I like Roosters, too, but I am still convinced Elfe are in a class apart. I ran out of my own potatoes much earlier this year than last, so bought both Roosters and Elfes at Lidl. My money is with Elfe any day of the week. Astonishingly good spud, especially when baked. BTW, worth microwaving one fo...

Thanks Robo. Found it on ebay for £6.99 and have ordered one!

Is it OK to use a sharpening steel on secateurs? I have one of these in the kitchen drawer and need to sharpen my secateurs as cheaply as possible.

Are there any shops out there - Timpson's? - that offer secateur sharpening services?

These are now commercially available: from Tuckers mail order down in Devon.

I shall be growing them this coming season.

I've been offered some chicken and duck poo.

I know chicken manure is very good, but is it possible to use duck waste, too?

Thanks for all this feedback. There definitely seems to be a gap in the market here that manufacturers are not seeing! A small aerosol, rather than a concentrate, aimed specifically at sterilising secateurs doesn't seem to be available, yet logically is needed. If you are pruning lots of trees and b...

I have just been watching a rerun of the Victorian Kitchen Garden series and was fascinated to watch Harry Dodson tamping down soil prior to planting seeds. It is not clear exactly what he was about to plant, but I don't necessarily think it was brassicas. The tamping down was done by shuffling acro...

Our allotment allows the planting of dwarf fruit trees, which I always interpret as being either M9 or M27. Interestingly, one of our plot holders went to Brogdale and asked for a tree to grow in our heavy clay soil and was recommended to plant an MM106-based tree on the basis that an M9 or M27 woul...

I have just been watching lots of videos on YouTube etc regarding pruning fruit trees. I was fascinated to see that many experts sterilise their pruning equipment using a spray whenver they moved from one tree to another. However, I can't find out what that spray might be. Have you any idea? Does an...

Oh come on Diane, the Hestletines' garden wasn't THAT bad

I agree that vegetable gardening seems to be the poor relative when it comes to air time. This is bizarre, since vegetable seeds now outsell flower seeds, suggesting that we are gaining traction here! The current season of Gardeners' World was so elitist at times that I wondered why they bothered; B...

It makes no sense to me that both Gardeners' World and Beechgrove Garden have just finished their current series on the BBC. For me, now if the KEY time of year to prepare ground, move plants and plant barerooted trees. It is also when I change infrastructure, put in paths, gather leaves and horse p...

On our allotment, we had blight early and most people cut the tops off of their potatoes. My neighbour then came under sustained attack by weeds and sprayed the area where his potatoes were still underground with Roundup. What he wants to know is if it is still all right to dig up the potatoes and e...

I have been using quite a lot of sharp sand bought from Wickes to break up my heavy clay soil.

However, it has been suggested I should be using horticultural sand, since sharp sand may contain salt.

I have never thought about that before. Anybody know?

I am being quoted the following:

https://www.soilassociation.org/media/7 ... y1docx.pdf

https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/glyphosate-debate

Any thoughts on how I should respond?

My new plot holder is paranoid about not feeding her children "cancer causing agents".

Would I be right in thinking that the nearby A road is probably a bigger threat than the Roundup in this respect?