sorry to hear you lost one of your ducks and her ducklings Have you managed to find out who is the culprit (pine marten / polecat does sound like a possibility) and are the other birds still safe after your intervention?

LL I thought it was Tagetes (African?? French?? Marigold) rather than Calendula (pot marigold) that was supposed to repel pests. French marigolds / Mexican marigolds / Tagetes are excellent at repelling insects due to the natural thiophenes (a bit like pyrithrin in chrysanthemums) which repel many ...

I was just catching up on a gardening forum when I read a post which made me wonder. A friend had to abandon his allotment plot this past couple of years until he had his hip replacement. Luckily he was able to reclaim his plot but it was covered in grass which he dug over - worried that wireworm (l...

This is it (called a Scoville Neverstick shallow casserole): My old frying pan may be retiring soon - this has to be the best pan I've ever bought. It does what it says: "Neverstick" - I've had some non-stick / Teflon coated pans over the years but this one has to beat them all. The main reason I g...

Have you tried to grow companion plants to try and repel them? It's a bit late now but I was impressed with how effective Pot Marigold was against the Asparagus beetle (I confess the Pot Marigold was established and self seeding in the asparagus bed for a couple of years before I started to see a dr...

Trev62 wrote: ↑ 28 Apr 2023, 20:25 What is the best site to get Heritage seeds from in the UK?

I've submitted a more detailed post on Heritage Seed Suppliers in the Vegetable & Fruit growing forum

What is the best site to get Heritage seeds from in the UK? I've copied your query from the shoppers bargains and special offers forum as it didn't seem an appropriate place. There's no one site that caters for everything so I'm loathe to recommend a "best" site - nearly all seed suppliers sell her...

DT Brown Seeds are offering free p&p this Bank holiday weekend (plus other bargains)
Other online seed suppliers may have similar offers so worth a look if you are still looking for seeds and plants.

Bank holidays in spring are usually a very busy time for gardeners, whether it be in the garden planting out or the warm change in the weather prompt them to go to garden centres to buy seeds or plug plants, trees or flowers. Now is the time to look for those bargains - whether they are trays of see...

I was totally unaware that goat meat was eaten, so I have learned something new. I was only aware of Caribbean cuisine where goat meat is eaten and I presumed also in Middle Eastern culture (I have a mental picture of sheep and goats in deserts) I did a quick google - seems Britain is one of the fe...

I was just browsing through the BBC News when I came across an article called Family £1 slow cooker meal plan How we costed our recipes We have stuck to a strict ingredient budget of £7 per person for the week, which averages out at just under £1 per portion. We’ve based most of our costs on the sma...

ouch. One of the reasons I never bothered taking up bee keeping is the prospect of being stung (plus, I don't think my neighbours would take kindly to bee hives so close)

Be interested to see how your the wok pan does slow cooking LL. The pork cooked perfectly and in just over 6 hours. I'm still ploughing my way through the pork and had several meals out of it )t' Last night I decided to use the pan to make a frittata (basically an all in one big omelette) with some...

I used my frying pan (which has a lid) a lot but I'm limited by its size. So I treated myself to a new one - a non-stick pan that almost resembles a wok (so it could be used for that) so it is deeper and allows more vegetables to be piled in and also comes with a lid. I was only looking at it only ...

I think the ongoing Avian flu is becoming endemic and the longer it hangs about, it also poses a health risk to people - there have already been cases of animals in the UK alone that have been infected or died. so the virus is capable of crossing to other species. No-one wants another global pandemi...