Hi Penny - if your squash plants have room to 'roam' then they are more than happy to oblige. The only reason I grow upwards is lack of ground space. I think most squash actually prefer to stay on the ground - many can travel ten feet or more if not curbed.

Catherine - last year my squash were in 15" pots. I made a wigwam of bamboo canes and tied string round them at intervals. I then tied in the squash as they grew. As I said, I'm growing them in the ground this year and will tie them into cheap Pound shop trellises which my friend has fitted int...

I grew Butternut, Sugar Loaf Delicata and Sweet Dumpling squashes in pots last year,half manure and half compost. It was a bad year for squash here but I did get a few of each. I made a frame for them to be tied to as the plants grew and it worked very well. This year I have made trellis frames for ...

I had about 400g red chilies, mostly espanola and red padron, which had been accumulating in my fridge. Since I only had a few tired old tomatoes I added a can of chopped tomatoes and boiled the lot up till the chilies were soft. I then whizzed them in the blender and subsequently put them through a...

They need lots of water and a very richly manured soil.

If anybody would like my cherry brandy recipe using Lidl morrello cherries please ask.

I'm asking please . I just happen to have a large jar in my store cupboard that needs to be used up.

Sue, I love the idea of red pepper jelly with a zing - but why does the recipe call for so much sugar? Doesn't it make the jelly super sweet?

Tricia

Thanks Primrose. My fridge is too small and the shed right now is too warm, so the fruit will have to make do with a corner of my bedroom for the time being. I don't know if the apple or pear varieties are good storers - time will tell. I'm partially left-handed (probably rapped over the knuckles if...

I used a plastic bowl to keep some of my cooked damsons in the fridge overnight. - Also used another plastic bowl (different type of plastic) when measuring out the weight of de-stoned damsons for jam. Neither bowl stained at all.

How about storing apples? My first harvest of granny smiths yielded 24 beautiful large fruit. I have no idea how long they will store wrapped in newspaper in a box in a corner of the bedroom (coolest room in the house!), so would be glad of advice. I can't freeze them - freezers already full of bean...

Delia's Spiced Damson Chutney is lovely.

A tip for pricking the sloes, which is an arduous job normally.

Cut a cork in two and push some sewing pins through it. Fill a tray with sloes so that they each other and use the sloe pricker going from left to right in rows.

But let them mature on the vine first. They will then last you well into winter.

I'm having a very bad tomato year too. Particularly Brandywine, which I have in the GH and out on the south-facing patio, have hardly set any fruit at at all. The flowers go brown and fall off even though I am constantly shaking the plants to aid pollination. I'm trying new varieties (for me new) th...

You forgot the olive oil Mark! I know you say 'no fat', but it just ain't the same without the olive oil.

Ah - memories of the years I lived in Spain .