I have heard that, to keep your water butt free of the midge larve that you should put a few fish in - has anyone heard of this or knows more I would be interested.

This is my first year planting.
I've sown sweetcorn seeds in the gorund but only 6 out of about 35 have come up - is it time to panic and plant more or buy (last resort) plants ?

I'll mark the middle of June on my calendar !

I'll cut the bottom off and lift the bin, after I have moved it into one of the raised beds so the compost / soil can be re-used.
It'll be fun trying !
When can I harvest - they were planted at the very begining of March - no frosts here since ?

Jerry,
I can add a watering tube to water from the middle and top of the bin !
If the ones at the bottom mature first, can I empty the bin from the bottom (not thought out the practicalities yet)?

Thinking ahead already - what can I plant after I dig up my early potatos (Foremost), I will start kicking myself if there is a bare patch and someone says "You could have put XXXX in there if you sowed the seeds six weeks ago !" This is my first year so still trying to second guess what w...

I've planted Formost in old swing top bins (3 in each), as the green is poking its heads through the compost I am adding more. My question is when do I stop and let them get on with it, do I keep going until I run out of bin depth then let them grow if so how much growth should I allow ? This is my ...

This may seem a silly question but I'm prepared to be ridiculed if I'm completely off the plot (no pun intended). On my recently aquired allotment the ground has a lot of clay in it, whilst digging over and burning off the bramble roots some of the clay clods went in the fire. Once cooled they come ...

My 10 year old son is mad keen on Horseraddish. He wants to grow some in his 8' x 4' bed on the allotment - he bought some from Wilkinson and carefully planted it but it has died - thankfully as I had no idea how invasive it is. Will now go and buy a new lot and plant it in a made up box with remova...

How about trying a "wick syphon" = a piece of string from a water reservoir at a higher level to your plants, magically (capilary action) the water goes from the pot to the plants ! Trial and error will be required to get the flow correct. Please report on your findings as I suspect we all...

So I have "Toxins" in my body - Oh no. I must go and drink some Domestos !

Only joking - I am still going to use the carpets on the paths between the beds, if the carpet is not to be used for this (ie recycling) it will end up on a landfill site = big compost heap.

I have read that hessian backed carpet is good for paths. Some of the change in thinking may be due to the fact that over the years nylon / plastic carpets have been replacing wool carpets, obviously the wool ones will rot down but the plastic ones won't. Besides if you use carpet for paths you can ...

Being fairly new to this gardening lark – but well and truly hooked already – some seed packets refer to “seed compost”. I’m guessing this is very fine ie not lumpy, is it worth making some “special” compost for next year, maybe using shredded paper, tea bags, chopped up carefully selected kitchen /...

Nope I'm in Molesey, the plots (7 or 8 of them) were cleared last October, slash and burn, then deep rotovated. The ground is very much clay ridden, the worst of which I have put on the pathways, digging over the plot there was broken glass, rubble and loads of the "wooden spider" roots, w...

I've just taken on a half plot on my local allotments which had been covered in 8' tall brambles for at least 20 years - could not resist it as it is at the end of my garden. I'm putting in raised beds now so that it will be easier to tend, using old carpet paths. I plan to grow most tings in the be...