Now we've got to get the knife out without anyone noticing.

My lawnmower insists on a closed season - it's called Winter.
John N

Hi all, My small Bramley tree has a huge crop this year (only two apples last year!) and has dropped quite a few small fruit into the grass. Was going to pick these up, but wondered if leaving them might act as a "decoy" for the creepie-crawlies that climb up and damage the good fruit. Any...

I'm planning to build some large, deepish "boxes" for growing radishes, spring onions, lettuce etc. and would like to use "tannelised" (ie rotproof) timber. I've used this before for plot surrounds with no problem, but in this project the crops will be much closer to the wood, in...

Do we have any names of bagged proucts that may be affected? I have just bought from my Allotment Association (but not yet used!) bags of J Arthur Bowers Farmyard Manure and also Micael Kings "Camelot" Horse manure. Are they safe, do we know?
John N

Hi all ( and especially JB and OH!) After some dismal germination and growing results this year I am worried that some parts of my kitchen garden soil are in decline. I do pH tests every now and again and they seem OK, but is there any other tests or analysis I can do (or get done) to check on this?...

Has anyone else this year been inundated with sparrows? After a scarcity in 07 we in the beautiful south now have thousands of the pesky critturs. I found 4 in the greenhouse this morning (thro' the slightly open vent!) and 3 inside a plastic cloche I had used to try and protect lettuce seedlings. M...

Thanks JB, I'll get my new Bosch strimmer to work but keep it to the minimum.
John N

Take your point about preserving them, but they are head high and obscure a lovey view across the fields from kitchen window!
John N

I've just sprayed a huge bed of nettles on a bit of waste land with Tumbleweed - didn't use Sod. Chlorate as I want the ground'cover' to continue growing. The bottle tells me they will take 4-6 weeks to die down. Now she-who-must-be-obeyed says she can't wait that long and wants me to cut the nettle...

My potato patch has a thick covering of small ground weeds which I was about to start laboriously digging up ... when ??!! If the thick weeds keep the light from the ground/spuds, just as earthing does, would leaving them in situ save me having to earth up? Or am I just being ridiculously lazy?! Joh...

Geoff, Wouldn't do us much good rushing off to Zimbabwe for oil - we'd have to go through American immigration. Met a guy in my 'local' who runs a company in Zim. He gave me a Zim banknote - worth 50 million dollars! He said his weekly wage bill for four employees in his meat company is 50 BILLION d...

Hi all, Can anyone point me towards a supplier of a lightweight plastic "shelf" (round table?) that circles the 2" shaft of a garden parasol and clamps to the shaft(ie no legs). I'm sure I've seen parasols with them, but my local garden centre shakes its head and I can't find anything...

My elder son, now 45, treasures my old RAF Irvin flying jacket I gave him when he was 16, because he thought it was "cool". It originally came from a Battle of Britain pilot, and you can still see the faint outline of the Saint (Leslie Charteris character) he painted on the front.
John N

Thanks, John, I have both TP and Jewsons fairly local, so I'll try them. From your little tailender do I perceive you're a fisherman? So am I - all kinds, coarse, game and sea. I have a book coming out sometime soon, but very slow publisher, I fear it may be a postumous publication!
John N