Definitely Petrol if it's a business use. The Honda range seems to be the first choice for most serious professionals in domestic sized gardens. I would also suggest you consider a hover mower for sloping banks and under overhanging bushes - I use the Husqvarna GX560 on my allotment orchard.

I managed to watch most of the first three episodes - not impressed More style over substance - I guess they're more interested in who can grow the most colourful plot, have the most random planting etc. than actually what an allotment is - a place to grow what YOU want, and how you want it (and eat...

Hi Tansam, Most of the Blueberries came in 2 litre pots, so were about a foot or so, mostly purchased from ordinary garden centres and nurseries. They went into 37l pots initially, and then into the largest pots as the branches grew significantly wider than the pot. In the ground, they're now about ...

We've done something similar with enviromesh, rather than Builders netting, so we can use it over carrots etc. to stop the carrot fly. Currently they're covering four beds of Cabbage and Cauliflower, 3ft x 8ft, 18" high. Once the cabbages grow above that it's replaced with hoops made with 4m Wa...

Over the past three years we have grown blueberries in 60L to 100l pots of Ericaceous compost with fairly decent crops. However, we have suffered about 30% of the blueberry plants dying over winter, so we have now moved to a raised bed with ericaceous compost, so maybe next year we will have more su...

Got a lot of comments yesterday - buying a couple of water butts in a thunderstorm - most useful time to buy, I'd say. Just a little annoyed that all the different makes of similar size are such differing heights - so having to replan all the downpipes and order of butts so the water can flow downhi...

One of the big Seed/Plant suppliers was selling 'slips' to plant two or three years ago. We tried 20 slips, 10 each of two varieties, grown in an unheated greenhouse, in potato stacks. The 10 planted earliest died off fairly quickly, the latter 10 did grow, but the sweet potatoes when harvested were...

Glyphosate can be purchased more economically from farming suppliers (Countrywide or similar), or on eBay, in 5 litre cartons - one of these will last me two or three years use on two plots, at 20ml per litre. My other option is a Sheen Flame Gun - inherited from my late father in law almost thirty ...

Are they climbing the collars, or emulating the great escape in reverse, by tunneling under?

Paul

I have grown them quite successfully in standard potato growing bags (which personally I find too small for potatoes, other than first earlies). A mix of sand with a little compost will allow about six to eight good plants to grow - after all, you're looking for parsnips to eat, not super long exhib...

And of course, you could also use that commonly available fertiliser of which each application will release 11g nitrogen/urea, 1g phosphorus/super-phosphate and 2.5g potassium....

Especially plentiful after a night in the Pub, but possibly more diluted at the end of the night.

Paul

Hi Elen For the last four years, we've use a mix of fresh commercial compost, leaf mould, and home grown compost to grow potatoes in 75l and 100l pots, as well as half compost bins. Seems to be a good starter for early and second earlies - plus we then have several tubs of startup compost for this y...

The quick answer on fresh wood shavings is probably 'do not use yet'. When fresh wood particles are mixed into soil, they tie up nitrogen that would otherwise be available to plants. But when sawdust or wood chippings are used to mulch, or used to make compost with high-nitrogen materials, such as g...

I've used a couple of the low cost 'stick in the ground' type meters. They are very good at showing light levels. They are consistent in pH reading - everything is 6. And they can tell the difference between dry soil and a bucket of water. Usually. Bought a cheap chemical tester from the local garde...

Hi Geoff, It was Mrs Santa that found an article on use of Caliente Mustard with Clubroot - but as you say, looking at what you link to, it may be an error. Hopefully, the extra lime will minimise the impact - certainly, those roots I saw when rotavating in looked pretty normal. I'll check at the we...