Yesterday we picked the first batch of sloes which feels really early. 1.3kg from just three branches that MrPP cut from the very top of the patch of blackthorn scrub at the top of the garden. 
   
And as an added bonus I have a great lump on the top of my head from where he lost control of the telescopic pruner and it swung back over his head and landed on mine. Ouch!!
   
Beyond sloe gin, is there any anything else you do with sloes? Just how much sugar wuld you need to add to make a bearable jelly?!

Idly looking at the GH from some distance away, I noticed that one of the canes appeared to be moving. Thought I was imagining it but went in to investigate. 
The cane was covered in winged ants that were crawling up from the compost which was teeming with lots of wingless ants. 
The roof of the GH was speckled with the winged ones.
I uprooted the worst affected plant, in its bottomless pot and carried it outside. The ants were crawling on my arms and dropping off the GH roof into my hair. It was like something out of a horror film.
Not sure where they are now but the nest was treated to some ant powder. Sorry Ants but you're not having any more of my plants if I can help it!

Hello from Kent, UK!
I'm pretty new to gardening, only having a garden for a year.
Last year, I went crazy and wanted to grow EVERYTHING and not much worked out, apart from some strawberries, peas and dwarf beans.
This year I've pulled it back, worked out what space I have (as I'm growing everything in containers) and now have alot more growing for me, including chillies, tomatoes and uchiki kuri squash!
For next year, I'm going to be even more organised! I've made sure to have the exact seeds for what I want to grow (in my first year I bought 60 different packets of seeds from Wilko's 10p seed sale!), mainly through swaps.
I also want to have more flowers, so have quite a collection of various seeds to try out.
I'm looking forward to getting some support and inspiration from this page!

new job - almost stressed right out, sorry for lack of posts...
anyhow...

friends pond has a weird algae (i guess) that floats on top the pond - rusty brown colour
He put a filtering system in to fix it but its made no odds

Ideas?

Just wanted to share what a stunning plant this is.  It has been tinged with purple stems and leaves from a small seedlings.

Now as I eagerly wait for the tomatoes to ripen, I gaze with adoration upon some super striking deeply coloured tomatoes

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I know the accepted norm is that if you can only grow one lot of spuds, grow earlies. But why? 

I am growing Elfe maincrop from Lidl and Charlotte earlies from B&M seed tatties. The Charlotte are rubbish this year (whether that's because of where I bought them from , I know not. Suffice to say I won't be buying seed tatties or onion sets from B&M any more.)

I digress, next year I will only grow maincrop spuds because even if you lift them early, at the same time you would lift earlies you get a decent tasty crop of new potatoes. The bonus is the longer you leave them the bigger the crop will be so you have the best of both worlds.

As an aside Jersey Royals are a maincrop  International Kidney, just lifted early. If left to mature JR's make huge maincrop potatoes.

 No so  called earlies for me next year just mains.

As some of you would have seen from previous threads this year was a bit of the test / see what happens on the plot with the first year of planting.
 
This brings me on to my strawberries, these are 2 years old and to date I’ve had little or no fruit. My assumption is this is because I’ve overcrowded the bed and cut little or no runners off, would this be correct?
 
Anyway I spent an hour this morning weeding and pruning and have circa 18 new plants for their new, better prepared bed next year?
 
Isn’t it wonderful how easy they are to propagate?

I was wondering what other thought about what happened to the in-laws the other day. The council came out to remove a hornets nest from a tree in their front garden and charged them £69 for the privilege. They were neither aware of the nest or had called them, apparently someone had called the council as the hornets were flying around on the footpath close by. 

Now if I was to call out the council to remove something from my property rats for example I wouldn’t be charged. So why are my in laws being charged for the removal of a wild animal that has chosen to nest in their garden, when they weren’t the one to request it. Seems more than a little off to me. What do you think?

Anyone any idea what could be causing this damage or how they would go about trying to find the culprit? The first year we had a good crop of nectarines but last year, most were damaged and rotted before ripening and the same looks likely to happen this year.

I've seen ants about in the polytunnel and on the tree also quite a few flies but no wasps. I do get some slug damage on other plants.

   

Mint Wine

In the recipe below, I used a blend of spearmint and regular peppermint. Use whatever mints you have! I can imagine the lovely twist that could happen if you used chocolate mint, or pineapple mint… warning - this was my first attempt so may need tweaking x

Ingredients 
4 litres of water
4 cups of fresh mint leaves (rinsed and removed from the stem)
Around a kilo of sugar, or more if you prefer
1 packet of yeast (a sweet wine or mead yeast is nice, but even baking yeast works in a pinch!)
handful of raisins, chopped, or yeast nutrient

Method
1. Boil most of the water in a large pot. While that is happening, sanitize your demijohn, funnel, strainer, and your airlock and bung.
2. Remove the pot from heat and get ready to add the mint leaves and raisins. Crumple the leaves to bruise them and release their essential oils as you add them to the pot. Cover the pot and let it sit for about 10-15 minutes.
3. Pour the sugar into the warm mint tea and stir to dissolve. leave to steep overnight.
4. Strain the mint tea into the demijohn and top it off with the rest of the filtered water to the neck. Add the bung and airlock to the jug. Toss the leaves in your compost bin.
5. When the demijohn is filed, sprinkle in the packet of yeast and give it a shake. Within a day or two, the jug should be bubbling happily. It should be happy to sit and bubble for a month or so.
6. When the bubbles stop and the liquid is clear, it is time to bottle!

Apparently this golden brew already tasted great at bottling time, and it only became more and more delicious as it aged throughout the year. The longer it ages, the more minty it becomes.