Sheds ownership lessons ought to be compulsory, or at least come with a warning! Why are the emotions of shed ownership covered up. Is there a support group for those who feel in the grip of their sheds! Mine is a simple tale, but I offer it as a warning to the unwary. I had a simple hand me down 6'...

Seedling hi, I have a 10 by 4 foot bed and grow two rows of Asparagus. The minimum was 10 plants so I shoved them all in!! One row of Ginjilm and one row of Jersey Giant. Two problems, neither too worrying, one is that the soil has sunk over the years and needs a topping up. I tried my first batch o...

John, just to agree, my sprouts (and PSB) are staked against metal poles and tied with thick string. Canes and gardeners twine have all proved insufficient against the winter winds. Looking back, I now recall having an 'accident' with fish-blood-bone. Rather more than I intended landed among the Top...

Elderflower hi, I have grown two varieties this year, planted along side each other after sowing and potting on together. Seven Hills are tight and perfectly formed whereas the other ( I think they are Topline) are like loofah sponges! My soil by the way is not compacted, just hand pressed when plan...

For blight look for a pale/whitish sort of halo on the back off the infected leaf.

The old Dr H. expert series (vegetable) show several none blight diseases as well.

A query, how viable is the blight spore on soil with no 'host' potato to infect? I seem to recall that the idea of cutting down the haulms and leaving the spuds under soil was so that the spore became inaffective as well as allowing the skins to firm up on the spuds. The spore landing on the leaves ...

My toms developed blight spots on the leaves in the G.H. so I immediately cut off all the affected leaves, wiping my blade between plants with a sanitising wipe. The poor specimens were basically left as a series of leaf less cordons with some fruit clusters. My daily visits see me taking off any fr...

Thanks for the replies everyone. With 8 potatoes per row in my 10 ' bed, they end up 15" apart but only 24" between the rows. So almost commercial spacing! I am thwarted by the amount of soil available to earth up though, its a maximum of 6" I reckon. I am writing a note for myself to...

I know we are all just getting over loses to blight but while the thought is with me, (prone to senior moments) I wonder if there has been a thread covering increasing potato yeilds? I use raised beds on the lottie, each about 10' by 4'. For my maincrop I plant 2 rows of 8 potatoes per bed using a p...

I'm with you J.G. I popped down to the lottie this morning and harvested some french beans (1st crop) and a few other items. The sight of the lopped off potatoes was depressing as were the weeds everywhere. BUT I have just had sauted beans for lunch and it revived me considerably, I was almost tempt...

I had a partially dry day that coincided with my not being at work so was able to inspect my lottie - and I'm hit too!! I have had die back in previous years but this time it had the 'halo' on the back of the leaf just like the good Dr H. shows in his expert guide. I had sprayed with Bordeaux but th...

The last of my early peas had grown rather large, it was a toss up between eating them or playing marbles. I decided to eat them and prepared a variation on 'peas in the French style', the result was rather good both for taste, texture and colour. Saute some small shallots, try not to colour. Add a ...

Fish I reckon the way to get a draw for the smoke is to use a temporary fire at the other end of the tunnel from the main fire. (We had to do the same when using a parafin burner to heat a dustbin full of water for the M.O.D. mobile kitchens) Introduce a small fire in to the chimney and the hot air ...

My parsnips failed too!! I normally do OK with sowing direct and have not had a problem until this year. I resowed in early May and when they didnt show put it down to being one of those years. However about a couple of weeks ago up they popped, so did my carrots which had similarly failed. Fortunat...

Bigpepperplant hi, I planted 5 Glen Ample plants and 5 Tulameen plants last year and although I only had a total of 8 Tulameen canes from the 5 plants that made it to 5ft in a 10 ft row, I used poles and stretched wire between. This year they have gone daft! They extended and bent over the top wire ...