Dear Lizzie, my banana and ginger trifle is famous from here to next door. It also involves NO cooking and takes about 15 minutes to assemble. Ingredients. 1 Jamaican ginger cake. Bananas (quantity is variable according to size of bowl but get about 6) Candied Ginger. 1-2 Orange or 3-4 limes for jui...

Dear Alan, for us it is the I. aquifolium (common holly) that go first then the I. x altaclarensis (highclare holly)then the I. "J.C. Van Tol" (the only self fertile one - guaranteed berries and not too prickly). The birds DO seem to leave the varigated ones alone. Perhaps the varigation d...

Dear All,
gather your holly now and store it in a bucket away from mice and birds in a cool place and it will keep until Christmas. The pigeons are stripping the berries from the bushes where I work as we speak.
Regards Sally Wright.

Dear All, when planting Dahlias for potential permanant residence they should go in as deep as possible with at least 4" of soil over the top of the tubers. I always dig up a couple of each variety to do cuttings in the spring but the rest get left in. The plants are much better the second and ...

Dear Old herbaceous, the farmer across the road from my parents house used to rear his own chickens for Christmas and we always got one, the taste was superb although if we had guests we often had difficulty convincing them that a 14lb bird really was chicken!!! One winter a friend of my mothers rea...

Dear Mr PH, I used to work for a local authority as a gardener in my youth and we were pricking out lobelia. There was thousands to do and I was taking the boxes to the frames and writing out the labels. We started off with two varieties royal blue and blue basket. We ended up with three; RB, BB and...

Dear Chantal, I got a double glazing salesman the other day and I got him GOOOOOD!!!!! I told him I would love to have double glazing. I then asked for the name and address of the company. Then I told him I would call my landlord the very next day and were these windows suitable for a house within a...

Dear Granny, beetroot go quite soft when frozen so it is best to freeze whole ones as this means less cut ends from which the beets can lose moisture and go mushy. Regards Sally Wright. ps I grow cylindra and also carillion another cylindrical type which can be sown early as it does not bolt. I find...

Dear All, I had a cold frame made out of Aluminium with no glass and I covered it with some tough sheet plastic. All was well and it worked Ok but two days later it was a cold morning and the frame was full of condensation and therefore the plastic looked white and solid to next door's cat who saw m...

Dear Granny,
beetroot freezes well but does best when whole so baby beets are very suitable for this. Reason is they bleed a lot when thawed if cut up before freezing.
Regards Sally Wright.

Dear Gerry, boiling should not make the bark come off as long as you don't rub it in any way. They are not going in for hours only 10 minutes or so. Dunking the ends in creosote or cuprinol is a good idea in theory but as you are going to weave with them you will end up with the stuff all over your ...

Dear Gerry,
stack the withies in a large metal dustbin, build a bonfire, put the bin on top and fill with water and bring to the boil.
Regards Sally Wright.

Dear Bloaterfish, ideally lawns should not be cut for a couple of days after a frost and should have at least the same after cutting to prevent too much discolouration. Try to cut on the highest setting your mower has and if using a rollered mower cut the ends where you are turning after the you hav...

Dear Longpod,
try looking for chafer grub pictures. They usually inhabit grassland but will go for other things and places if they have to.
Regards Sally Wright.

Dear Barry, I usually rough dig the area then sling vast quantities of compost/manure on top. Then I cover with black porous sheeting and grow my squash crop through. I would expect some brambles to get past that lot but there is not many usually. Realistically any crop that can be planted through t...