Does anyone know whether Cuttlefish bones have any beneficial use in the soil? There are so many lying around on the beaches I always want to collect them. Remember giving them to my budgie as a child for the minerals.

Thanks Nature's Babe for your reply. I will continue with the rooted shoots I have but will also keep a tuber to start off slips as described as an assurance that I end up with some viable plants. Growing them in the open ground has proved much better than containers, for me at least, the crop is mu...

I wondered if anyone knows if you can use the self rooting sections which appear along the vines of sweet potatoes to produce 'slips' for cropping the following year. I have just harvested mine and potted up a dozen or so of these shoots in the hope that I can use them next year. I have them in the ...

That's making me really impatient now! But I shall resist temptation for another 3 weeks. Tell me, did you feed yours much/at all? I read somewhere that they don't need too rich a soil but have given the container grown ones the odd liquid seaweed feed.

Well done you! Thanks for the information. I got mine from Garden Bargains.com! 12 Plants which all survived. I shall have a rummage around in one of the containers in the greenhouse at the end of the month as you suggest. Those in the ground outside I will leave. If we have a mild winter we may not...

They don't grow very tall but they do spread out. Hope there's someone out there who can advise how much longer I should wait to harvest them - I can't wait to see what's been produced. Hope I'm not completely underwhelmed

How long do I have to leave my sweet potatoes before harvesting? I have some in potato growing bags in the greenhouse and some growing in the open ground. Frosts here are usually rare (notwithstanding the last winter). They were bought mail order in May, grown on in pots and then planted out in June.

No but I do have other brassicas 3 rows away and on the other side some sweet potatoes. Didn't know fennel had veg 'bad' neighbours.

Thanks for all your replies. I will certainly not give up and will plant again next year. I have also sown another row direct about 2 weeks ago so will see how they do. I may have them planted too close together, my veg garden is not as big as it was when we lived in France and I try to cram too muc...

Can anyone help me? I have two rows of Florence Fennel growing well. One row I planted as module raised seedlings the other was sown direct. Both rows have developed many small bulbs instead of only one large one. I have kept them well watered but many of them are also run to seed. The first module ...