I've been looking for these and have been very jealous of others who have nipped over to France and bought sets back. Then I realised that several local greengrocers sell banana shallots and wondered if I could try planting them. By then (April), my own ordinary shallot sets had been in the ground f...

Has anyone had any joy with the nests you can buy to attract red mason bees to the garden. Hi Ken, yes I have had these nests up in my garden for the last 3 years. Each year, I have had more and more bees (completely full for the last 2 years). The ones below are sat above a window on the roof of m...

jopsy wrote:lion pooh was supposed to work-most wildlife parks sell it

Actually, the foxes don't cause me any problems. I'm glad to see a bit of wildlife about the place.

Mind you, stopping the local cats digging up my seedbeds might be worthing bringing the lion dung!

I'm not boasting, but I sowed mine a while back and have 6 plants around 3 inches high. I don't recall any special steps - they just "worked".

I'm not going to plant more than 4, so if anyone's near Bristol and wants to collect, you'd be welcome to have one or two.

After several years of faffing about with a claw, I've finally got round to buying a hoe. What a revalation! In 10 minutes I went round half of my plot, and removed all the weeds in the process. At last I may be able to keep up as the rest of the weeds creep up on me during Spring. All in all, my pl...

Hi there, I guess it depends on the variety etc, but I planted my 3 inch high broccoli seedlings outside a week ago (under a plastic cloche). The weather in Bristol has been ok and the seedlings are thriving. I took the plastic off at the weekend. Since they were bigger, this may not apply to your o...

I grew sweetcorn for the first time last year, so am definitely still learning. Though this doesn't answer your question on germination, I started mine in Roottrainers. They all did really well and were the thickness of big spring onions by the time I planted them out. We finished off with a good cr...

My wife and daughter bought me a copy of the Moonphase planting almanac thingy, from a new age shop in Glastonbury. I'm ashamed to say that I haven't really got round to trying it out. Like Chantal, I only get limited chances to get to the allotment, so have to strike when opportunity arises. Finall...

"JI compost seems to wash out, so I put the coir at the bottom and JI on top." Yes, several of you have pointed at the type of compost - I certainly use a "seed & seedlings John Innes type compost". I'll try something rougher/coarser in the lower sections. By the way, Johnbo...

I've used Roottrainers for a few years now. One thing I've always struggled with is transferring the plantlets from the modules to their planting site. There are three main issues: 1) Whilst they're growing, some of the compost washes out of the lower end of the tube (eg. when watering into the base...

Hi PT, Jerry's advice about where to put your pictures initially is spot on. I initially used to type in the [Img] tags, but when you're creating a message, there's a whole series of buttons above you which you can use. In addition to making your text bold etc, you can also use one of these buttons ...

Hi Colin, I have just read my previous posting and it reads somewhat sarcastic but I can assure you it was not meant to be. No worries - I respect your advice! You and others have reassured me that I've done as much as I can. My main concern was going to be that unless I cleared them all, they woul...

Instead of just dibbling them in the ground. Dig a trench a spit deep incorporate some compost or manure in the bottom. Hi Geoff - always intersting to read alternative suggestions. Can I ask a daft and obvious question - what advantages do you find this approach gives over straight dibbing? I can ...

The 'sides' of the flowers are a little more ruffled than the in the pictures of the artichoke. What does anyone else think? Hi Diva, yes looking at your picture, the leaves at the side of the flowerhead all turn outwards slightly. Generally most glove artichokes I've seen have these leaves curving...

The roots were generally between 4-8 inches deep (yes, there were a few of them).