Elmigo - that greenhouse was definitely a good investment, All 4 cucumber plants looking healthy outdoors. Heavens only knows what I'll do with all the fruit if they start cropping copiously but didn,t expect them all to germinate ! My kohl rabi are doing nicely so for the first time I,m cropping so...

Can you spread out the earth on a tarpaulin or polythene sheet and let the birds forage all the bugs? . It,s still baby feeding time and I'm m sure there would be a ready market for them ! As to reusing your compost rather then wasting it I,ve mentioned this on the forum before but being new you wil...

I,ve never hear of springtails. Are they they same thing ad marestails which are sturdy green feathery fern like shoots EHIC groe singly? If so, yes, they can be a nightmare and very hard to eradicate so dig out the deep roots as thoroughky as you can and never give them A chance to get established....

But maybe they still sell the oldest seed first !!

Shallotman. Thats very sad and I'mm sure you'll miss it but I guess there comes a time when the weight of all kinds of pressure becomes too much. Is there a way you can have a small veg growing area in your garden so you can keep your hand in but be closer to home where you're obviously needed? If y...

Robo, don,t give up. Just give yourself some time and space. Monika, I always take whatever my tomqto plants decide to give me. In an unexpectedly good summer it,s surprising what extra you can get out od them and even if the last truss is tiny the fruit can still be useful for soups and casseroles.

Only just caught up with the May edition which mentions raised beds mostly filled with logs then covered with compost which is apparently called the Hugel method. (Page 14. http://Www.wildhomesteading.com/hugekultur-beds.) Have never come across it but recall the mountains of soil Pa Snip described ...

I have used loo rolls in the past with mixed results. I cram them all into a container to prevent them falling over and have a tendency to overwater my climbing bean seeds which has meant many of them have rotted rather than germinated, and in the container they tend to disintegrate. It also means t...

I know lupin seeds are poisonous to humans but are they edible for goldfinches? Can't find the relevant answer on internet which will guide how I dispose of my seed pods which have just finished flowering.

Sally, Thanks as always for your very helpful advice, especially that of mixing them with fresh seeds to enable them to be sown more thinly. Brilliant idea, especially for tiny seeds which are very hard to space out when sowing. It's not a mistake I'll make again. I think too long a period in lockdo...

But has anybody sown seeds from packets kept in these conditions and actually found any have germinated otherwise I might just as well throw all the packets away now. Perhaps I should just open a few packets and sow a few seeds in various cells and see if any germinate, marking everything up well. S...

Just realised that the lidded metal tin box in which I've been storing all my surplus free Kitchen Garden seed packets in recent months has been stored on a garage window ledge which gets full sunlight for a period of the day. When I picked up the box today to remove a seed packet the tin was really...

Witshbish. Glad your courgettes are now producing well despite your earlier anxieties. Your prolific sharing of surplus produce should put You in an advantageous reciprocal receiving position if we ever suffer a second spike of loo roll shortages! The one advantage of plenty of courgettes plants is ...

It is certainly proving a surreal year for us all. Personally I,m at a stage in my life when I can,t afford to lose several months of it in lockdown so can I have a refund please ??? Luckily for we amateur growers and poultry breeders life has still progressed with a degree of normality, which had a...

Not much advice I can offer you Westi. My only successful melon attempt was one very hot summer when I grew just one fruit the size of a grapefruit because although I had other tiny fruitlets forming, they withered and died when they were little bigger than the size of a raw broad bean. I'd be tempt...