardening by michael pollock. all three books are packed with everything you will need to get you going. One ...

Cold polytunnel .I think i was pushing it a bit as the following week we experienced a lot of nor/noreast wind so i had to be vigilant with the ventilation as the day temperature one day was 84degs with night temp dropping to 4 degs .This year the tunnel is being used as a big giant cloche with door...

Get it all in pile and give it soaking with the hose and cover it with polythene digging in the edges with a spade sounds like its relatively fresh and needs to be left for a while to rot down.

My toms went in my tunnel last year may 1st and was picking the first Sungolds on july 6th.These went in with no extra protection and no heating so you should be ok if in doubt drape some fleece over hoops.

I have grown both with the San Maz 2 from Seeds of Italy being the larger of the two with extra fruits on the trusses. Try Costoluto Fiorentino from Seeds of Italy they are a nice fleshy tom.

The net ones are useful for protection from bright sun if they the same type which are advertised in the catalogues.The fleece cloche offers a fair degree of protection from frost and is water permeable and breathes. Th plastic one is the real protector from frost but you may need to open the ends u...

Set aside a patch of ground for them to make their own. Try what i did , plant a couple of sunflowers one tall and one not so tall . Unbeknown to them they have the tall one. Make a competition of it they love it when they beat you at the end of the year. Make sure the flowers are the same colour th...

Does anybody out there know where i can get my mitts on some of spud bags used by spud nutter Andrew McQueen featured in Februaries issue of KG.

Been busy sorting out the beds down the lotty. They have grown that tall that ive had to pen them in to stop them collapsing finally getting to use the small stockpile of 6 meter planks of pallet wood i scrounged from work. Finally after 4 years my plot is starting to go no dig and mudless.

Maybe the late moult was caused by the indian summer we had last year.As for the laying they will clip off a bit whilst in the moult .Having moulted so late they will take longer to recover during the colder darker months. Hang in there they should start laying when the days are warmer and longer.I ...

10 degrees is enough at night time but try not to let it drop below that , enough heat to keep the frost of is the critical thing.There are tricks to help you as i have done in my greenhouse which is 8x6 and heated with a single chimney Parasene parrafin heater which takes a gallon every ten days or...

I too had good results last year with carrots in pots.I did two popts with Marshalls Primo and ended up giving one to my neighbour as they overlapped with my 2nd sowing of Early Nantes.Last autumns sowing of Amsterdam Forcing and Primo which have overwintered in my polytunnel are looking promising t...

Try Two Wests and Elliot or Harrod Horticultural.I was in the same position as you last year , both of the above firms are reliable and between the two of them its swings and rounabouts regarding prices as both offer uniquely different sizes of staging.Neither are cheap but quality and top service n...