Hi OH,
Take care of yourself, otherwise we'll have to ship you off to that posh hospital in London where you can share a room with Prince Philip.

For nearly a week now we've had a female mallard in our garden. On the first occasion she arrived with a drake but he's now disappeared and she seems very content just to stay, potter and churn up the water in our mini pond disturbing the tadpoles. As I'm not familiar with the ways of wild ducks, is...

I await replies with bated breath because I've been equally unsuccessful. Even when I've bought seedlings from a garden centre I still end up with miserably little crowns or blown brown centres.

Can't help with tomatos as I grow them directly in the soil but I grow my peppers, aubergines and chillis in 8 inch diameter pots. I suspect this is the smallest practical size because they can grow quite tall in greenhouse conditions whereas mine are mostly grown on a sunny patio. (The few I grew i...

Thank you Johnboy. I've now sown a few seeds and will have to curb my impatience to see what they turn out like (if the slugs don't get there first).

Yesterday I bought a packet of Suttons "Marshall" red cos lettuce seeds, partly because of the bright red colour of the leaves depicted on the packet, & partly because for space reasons, I like to grow decorative vegetables amongst my flower borders. Can anybody tell me whether the lea...

I've sown two batches of Hungarian Wax chillis (from 2006 & 2007 seed packets). Neither batch has germinated. In desperation I'm now going to try and germinate some on damp tissue paper to try & make up for lost time & wonder whether anybody else has tried germinating chillis or peppers ...

I think this is going to be one of those threads like picking a meal in a restaurant - once you've made your choice you just want to have a little "taster" of everybody else's meal !

Gulia - sounds a pretty good test to me. I tend to watch for weeds beginning to shoot through the soil but everybody knows that weeds can thrive where nothing else seems to !

Welcome Ray. I think going international would make interesting reading but be rather frustrating to those of us who have to grow our fruit & veg in this rather difficult climate. Imagine reading constant reports of excellent yields of mangoes, avocados and other exotic vegetables from sunnier c...

Does this apply to all F1's because I didn't think most Winter Squash varieties were F1's but collecting their seed and growing from them produces some very strange results.

Which would you select, and why? Interruption - Wow - Red Arrows have just flown immediately over our roof in perfect formation after their Anniversary Fly Past - what a wonderful sight! I'd pick: Onions (Can't possibly cook anything decent without them) Swiss Chard - the only greens that don't seem...

I've always been very happy with Defender and have never experienced a the paler fruits complained of but I do find it grows rather large for the amount of space I have. I wonder if the paler fruits were a result of last year's lack of sunshine rather than any particular breeding/genetic problem? Ge...

Colin - enjoyed the photos on your website, particularly the mangel worzels. I don't think I've ever actually seen one or eaten one. I always thought they belonged to the swede family and were fed mainly to cattle, but perhaps a lot of people eat them too. What do they taste like? Like swedes?

I wonder if putting your pea or bean seed trays inside very large clear polythene bags and folding the top of the bag underneath the seed trays would prevent the mice getting at them. I know mice might nibble though the polythene but it might make access more difficult. (The little perishers even go...