Thanks, I guess you are right. Always win some, lose some. Will reserve for stir fries as you suggest. They were being decimated by caterpillars until I took the nets off on the basis that the pigeons are stuffing themselves on grain and lo and behold not one caterpillar to be seen, unseen predators...

Hi, I have grown Evesham Special sprouts this year in well manured ground. For the first time about half have grown thick, short stems with blown sprouts. I have watered them during the really hot, dry spell. Will they recover and grow on or do I just dig out and leave more room for those which are ...

Last year I had a real problem but so far this year not too bad. Interestingly Farmers round here have reduced the amount of rape they grow due to neonicotinoids ban which may or may not help with the problem. They seemed to have turned to linseed,
much prettier and less spraying required.
Hilary

I agree made it for years now, I actually use an old bucket with a tap on it and weigh down the leaves, stalks etc.
Absolutely no smell!
Hilary

Thanks Westi. I may try bringing them on indoors next year so that they aren't eaten in the early stages but then light is a challenge! Organic sprays worry me in that Derris Dust used to be thought organic and is now banned. Those yellow sticky traps were just hopeless to use or perhaps I am just i...

Has anyone else being having problems with flea beetle this year? My sprouts and sprouting broccoli are completely spoilt by the blighters. I have lifted all netting and trying to keep damp. Difficult in East Anglia where we seem to miss all the rain! Does anyone have any ideas. The sprouts I am hop...

Thank you. I have now shaded the pot. It is a large old cattle mineral lick tub! However I have since discovered on the advice of Simon from Doreset Blueberries that what I thought was a vigorous new blueberry shoot was in fact a rogue Willow establishing itself and taking all the water and nutrient...

Hi Geoff, I am not quite sure what exactly is the problem. They need to be sown early to mid summer, I.e now! plant out when you have about five leaves and firm in well. Stake as they grow and cover with netting to protect. Watch out for caterpillars! Mine have just gone out. They will overwinter an...

I am hoping someone can help with my ailing blueberry Chandler. The berries are small and the leaves fewer than expected and also small with a few turning brown. Next to a healthy one it looks very sparse and not well! I have watered well with rain water and given a feed of Maxicrop Seaweed with iro...

Hi Primrose,
Just had a warning for North Suffolk! I am hoping though it is a bit too early and last year had warnings but not a trace. Fortunately no allotments near here and potatotoes grown some distance away and as commercial will be sprayed lots of times!
Keeping fingers crossed.....
Hilary

No problem here on clay. It's just the watering for the first two years u til established. Don't forget blueberries in ericaceous compost in pots. I have a wonderful crop each year and they freeze well and are so expensive to buy, not forgetting they seem to have to travel halfway round the world! H...

Beware if making a veggie plot from a field! I have to sow all beans, etc in the greenhouse and then plant out on quite big and tougher. Voles and mice are a real menace..... Even chewing off at the stem!

Hilary

I was given a small plot of land to keep chickens on which was covered in mares tail. One day I noticed it had gone, I guess the chickens just kept pecking away at it until it gave up! Down side of keeping chickens in a large run, they soon adopt a bare earth policy!!

Hilary

Aah, the wormery I had never seemed to have many worms,never could u derstand why untilI discovered a very fat shrew in there!
Obviously the holes in my home built wormery were just too large so I abandoned the project. May have another go now though.

Hilary

Hello,
I knew they had to be edible by the way the rabbits dig down to get to the tubers I leave in the ground over the winter!!
However they usually survive the attack enough to grow on and put some shoots up.
Hilary