for alll of those suggestions! pumpkins is also a great idea, something that can deal co-habiting with a bit of couch and bindweed when it becomes rampant!

a very grateful retropants!

thankyou chaps, the green manure sounds like a good start!

thanks johnboy! that'll save a lot of messing about!

we have several water tanks, and add chopped comfrey plants to one of these and leave to stew. it don't 'alf pong! this pooey comfrey water is used, diluted to feed toms, peppers, courgettes etc etc. at the end of the season, the gunk is cleared from the bottom of the tank and added to the compost h...

Hi Stu_n! I think the shreddings will be good for blueberries, as they love an acid soil full of that sort of thing. We have mixed a load into the soil where we have planted ours , then put a really deep mulch of the shreddings around the plant. Can't tell if it's a success yet, as the plant is so s...

Hello, my earlies are almost ready now, and I'd like to try and stop the area where they are from filling up with weeds, as growing the spuds there has really helped to keep them down (area previously gone to weeds due to lack of time!) Can you please suggest soemthing to follow the potaoes with, as...

Hi Trevor, I've had this problem too, in my early years as a veg grower (ooh get her!!) Unfortunately, mice are keen on sweetcorn seeds, so you may have lost some to the little blighters! To avoid this happening to me again, I sow in pots in my green house (individually, as they do not really like r...

interesting, but ieuuw!!

Hi Jennifer, I have just mentioned this in another topic (the asthma one) and I agree, all our trees have gone bonkers this year! I too, am hoping for a bumper crop!

retropants!

Hello Peter, I really sympathise with your wife, and agree with the GP. I have had the most chronic hayfever that I can remember from mid February and it continues. It has been at it's worst during April and May. To concurr with the Doc, me and my mum have noticed that all the fruit trees on the plo...

what a brilliant idea (d'oh!) I'd never thought of that. Presumably, these cuttings, when grown, will keep cropping until the winter in a heated greenhouse?? here's hoping!

Hi David, you should snap these flower stems off as close to the base as you can, and if any more appear , keep removing them. That way, you'll get lots more lovely stems to eat, as the plants energy will concentrate on them, rather than producing flowers and seeds. Hope this helps! retropants

wow, gotta get me one of those!!!

I'm hoping that it has washed all the tree pollen away too, as I am suffering from the worst hayfever EVER. I should buy shares in kleenex

Garden is lovely and shiny though!

ingenious, and very amusing!