Manufacturers do not want labels which come off if they get wet, or even if they get a bit damp, and nor do shopkeepers. I've always found white spirit will remove gummed labels and leaves no residue with minimal rinsing. Whichever glue is used, a metal scourer and a bit of elbow grease will always ...

Suttons and Dobies are under the same roof. Suttons also sell Carters seeds as a retail brand in some discount stores (Poundstretcher etc.), although no longer in those beautiful packets that they used to be sold in, viz.:

Romanesco / Romanesque is more like summer broccoli than a cauliflower in how it's grown. Sow as soon as possible, direct where it is to grow, and thin to the strongest seedlings at a 30cm spacing. They enjoy full sun, plentiful moisture and a rich soil. Heads mature in early autumn. Those green cur...

I feed everything that requires feeding with Tomorite, including citrus, with good results. I'm not altogether convinced of the benefits of feeds specific to certain genera, especially a winter feed for citrus — I cannot see sense in feeding a plant when it is dormant. Citrus are robust growers and ...

Perhaps your peony is one of the intersectional types, such as Kopper Kettle . Characteristically, their growth is neither shrubby nor herbaceous, but something in between. Nevertheless, for your peony to have not made much progress in four years suggests that it's unhappy for reasons other than an ...

They will need careful labelling though. Here's a labelling tip: Use coloured labels (available from a garden centre near you. Probably.) Write the name of the variety on one of the labels, but not on the other labels of the same colour which you then insert in the pots of the other plants of the s...

I expect it is being marketed as plants because this variety has not yet been registered under the Plant Varieties and Seeds Act . A loophole in the legislation allows unregistered varieties to be sold as plants but not as seed. As far as it being of hybrid origin, it is likely to be so. Nevertheles...

Geoff wrote:I always ask "why raised beds?" Fashion or necessity?

I should also like to ask the same question. They make for a pleasant enough carpentry project, I suppose, but I'm not convinced of their benefit. From a cost / benefit point of view, measurably unnecessary.

I wondered whether to sow them a bit later if they are so dainty in case they are more susceptible to frost damage. Size of the seed / seedling has no bearing on hardiness. Field beans have smaller seeds than the varieties we grow for eating fresh. They are sown in autumn for overwintering. All bro...

They are normal onions grown in a special way: mçot The seed you have bought may be no different from most other standard onion varieties, but I guess there's only one way to find out. Me, I don't see they're much different from Welsh Onion / Japanese Bunching Onion (Allium fistulosum) which don't r...

The parentage of black raspberries is hard to determine. The variety I have grown, Waldo, had characteristics more like those of a blackberry, producing an extremely vigorous — rampaging, it's fair to say — vine which put on three to four metres growth each year. What is for sure is that they are no...

Can anybody tell me what kind of pea pods they might produce if grown to that level of maturity? I like to grow mangetout peas. They're obviously expensive if purchased in a garden centre seed packet. I was wondering whether the immature pods of mushy dried soup peas would produce a substitute &quo...

I watched this show for the first time on Friday. What a peculiar programme. I don't think I'll be watching the next series, if there is one. I was rather shocked by how poor the finalists were, made me glad that I missed the heats.

This seems to be a rather ill-founded bit of wisdom to me. By extension, we ought not plant raspberries next to raspberries, for fear of transferring diseases. There's some excellent information on the world wide internet about raspberry virus diseases. Here's a link to the RHS page, giving sound ev...

I didn't know that cavelo nero was a cabbage. There was an article by a cookery writer in a recent edition of The Times summarising what's on-trend with all the smart chefs these days. Always good for a giggle. Anyway, Cavalo Nero was one heading, under which all its great qualities were espoused (...