We opened one of our large compost bins on the allotment today (approx 5' x 5') and started shovelling out the compost which has been "stewing" for about three years - beautiful black stuff with only a minimum of a few unrotted cabbage stalks or sunflower stems. Everything will be spread o...

Thank you,OH, I think in our case it was the Parish Council who asked for the rent rise because of the provision of water last autumn. It's strange, though, as we have had this allotment for more than 20 years without water for most of the time, our gardening has been adjusted to this and we hardly ...

Our full size plot is £12 per annum, up from £10 a couple of years ago. We have had a trough of water since last year but there are no other facilities, no vehicular access and difficult access on foot. The whole site just comprises 8 full size plots (some are divided), is run by the Parish Council ...

Do you know, Primrose, I got so fed up with fishing drunken fruit flies out of my wine every evening, that I now cover it up with a coaster between sips! But it's amazing how they always recover and fly off quite (or very?) happily.

Tigger , I did as commanded: it doesn't show his bum, of course, but he's not my type anyway, too wishy-washy. He looks as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth (probably appropriate in view of his profession). I prefer my men more rugged and bearded. Besides, he's barely older than my oldest grandson!

We have just had three days of almost unbroken sunshine and have worked really hard on the allotment. Two large beds are dug and one is sown with grazing rye and phacelia and then covered with netting to keep out the pheasants (the thrid still has the brassicas in it). Tonight we watched the sun go ...

Sorry, folks, for not knowing James Martin: we don't have a television and we don't frequent expensive restaurants - hence my ignorance. I WOULD have known Marco Pierre White, keep seeing him in the papers.

Who is James Martin??

To quote from "Which? Gardening": ... We sent three types of flower seeds (delphinium, sweet pea and mimulus) and three types of veg (lettuce, parsnip and spring onion) from each supplier to a seed testing lab. There was huge variation between the suppliers, with some packets containing hi...

We seem to have some space on the allotment to grow fruit and would love to plant two or three blackcurrant bushes. Two questions: Our allotment neighbour's blackcurrants are badly affected by 'bigbud'. How long will it take before our new plants would be infected? And is it worth growing them at al...

Thanks for your replies, Primrose and Kevin. I was raring to go this morning and head neither Armillatox nor Jeyes Fluid, so I sprayed the algae with Mr Muscle Kitchen cleaner, left it for a bit and then washed it off with a sponge and it worked like a dream!

We are members of Gardening Which where the results of the seed research are shown in much more detail. Makes interesting reading and might just influence my orders this year.

When I dig our allotment beds I sometimes come across "rafts" of a sort of moss with "flowers". I think it's pearlwort. Should I remove every bit (which might be difficult) or just dig it in?

I cleared out our greenhouse today and hope to wash it down over the weekend. Quite a few of the panes are covered by green algae which, I know, will shift with lots of elbow grease and some greenhouse disinfectant, but is there an easier way? Could I spray something on before to soften it?

Grey squirrels?