Agreed OH. The nettles that line the road to our allotment are well and truly on the way (only a few inches high, but a thick blanket all along the road). I welcome these, not only for Alan's recipes. By Spring, our conservatory is awash with greenfly and the nettles are a great source of ladybirds ...

So what do you find is the best source of warnings about frost? Having had my container spuds bitten by last Sunday's frost, I started looking at various forecasts. This week for Bristol on Thursday night: - BBC weather reckoned it would be mild (it seems so) - Metcheck reckoned it could get down to...

Thanks all of you - I have grown it around 5 years ago, but forgot the details. So by the sound of it, it will be in the ground for up to a year?

I need to consider if that's viable (small plot). Thanks again

I've got some Red Ursa seeds that say to sow in April/May.

I thought most Kale grew to be ready through the Autumn & winter months. Is this variety very slow growing, or is it ready to pick earlier?

I'm giving his system a go to try to beat the couch grass Hi Westi, I've used No Dig for a few years and the veg seems to grow fine. However even putting plastic down in the winter hasn't really stopped Couch Grass from growing. Digging hasn't really helped me get rid of this either (there's so muc...

I don't kow about live prey, but know that Kites perform a valuable function in clearing up carrion. I went to a feeding station in Wales last Spring and the owner apologised that there weren't many there because of the lambing. Apparntly the kites had been clearing up the afterbirth and consequentl...

I can't comment on compost being the source, but I find aphids infest many plants that I try to over-winter in our conservatory. Chillies suffer the worst, but many plants are affected. Options I tried that work include: Using natural predators. These are scarce in Jan/Feb and the companies that sup...

Well for anyone reading my last post and thinking "smart alec", you were right. All my pea seedlings in the mini greenhouse have rotted from the hard frosts we had in Feb. The shallots aren't showing any life yet, though I have yet to check whether they've gone the same way. So I've just r...

Yes, we had a fair sized one one bouncing around our drive on Tuesday.

And on Tuesday night, there was a frog hopping around in my drive.

He obviously thought Spring was here!

I don't know how widely available it is, but round our way I have used compost from "Violet Farm" for a few years. Believe it comes from the West Country. Unlike many of the other more well known brands, the composition doesn't seem to have changed, and it does the job. Better still, we ca...

Last week, it was freezing cold, frost & ice.

This week there are dandelions flowering in my garden??????

Just in case you thought use of Saffron was restricted to cooking, you might be interested in this:

Good luck Westi, I'd be interested to hear how you get on.

I'm also happy to share experiences of growing chickpeas. I've done this a couple of times and, especially after learning how wonderful roasted fresh green chickpeas are, might give it another go.

We're luckier than some of you folk farther North. Put my shallot sets into the allotment a couple of weeks ago and started my climbing peas off last week. These had germinated by the end of the week and are now in an unheated "upright" plastic greenhouse, whilst they develop some legs. I ...