Thanks Sue - I thought this may be the case, but wanted to check. A couple of years ago, someone optimistically gave me a book called 'The Half Hour Allotment',which has only ever been true in the dead of winter when I can't get onto the plot! Anyhow, one of the things they mention is to sow peas in...

Hello all,
Is it possible/practical to sow sugar snap peas now or in October to overwinter for next spring? If so, would I need to keep them in a greenhouse (I have an unheated one) then plant out?
Thanks,
Vivien

Hi ST, Yes, the bumph on ciflorette does say that they should give a second crop. We're predicted to have a little light rain over the next couple of weeks, but nothing much other than that, and no ground frosts. I think I'll leave them open to the elements just to see how they get on - if they stru...

Hi Elderflower, I would have thought just a bit of general fertilizer such as growmore would do the trick for you. I was only wondering about feeding mine tom food as they fruited prolifically earlier this year and are having a good go again - I don't want them to have no oomph left by the time we g...

My ciflorette strawberries are putting on a reasonable second flush of flower and fruit at the moment. I've started watering the plants as the soil is bone dry, but I wondered whether it's worth giving them a little feed of something like tomato food in case they exhaust themselves for next year. I'...

Thanks Giulia & Alan - I'll get sowing. Probably tomorrow, though, having had a good day's digging today!
Best wishes,
Vivien

Is it too late to sow seeds for these to go into a cold greenhouse/fleeced cloche over the winter? I'm on the south coast, but I note that, according to metcheck, we're going into autumn proper next week - boo hoo!
Thanks all,
Vivien

That sounds absolutely fab - I'm off to buy a chicken right now to make & freeze with a load of my green toms. Thanks, Granny.
Vivien

Hi Compo, Sorry for the late reply - been away for a while. I posted on the readers recipes some time ago with a recipe for swiss chard tart - it's worth doing once you have some larger leaves, and it's absolutely scrumptious. If the recipe isn't there, go to the waitrose website and look it up in t...

My toms are slowly succumbing to blight now, having sprayed with dithane through July. As they now have it, I can't be bothered to spray any more. Interestingly, though, I have two short rows of pink fir apple spuds growing right next to them (these were also sprayed, but no more so) and they are co...

Hi Giulia, Funnily enough, I've got a few of these stripey fellows on my allotment at the moment. I haven't got any ragwort, though, as they're munching their way through a poppy plant at the moment. they look like the caterpillar equivalent of tigers - grrr!! I haven't had the heart to pull the pla...

You could also try chicory & endive. Also fennell is good, especially if you can give it a bit fleece cover later on - i was still picking it at Christmas last year.
Vivien

Fantastic news - we wouldn't do well without them. I'm even fonder of the fuzzy little fellows since some carder bumbles took up residence on part of my lottie.
Vivien

I only planted a few pink fir apple spuds this year, but have got 2 rows of toms, mix of red alert, sungold & marmande. I have lost 1 plant so far, but all the others are fine, but I have been spraying with dithane. They got their second dose yesterday afternoon (1st was 2 weeks earlier) and it ...

Hi Elderflower, I moved my strawberries the other way - from growbags to the allotment. Fortunately, we don't suffer too much from theiving, but when I had the plants in growbags we got really bad infestations of vine weevil. I cleaned off the survivors & planted them in open ground and they did...