That is an interesting thought Colin, so I'm going to try it out - when the sun has thawed the frost this morning. I've got some sheets of both clear and black plastic so I'll leave them both on for a few days and then test the soil with my soil thermometer and report back. As you say, the black soi...

In March Kitchen Garden there is a question about whether it is too late to plant fruit trees and the reply is that it is getting a bit late for bare rooted, but containerised ones would be OK. I would be very careful whether they are containerised or container grown as some containerised ones are j...

There seem to have been more whitefly around in the past couple of years, even flying out of brassicas in the middle of winter, but I never have a problem with them in the greenhouse. I always grow a few Tagetes plants - French marigolds - in the greenhouse border and it keeps them away. This is usu...

I've only just seen this question. I also had my first crop of quinces last year and used them to make quince paste, or membrillo which is delicious with cheese. There are lots of recipes for it - just Google quinces, but be careful when boiling it up as it spits. I also slice some up with the apple...

That is a good idea Shallot man, at least you will get a nice row of lettuce if the parsnips don't grow. I suppose you can bank on not all the parsnip seeds germinating, so they wouldn't be too squashed together, and if they do all grow you will have lots of smaller parsnips which can't be bad. I ha...

I have cooked some of the runner beans that my son had just shoved into bags whole while we were on holiday. They hadn't stuck together, I snapped them into smaller pieces (to get them in the pan, and they definitely tasted much better than blanched ones.

I won't bother blanching any more.

Try kale Redbor - it tastes great, looks beautiful, and doesn't have much bother with pests.

You've got an excellent variety there - it is my favourite. It is very early, good flavoured and not mouth puckeringly acid. It came out top in the rhubarb taste testing at Harlow Carr a couple of years ago, and they hold the national collection of rhubarb. I also would plant it with just the top po...

Isn't the first frog exciting, I dashed into the house to tell everyone yesterday when I saw one in the sunshine at the edge of my pond. Re the lazy hens, I have a mix of hybrids and pure breeds and find that the Black Rocks and the Warrens keep laying most of the year with just a rest when they mou...

The info in Chantal and Rosies posting is what I also looked up, but I couldn't find any other information on whether the other parts of the bean apart from the bean seeds contained toxins. So I'm still looking for info on the pods. Has anyone else had any luck finding this?

Carrots really love broken down leaf mold, I always rake some in before sowing the seeds.

Only a certain proportion of the population has the smelly wee reaction to eating asparagus. I can confirm that after enjoying a meal of asparagus most of us have noted a certain "castrol GTX" whiff when next going to the loo - but what the heck! On a different note, what do you think is t...

I've just looked it up on Google and it says that all beans contain Lectins and even though French beans only have small amounts they should not be eaten raw. Red kidney beans and canneloni beans are the most dangerous and should be boiled well for a good 10 minutes to destroy the poison, and it say...

I hope your Sussex is feeling better. When I read it I thought about sinus trouble, but they usually sneeze a lot too.

Let us know how it gets on. I sometimes put a cotton wool pad with Eucalyptus oil on it in their hut when they get sneezy, it might help clear its sinuses if that is the problem.

The Agrofostry link is very useful thanks. I have two hazels in the hen run, one a Kentish cob and the other a filbert and have hard pruned one to encourage long poles and I've not been so severe with the other so that I get some nuts (if I can beat the squirrels). I discovered by accident that Corn...