I keep myself up to time in planting and sowing by keeping an eye on what you're doing. Have you ever used root trainers for peas? I sow about 4- 6 in each trainer and plant them out as a block. Not had any trouble with mice yet.

This all reminds me of a journey we took with my 2 girls when they were very little - 4 or 5 - on an open topped London bus tour. Half way round there were grizzles of 'I need the toilet ' from these little girls. Eventually we could cajole them into waiting no longer and they did what they had to i...

Owls, gardenserf. You must be a lark. A rather belated happy new year to everyone. Alan - to add to your litany - 2009 will bring 14 strong healthy piglets in every litter, eventless lambing with a squad of strong lambs, good prices at the RBST show/sales, rain at the right time and sunshine enough ...

-3 here at 6 this morning and snowing quite hard. Our little roads weren't treated of course, but when I drove into Leicester to work I felt as if my home belonged to a different world. There was virtually no snow in Leicester. All the male members of this family - 3 - collided with local hedges, bu...

I've got 2 young cocks with 2 young hens that my daughter hatched at school - 2 buff orpingtons - 2 Pekin Bantams. They've always been kept separately from my main flock of about 20 which is ruled over by a Light Sussex Cockerel, basically because I didn't want cockerel fights and because I was hopi...

No - T&M regularly send theirs out very early. They're better at delivery than Marshalls though. Marshalls' carrier left my box of potatoes on a random doorstep in a local village because they couldn't find our house and there was a heavy frost and snow for several days before anyone found it. M...

Thanks Johnboy - I've always had a guilty conscience about the Marshmellow runners, which I've used and given away to friends because they are such a lovely strawberry.

Spread fresh (or any) manure out over plastic. Hoe off the weeds as they appear, which might be in mild winter weather or in spring. Use it for mulching. I cover my raised beds with whatever compost/manure I've got during the winter. It prevents weeds and the worms pull it down and in the spring it ...

Geoff said - I have been using Slaymor but I seem to get very few days when some isn't taken which makes me think I have spent £20 on rat food rather than rat poison. No you haven't. What happens is that they carry as much poison as they can down their burrows, and you see that it has all disappeare...

I followed the link and found it interesting. I now thik that my beans are borlotti but not the same sort. They are a climber and they go dark as they mature rather than lighter. The beans are purple and black splotches.

Those are the ones.

That's a lovely post - ex battery hens dust-bathing and giving you eggs in return. I think I'd better have severe words with my hens. They don't know how lucky they are - free range and only 2 eggs! Actually there could be more because I strongly suspect one is laying in the pig ark, but for obvious...

Thanks Alan. That brings back memories! It wasn't that one I remembered but the dog one. I think she left three or four times and I'm remembering back to a time before this even. It was before that format again. I used to find the interchanges absolutely rivoting!! If I remember, the late Allan used...

You're lucky to get 5, so don't complain what nestboxes they're in. We have 8 layers and 11 POL and get 2+ eggs at the moment!

I remember the take over by Mortons. Does anyone else remember the Roman Catholic sister who took offense at a remark about a dog and never submitted to a thread after but was actually very knowledgeable? Do you remember when the topics were all jumbled together and weren't divided into topics and f...