I don't think there's anything wrong with compassion for an injured creature whatever it may be. Not everyone has it in them to summarily dispatch a mortally wounded animal. I was brought up to respect life but also to know when prolonging it is cruel, as I child in the country I learned the hard wa...

Baby broad beans and carrots with our chicken last night, first bunch of sweet peas in the hall filling the house with scent. Will have first of dwarf frenchies by end of week. No pain in shoulders from carrying watering cans!

Agree with you Westi, without experience it must be quite enough to put you off gardening forever! I've had some spectacular failures this year, but because I have 'backed up' and not lost heart I've managed to produce overwintered onions (many bolted), garlic (rusty, but better than feared), strawb...

I've got another one. Pulling up the rotting remains of drowned plants from a waterlogged bed in flaming June.

No Peter, they probably don't, just remembered where I'd read it -'In Your Garden with Percy Thrower' - first published 1959! (Though I do have a slightly later edition)

Vaguely remember reading somewhere about moth-balls keeping mice away from peas, presumably the smell of the camphor puts them off?

Don't give up hope re the allotment, if your lot are as hopeless as ours it could be that no-one is that bothered. I gave up half my plot last October yet despite a supposed 5 year waiting list it wasn't taken up until the end of May. If someone had taken it on as soon as it was available it would h...

There is a very large rabbit population in the area where I do most of my dog walking. It is mixed agricultural (normally maize), meadow, water meadow and mixed woodland. Perfect for bunnies. It seems that every other year or so there is a massive increase in population quickly followed by large inf...

I've decided to be optimistic despite several setbacks so far this year, never known stuff to grow so slowly. In fact, I'm so sure it will all turn out ok that I've just lifted my overwintered onions (slightly rusty) which were next to my garlic (very rusty) and planted my late leeks in the same bed...

Thanks both!

My 'seed bed' leeks look a lot healthier than my module sown ones this year. I just plonk them in to dibbed holes, no trimming, always up to now had good results. Not predicting anything for this year, it's just not normal!

Had a lovely big plateful of freshly picked spinach (perpetual) with grated cheddar and tomato ketchup (often enjoyed as a child) for lunch today. It was delicious but left my teeth feeling really rough, literally. Have never noticed this happening before, is it just me? Is it oxalic acid in spinach...

Daft question, sorry, but never grown them before, how do I know when they're ready to pick? Have one green Cayenne about 3 inches long but not very fat. Feels hollow-ish.

I love thinning, pruning,weeding (no, really!) hacking things back, digging things our but what I honestly don't enjoy is seed sowing. I am beginning to wonder why, with such an obviously destructive nature, I love gardening so much. I reckon it must be something to do with an instinctive urge to cr...

I must have a rare form of aquatic ant on my plot then! Digging up some horseradish yesterday from a really waterlogged area and there were millions of the little darlings. Still hurting.