I found that the idea of sowing in modules helped with gluts, esp salad stuff. I sowed maybe half a tray's-worth of lettuces (mixed) each week at home, and planted them at the allotment when they were bigger. Sometimes I forgot, but it worked quite well. Carrots I overdid and we're still plowing thr...

It's the sheer quantity required that defeats me - and I am making as much compost as I can (see the thread on compost scavenging). The only bed where it really worked for me last year was the potatoes - because we're using raised beds I decided to try out surface planting. Covered the potatoes with...

Ha! Very pleased with myself: today I passed some men doing some work on trees alongside the road and they had a shredder! Screeched to a halt and asked them if I could beg some chippings for my allotment paths - and they ended up filling up my spare garden bags for me! So: always carry empty garden...

Not necessarily. I planted mine on 15 October and saw the first signs of it above ground on 5 November - but since then it has done very little. I presume like everything else it is temperature dependent so the recent cold weather will mean it's not doing much. It should have made roots for you thou...

Thanks for the suggestions - I didn't know the hoover contents could go on, and all the other suggestions v. useful. But the most interesting thing is to hear that there is a composting forum! A whole forum! Wow.

Any good tips for stuff to scavenge for compost please? I'm becoming a bit of an obsessive... so far I have managed to get coffee grounds from Starbucks and rotten old straw from a farmer and loads of grass clippings from a playing field. But I could still do with more STUFF. The more I get, the hot...