I am hoping that the rain we've had, although not much around here, will have done the maincrop sopuds a lot of good, as they have come into flower at the same time as the rain. It is said that they need watering whenthey flower. My earlies have been almost a waste of time, as it has been so dry in ...

And the final 10 minutes of "The Wonder of Weeds,", which I've just been watching on BBC4 tonight. This is what GM should really be about: breeding varieties which can resist disease, drought, etc, NOT about making weed-killer resistant varieties and then blasting weedkiller all over the p...

I have had success with first earlies which I missed when harvesting. They than sprout foliage and I get Christmas new potatoes. Usually I plant leeks as I harvest the maincrop, but in 2009 they went in after the earlies and shared the bed with the "keepers".

For what it's worth, returning to the original issue, I mulch with compost from my dalek bins but that only covers a modicum of the plot. Elsewhere I rot down leaves and manure and use that. For the winter I cover it all with cardboard or newspaper [which I also use to "earth" up spuds som...

My next dose is on July 4, Independence Day. The nurses will infect the alien with their specially prepared virus and its DNA will disintegrate. Nice thought! [Actually I gather the predicted result is that the thing ends up in a coma, from which it may recover over an unspecified time, or not at al...

Well, 8 days in and I'm still trotting off to the plot and sticking in sweet potatoes, brassicas and so on. The elephant garlic is ready to be dug up too, so there's a gentle task for tomorrow. But I walk leisurely and work with much less vigour than usual. I am suposed to be at my lowest ebb mid-we...

Thanks for your concern and good wishes, everyone. Don't worry, I will be sensible with what I do and my governors are smashing in the way they are offering to deal with this and that. And the bottom line is that if I am overdoing it - or look like doing so - my wife will berate, castigate and slam ...

But why have they pronounced us a drought area NOW? I did so 2 months ago.

Thank you everyone. Clive, my wife headed up the Taxol breast cancer trials at the now defunct Middlesex Hospital in the 1990's, so I dare say some of your yew-clipping extract may have pssed through her hands. NB, I am going to consult with my homoeopath and oncologist as to your suggestions, thoug...

Lucky you, Ballydoolagh having such a wonderful expanse on your own doorstep. Just be careful not to make too much work for yourself all at once. If the whole thing does become too much work, you can leave some of the beds alone and just cover the area with lots of cardboard or newspaper. Weeds won'...

I'm always doing that, Bren. Even when sowing, if I am sowing half the tray with Broccoli and the other half with cabbage, I inadvertantly turn the tray round and then I can't remember which end was which.

I planted mine quite early in March and protected them with clear plastic. ERROR, ERROR!!! The frost in April burned the leaves through the plastic - I should have used fleece, but I didn't have any at the time. I dug my first lot yesterday - 2 weeks ago they were too small. We both love the rich ta...

Yesterday our friends came for tea and to look at the allotment. Drizzle drizzle drizzle. But for a gardener in bedford it is nothing more than the emanations of an ancient prostatically-challenged cat. 5 mm is all we had to show for it.

Hello folks, Well, sorry I've not been online much. Too much to do, and now it is online marking, so I'll have even less time. The last time I told you all about my health I was in remission from the prostate cancer. Well, it's been hiding and it is like a prisoner in a cell who has just woken up an...

I've told my gardening governor about the website, NB. Many thanks.
mike