I think the maggots came in on the compost which was from last year - sciarid flies I think. As for the sandpit sand, I know they always say not to use anything but horitcultural sand but last year I sprinkled the sandpit sand on top of my germinating seeds instead of vermiculite and it didn't seem ...

An update - I ended up ditching all the seeds since they were being eaten by these little maggots. I think they'd been brought in old compost that had been opened since last year - a bit of a lesson in not using old compost for seed sowing.

Hi, I am a carrot sowing disaster area and need help! I've never managed to get a decent crop, due to slugs, so this year I've sowed in a rubber tug trug in the greenhouse. I mixed in quite a lot of sand (about a quarter of volume) to improve drainage and used sand from the kids sandpit. Almost a mo...

wow, thanks for that, it's really helpful to know. And training them as a standard doesn't sound too difficult at all. I was planning on growing them up a wall, but maybe I'll rethink. Thanks.

Hi, has anyone had success with growing grapes in containers? If so, does it have to be a really big pot? Would love to know. Thanks in advance, Alex

I've got loads of little black flies hopping around the surface of the compost on my germinating lettuce, pak choi and chilli seedlings. I think they must have come in on a tarragon I'm overwintering on the kitchen windowsill. I wasn't too bothered about them, but yesterday all my pak choi seedlings...

I find delfland's plug plants really good - organicplants.co.uk
They may not be cheaper than growing your own but when you've got a baby and a job, they're a life saver!

I too have got peach leaf curl on my outside Peregrine peach tree - too big to put plastic over. It's the second year I've had it. First year, I tried Bordeaux mixture twice, then picked off all the blistered leaves but all the little peachlets dropped off early. This year, it wasn't quite as bad an...

I've had some lovely broad beans this year,, but the higher pods aren't developing properly. They're limp and squishy and turning a blackish colour. I've ended up cutting down most of the plants after the first three or four pods have been harvested. There are some blackfly on the pods, but could th...

I got peach leaf curl on my fan-trained tree last year and really don't want it again. I know I should be covering the tree with plastic around now but the branches are poking up a couple of feet above the fence so don't know how I can attach it. Could I just drape the plastic over the tree or would...

thanks for the speedy response. I'll try covering them with a light-excluding pot when they're about 6 inches tall and see what the leaves taste like then. Either that or I need to develop a taste for bitter leaves. Do you just eat the unforced Treviso leaves in salads? Any special salad dressing?

I sowed some rossa di treviso for the first time this year in a pot, rather late in the season I think (september). They plants are now a couple of inches tall. I ate some of the thinnings and found them really bitter so would be keen to try forcing them. I've been looking in books but find all the ...

thanks everyone!

I pruned only half my Autumn Bliss canes back this February with the result that I got raspberries this year all the way from June to now. So far so good. I'd like to do the same this coming winter. Only thing is, how do I know what canes to cut back to the ground next February? Ie, how can I tell t...

Hi, I know that viola tricolor or Heartsease, is often used in salads, but does anyone know if you can use all violas in this way?