Ahh, maybe I can try them as they are now. The largest are about ping pong ball sized. I'll have to make a small batch of a salsa so as not to waste too much stuff if they aren't nice ! I thought they would need to turn purple. The yellow varieties change shape and aroma quite a bit as they lose the...

I've grown the sort of tomatillos that are green, ripening to a pale creamy yellow quite a few times. They do well enough outside and make a lot of fruits - usually far too many ! This year for a change I have been trying the sort that ripen to purple. I treated them just the same, raised them in th...

Sorry if I'm being thick ... FBB ?

And what is this "good quality multi purpose compost" of which you speak ?

I remember some members on here were convinced nothing was as good as peat. While I have not used peat for years, the quality of peat free alternatives seems to be gradually getting worse. I imagine that with the impending ban on peat in composts for amateur use, the decent materials are getting to ...

Hello. Just dropping by for the first time in probably years. I don't know if it makes anyone feel better or worse, but IME all forums are on their last legs. One I inherited I've just drawn to a close, no point paying for hosting and a domain name for no posts. What's left are mostly general chat a...

I already grow: Carrots under mesh to avoid carrot root fly. Leeks under mesh to avoid allium leaf miner and leek moth. Brassica under mesh to avoid caterpillars, pidgeons, and a host of other things. Now I need to grow peas under mesh too. Perhaps I can buy a big polytunnel frame and put enough mes...

When applied in summer at least, you only need a couple of hours without rain for it to be effective. You of course want proper glyphpsate, eg Roundup 360, rather than the common or garden centre homeopathic dilutions. It works best in late summer or early autumn for perennial stuff, when it gets ta...

I don't really "get" country wines - they are really fermented granulated sugar flavoured with botanicals. Very few things have enough sugars of their own to be worth fermenting. I stick to honey and grapes.

I have tried it. Dug a hollow, put in some partly rotten pear tree, an ash trunk, some stumps etc. Covered with a layer of green waste, then soil. The results have been unexciting either way. I had my reservations; wood, especially hardwoods, takes a long time to decompose when completely burried. A...

What I don't understand is green shading netting. Seems like an error. Many plants are sensitive to green light and grow upwards in response - a competition mechanism. Some ornamental plants are grown under magenta filters - exactly the opposite - to encourage compact, stocky plants. Having said tha...

Cucumbers that have gone floppy on me have always had same sort of stem rot. They don't recover. I lost my first lot like that last year. I don't know if it was something in ths compost, or it was poorly draining, or I just planted them too deep. When I have the choice, I'd use a general purpose veg...

I should say I didn't intend that to advocate peat based composts - just that you might need to adjust your feeding regime. I've used New Horizons for many years, and as I've often said, the only thing consistent about it is that the bag size will be smaller than last years. Last years seemed quite ...

I read somewhere 3 tips for growing cucumbers. 1: never let their growth be stalled by not potting them on when needed. 2: remember, although they are in the same greenhouse, they are a squash, not a tomato ! Use feed with enough N, not tomato feed that is mostly K. 3: I forgot no 3 I would add my o...

I just found bread flour in Morrisons. Only in 16kg sacks though. Now I need to bake ~30 loaves. With one packet of yeast - I may have to breed my own !

If I recall correctly, some fit people have suffered quite badly from the virus; being fit is no guarantee of being safe. Personally think talk of an age related phased end to lockdown being "ageist" is ridiculous. It's like saying prostate cancer should be banned for being sexist ! Nature...