For mange-tout, I like Carouby de Mausanne. Seem to yield well, nice flavour and crunch without string or parchment.

If space is what counts, "black forest" is a good choice. It needs to be encoraged to climb up a wigwam of canes (it will need tying in). I have grown it a few times, and will do this year. It has nice dark glossy green corgettes.

The other piece of information that I thought relative to this debate is that at present UK only produce 2% of the worlds CO2. But the UK population in only a tad under 1% of the world population, so we are using twice our fair share. So do you think you are better than the people who live in rural...

The authors' affiliations are given on the first page. ADAS is an independant consultancy Elm farm is an organic research organisation IGER is a BBSRC sponsored research institute - presuming they haven't managed to shut it down yet As far as I can see, English Nature, European Union and Soil Associ...

Organic farms use considerably more diesel than conventional farms so perhaps that should be taken into consideration. But you must take into account the huge energy in manufacture of agrochemicals. For weedkiller IPU, for example, this is about twice per hectare that of the diesel used for mechani...

Sorry to say it, but my experience of these is that they do not work.

Mine read acid in everything I tried - including a paste of garden lime and
water.

I'm not sure how these things stay on the market.

"Myself when young did eagerly frequent Doctor and Saint, and heard great argument About it and about: but evermore Came out by the same door where in I went." -Omar Khayyam Regarding the use or missuse of the term "Organic". The chemist's definition (a carbon compound) is overly...

http://www.itsnoteasybeinggreen.org How does the greenhouse heat sink work? Some details are in the book, but half the adventure is working out for yourself and thereby customising you solution. [snip] Interestingly, this revolutionary new idea was described almost identically in kitchen garden mag...

For me the findamental stumbling block of the whole Organic argument is that the plants can only absorb their nutrients as soluble ions. I just cannot believe that they can possibly differentiate betweeen an Organic ion and a non-organic, chemical, manmade ion of the same type. Allan Quite true, bu...

Another useful chilli site is http://www.g6csy.net/chile . It lists Kashmiri, but I still don't know where you'll find seed. This may seem stupidly obvious, but do remember that dried chillies bought for culinary purposes contain quite useable seed. I guess Chipotles won't be viable anymore, but I h...

Hmm. It is a shame about future foods, their Italian meadow rocket was great. I must be rather lucky with sweetcorn, if Allan is right - I've been using the same packet of "Indian Summer" for three years now, with no obvious drop in germination. I probably should treat myself to a new pack...

Commercial tomato growers also untie the tomato plants, and lay them down to that the stripped part of the stem runs horizontally, before the bit with leaves still on heads upwards. That way you can get many more trusses out of a plant without hitting the roof or needing a ladder to pick fruits. Nev...

A few related musings. There are a number of reasons a grower might prefer to use nutrient sources other than manure; importantly you can apply liquid or granular feed to a growing crop. Muck would make a right mess ! Even a showcase mixed organic farm isn't a closed system, or it would produce noth...

Please don't use "lifestyle" as a heading! We'll get idiots talking decking, patio heaters and garden lighting.

I just wish seed catalogues admitted to the faults of various varieties rather than making everything sound just marvelous.

I'm giving up on tomato San Marzano - too suceptible to blossom end rot.