Posts by: QUINOA

I have quite a few Aloe Vera plants. The ones I bought from the local farmers' market produced plantlets which I repotted by the time they were a year old (and still quite small) - however the one I got from Tenerife some years ago is about the size of a bucket but has never produced plantlets and neither has another one (which looks the same) which I got from a shop in Surrey. I used to have the large ones in soil but moved them to the red clay pelletted stuff. There is room in the pot for them to spread out, is this what I am doing wrong...should they be very snug? The root system on the big ones is very small- they are really top heavy. What should I feed them on?

Lily beetles - I stamp on them. As for the black blobs that they leave on the leaf I scrape these off and stamp on those too. Ugh.

I have some sedums (spectabile I think they are called). They have big rosettes of individual tiny red flowers on them. The one I planted in a container grew very well and flowered well (and the bees LOVE them) - but the flowers on the one in the ground didn't turn red...I think it was to do with the soil, probably TOO wet. It is clay soil and the patch that I planted it in is boggy for most part of the year, but bone dry in the summer. Try planting in containers, don't water too much, or put them in soil that is good at getting rid of surplus water.

As the first beans start to form you have to pinch out the top 3 inches to encourage side shoots and deter blackfly. I too am planting them for the first time and have just read the packet (which I saved this time!!) Good luck.

Hi, we've got 4 chickens (started with 6 but one died of Marek's disease despite being innoculated as day old chick and other got killed by someone's dog). When we first got them they DID eat slugs...including the big black ones...and sometimes their mouths would be all gummed up and I would have to wipe it off. However they only eat the really small grey ones now (they are 3 years old this month). Two have stopped laying as they have a problem (yolk sac comes out separate from albumen and mostly without shell). The other 2 (speckledy hens) are laying well. They are all characters and our pets. The speckledy hens are quite 'thick' and expect you to hand them the worms. We also have 5 cats (2x13 yr old and 3 x 1 yr old now). When we first got the chickens the kittens (as they were then) would stalk and pounce but the chickens always got the better of them. There is now mutual respect amongst them and they mingle very well. Our neighbours have rescued a load from a 'battery hen' place. We really spoil our chickens and we worked out that each egg must be worth at least £20!!! We are not big egg eaters so 2 eggs a day or every other day is fine. We love animals and they are just our pets. Enjoy your chickens and look after them!!

I have been watching The Big Dig and was fascinated by the lady who uses a Lundar Planting Calendar. As it is the middle of the year now I think it is a bit late to buy a new one for 2007 but does anyone know where I will be able to view one on the web?

I live in Mid-Wales and for the past couple of years frosts have suddenly arrived in May. I sowed lots of seeds - sweetcorn, runner/broad/french/mange-tout beans, leeks, artichoke, brussels, broccoli, calabrese, spinach, swede, pumpkin, melon, courgette, squash and they have grown well in the greenhouse, but I am wondering if they have grown too well, some of my sweetcorn plants are 12" high and the broccoli is starting to get flower heads on. Should I pinch back some shoots or take the risk and plant everything out? Is it too late to re-sow some seeds as backup for this lot just in case they fail?? It has been raining for a few days now and we are on clay soil.