Dear Johnboy, How lovely to have such a detailed update from you. You're clearly solving the UK's climate change programme almost single handed with your tree planting initiative and are to be congratulated on being part of such a worthwhile cause. I love the idea of leaving such a lasting legacy af...

Yes those square bottles with the bases chopped off make really good protective cloches. I just slip one over each stake when its cold and on the warm days they can just be slid up the stake just far enough & down again to rest between the stake and the plant. However it's a bother storing the 3...

Has anybody started sowing their outdoor tomato seeds yet?
Every year I still seem to have sowed them too early and end up having to protect them.
When is the earliest date to be safe?
Sowing on a wide indoor widow sill so warmer than a greenhouse.

I suspect it's sadly going to affect this year's fruit crop too . A lot of blossom will have been damaged.

Oh how frustrating to have waited through the dreary days of winter for my lovely white magnolia Stellata to bloom and then to have its glory trashed and wiped out by last night's frost. Somehow there is nothing more depressing to the eye than a mass of dying brown magnolia blossoms! I have obviousl...

Many Happy Returns Johnboy. May the sun shine for you and hope you have a pleasant day.

As usual Sally some very helpful thoughts and hints which I'll bear in mind when the grand "sort out" takes place. We usually have a fund raising "seed swap and plant sale" day for our village library so thw point about not putting surplus plants into pot sizes you will later nee...

:THANKS GEOFF ,!!!

That makes me feel much better. I can't match your display but my husband may begin to wish he'd kept quiet when I show him your ohoto and suggest he builds me a nice storage and display cabinet like yours !!! :

My husband was lightly grumbling the other day about the number of pots I have stored, admittedly not very tidily in my potting shed area . He,s probably right and I do need to have a sort out but at this time of year you always seem to need extras for surplus seedlings. I,m loathe to have a clear o...

too right OH althiugh these days it would probably have to be me standing on the sidelines directing operations which is an eminently frustrating position in which to find yourself as nobody does it quite like you would do yourself. Mr Primrose just dumps a plant in a hole and ci sidera jib done. . ...

We,ve just had a brief snow shower here. Bitter wind. What a difference a day makes! The petals of our lovely magnolia stellata are perishing in the chill as I type and I'm watching our two resident crows attacking a lamb bone from yesterday's joint which has been thrown onto the lawn. Definitely an...

The kalettes would have suited us fine but for the same reason as aminikaMonika we have to rule them out. I know there are various manufacturers of adjustable fleece covered protective frames iut there but sadly nobody yet seems to have come up wi a really cheap and flexible protective mechanism whi...

Well I hope everybody has got their garden fleece and thick coats and hats out ready for tomorrow. Looks like being a real icy blaster!

Most of the seedlings you buy from garden centres for example are in very shallow strips and probably need to be potted on or planted out fairly quickly to avoid nutrition starvation but they certainly start off small. It's often weather dependent of when seedlings get planted out so I'd go for what...

Like the bell! Do you ring that when you want somebody to bring you a cup of tea ??