Soft when squeezed gently, and in my experience will smell more tomato-ey

I'm sowing winter wheat after my potatoes again;pigeons ate the last crop, but if I net it earlier, I should be able to get it this year

How about Swiss chard - that's always good.

If in doubt, make jam wine

Should be OK - give them a few days until the skins are papery and brown and they slip off easily.

Mine are almost fully out here in the balmy south - I have quite a few varieties. Completely agree about the butterflies - in August, they will be covered with butterflies, and if you touch the bush lightly with your hand, there will be a cloud of them up and about, to settle down again a few second...

Use them for blackcurrant gin; make wine with them; syrup for winter drinks (like Ribena, but better); dry them; freeze them; bottle them; sauce them for winter sponge puddings, or over ice cream.
Can't ahve too many, in my view! (I may eat my words.........)

They're also a lot easier to peel when the skins are dry.

Well, there should be. I 'm not sure there is a line to be drawn; allotments are for growing - very few would choose to grow flowers alone, so in my view, those that choose to should be left in peace to get on with how they choose to run their plots. The flowers themselves play many roles too. Made ...

Too late to tap any tree for sap now. Mid- late March is the time, but a movable feast according to weather, conditions, etc.
You can also tap maple and sycamore for wine making.
I've planted a sugar maple, hope I'm around long enough to make use of it!

I've eaten frogs legs (once) and cooked snails several times, but fond of neither, I must admit. I had a mistle thrush in the garden helping himself to the tayberries on more than one occasion - don;t grudge him them, it was nice tos ee him, just wish he'd eat one whole berry isntead of taking the e...

Very hot here, livestock lethargic and sleepy, butts going down........said to break tonight/tomorrow, though, with rain forecast. Coudl do without the thunder, though, thanks.

Thought I'd share this quick and easy one with you. Often there aren't enough berries all ripe at once enough to make a full batch of jam. I collected enough over three days to make two full jars and about 1/5th of a jar - 1 1/4lbs of mixed berries. I had golden raspberries, red ones, tayberries and...

I would say yes, probably, there's quite a lot about at the moment. Coudl you raise the cage up somehow - the supports or netting?

Will do.

Shoudl work OK if you limit the number of fruits when they get larger, or the whole thing may topple. I've grown gourds and courgettes up wigwammy things before, fairly successfully. If you're short of ground space, one idea I saw was to grow them coiled round and pegged down in spirals as they grow...