Iain Tolhurst and his Stock Free Organic system also advocates not using mechanical cultivation. He has quite a large market garden and as a fellow organic market gardener I don't know how he does it. I cultivate 2 acres and originally tried to do it all by hand but quickly realised there simply are...

The service station is Tebay on the M6, it's fantastic, a real breath of fresh air.

I had the misfortune to have a set of rowdy neighbours in an otherwise peaceful estate in a lovely rural location. I used to dread sunny weekends as out would come the barbecue, the crates of beer and the hi fi. It wasn't just the music but the drunken shouting that I found very difficult to ignore....

unless of course you're a bit of a gourmet and want to deep fry a courgette flower - apparently the male ones are best for this.

The leaf hoppers may have spread the virus by not cleaning their teeth between infected and healthy plants. All sap suckers do this. Organic cleaners - I think Citrox is the one to go for, it is based on an orange peel extract which is a powerful cleaner. It isn't entirely non-toxic (obviously!) and...

You'd think an english variety would be able to cope with damp conditions wouldn't you? My Florence are appalling now it is raining, a complete write off.

Every year the young swallows take great delight in bouncing off the polytunnels and flying through the open ones at break neck speed. This drives the dog mad and she spends all day tearing around after these little dervishes. It is quite a sight but sadly only lasts a few days.

Johnboy's story reminds me of a lovely summer evening in my previous house, when I became aware of some rustling in the kitchen. I assumed it was a mouse so went to investigate and discovered the kitchen floor awash with tiny frogs hopping determinedly in through the back door and piling up against ...

I don't think it works in the same way a normal heap does, I had one years ago and it didn't seem to heat up much, and there was little insect life in it (I think all the tumbling gave them the hump). The stuff did break down pretty quickly but I think it is more a process of bashing it to pieces th...

Could someone settle an argument I'm having with myself? I am pathologiaclly afraid of being struck by lightning, which is a problem as my market garden has very little shelter apart from an old ash tree (scouts tell me not to go there) or my polytunnels. I am convinced the tunnels are not a good pl...

I think sometimes Bill is being a bit sarcastic with it! But he seems to be getting on better with whatsername this year - last year I thought there was going to be a punch up some nights! What annoys me about it is the sentimentality about dead baby birds and owlets scoffing their little brothers a...

I grew Passandra (all female) and Marketmore in the same tunnel last year and didn't notice any bitterness.

For anyone considering buying a new tunnel I would strongly recommend one with side vents. We inherited a 'normal' tunnel and it gets unbearably hot and we had all sorts of problems with fungal diseases later in the summer. We bought new ones with side vents and it's a lot easier to control the temp...

Collecting the eggs yesterday from my mixed flock of bovans and lohmanns I found something odd in one of the nestboxes. It looked like a piece of smoked tofu, but when broken open was meaty inside, with some watery stuff. It was about the size of an egg but not egg shaped. It smelt fairly neutral, w...

definitely my favourite - does an afternoon's sowing in half an hour! then my Jalo wheeled hoe for turning the backache of hoing into forearm ache!