Misting the plants really did the trick I now give them a good misting daily with one of those 1 litre trigger bottles and they're romping away and looking much healthier! The purple veined variety(Moneymaker? see opening message) are doing better by far,having flower buds and being about twice the...

thanks chaps! I shall probably go for having an overflow on the waterbutt, possibly into another container somewhere else. A filter sounds like a good idea too Allan, thanks.

clary sage?

Hi Mike! I have had moderate success with auby's in the greenhouse, but they are in the ground, not pots. they only get watered twice or so a week, and left to their own devices for the rest of the time. I feed them with comfrey 'water' once a week, as soon as the flowers appear. I usually get betwe...

I am thinking of getting a rainwater diverter for my downpipe from the roof of my house, but I can't put the water butt next to the pipe. As I don't know how these things work, would it be OK to have the diverter, then a length of pipe from higher up on the downpipe, going across the top of the gate...

Hello Peter! I would stack the turf outside, but it has to covered or it will try and grow. You should(?) stack it grass-to-grass, soil-to-soil. I did this when I took up some grotty lawn, and I buried it under topsoil in my new raised planting area. About 6 months later when I started to plant ther...

Hello Chez,

I also had to bite the bullet a few years ago! I just got a cheap plastic 1.99 one from woolies (about the size of a very large saucepan) It works very well, I bung in the leaves in batches, it takes no time at all!!

pants

for alll of those suggestions! pumpkins is also a great idea, something that can deal co-habiting with a bit of couch and bindweed when it becomes rampant!

a very grateful retropants!

thankyou chaps, the green manure sounds like a good start!

thanks johnboy! that'll save a lot of messing about!

we have several water tanks, and add chopped comfrey plants to one of these and leave to stew. it don't 'alf pong! this pooey comfrey water is used, diluted to feed toms, peppers, courgettes etc etc. at the end of the season, the gunk is cleared from the bottom of the tank and added to the compost h...

Hi Stu_n! I think the shreddings will be good for blueberries, as they love an acid soil full of that sort of thing. We have mixed a load into the soil where we have planted ours , then put a really deep mulch of the shreddings around the plant. Can't tell if it's a success yet, as the plant is so s...

Hello, my earlies are almost ready now, and I'd like to try and stop the area where they are from filling up with weeds, as growing the spuds there has really helped to keep them down (area previously gone to weeds due to lack of time!) Can you please suggest soemthing to follow the potaoes with, as...

Hi Trevor, I've had this problem too, in my early years as a veg grower (ooh get her!!) Unfortunately, mice are keen on sweetcorn seeds, so you may have lost some to the little blighters! To avoid this happening to me again, I sow in pots in my green house (individually, as they do not really like r...

interesting, but ieuuw!!