Thanks both, I'll try the fleece.

Hi,
I brought some pepper seeds back from Italy last Easter (Corno di Toro Rosso) they've done well in the (unheated) glasshouse border and I have a dozen or so long peppers. But they're still green! If I pick them will they ripen, or just shrivel?
Russell
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Two thoughts. Firstly get yourself a safe working platform. Last year I invested in one of those multi-way ladders with platforms - regularly advertised in the weekend papers - and provided your land is reasonably level they do a good job. I try to keep my beech hedge at 6ft and working from the pla...

I'm seriously thinking about investing in a two-wheeled tractor. I have a patch of land to turn into a vegetable garden. Currently brambles, docks, nettles and grass tussocks. So - a powered scythe to cut down the top growth, a plough, and then a rotovator to bring it to a state fit for cultivation....

"Blagged courgettes" that's cheating Di! But I am pickling my own gherkins (love 'em or hate 'em) and of course shallots. I've spent this atrocious wet summer day pricking out the Cineraria (a flowering variety and C. Maritima - that silver leaf stuff) and some Coleus. If I can get them al...

Thanks for your long post John. I got some in last week, I'll see if I can bring them on for Christmas. I'll try some baby veg. & herbs as a back-up. After all I can always give any excess to my lady wife!

Thanks guys, an interesting selection of ideas. My other thought - having been to Hampton Court last week was mini-veg - seems to be very fashionable. I'll research your ideas and let you know how it went ... next year! Meanwhile John, I'd appreciate the tips from the good old Min. of Ag. - better t...

I like the herb idea Primrose, though I'm don't know what I could have ready in late December (I'll have to get the book out). Veggies, Beryl, possibly, but so far this year my allotment has been a disaster (apart from the strawberries) so I'm not sure what I'll have in the ground by then. No need t...

Look - its July already! I'm thinking of growing a Christmas present for the couple that let me use their glasshouse. But I'm more of a veg. man and know nothing about flowers. I have both the allotment and the glasshouse (unheated). Do any of you clever people have any suggestions for something tha...

I share a glasshouse with a friend & we both grow peppers. The leaves on his have started to turn nasty. 30% of the underneath of the leaf has a brown powdery coating, with occasional white pits (like craters on the moon) which show through as white patches on the upper leaf. I'd like to find ou...