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I always used a pressure cooker for meals when the kids lived at home. It became redundant when there was just OH and me but I used to love it. Also, having been used to cooking with/on an electric cooker and now we have a gas hob, I would not know how to gage a pressure cooker as I don’t like...

Yes it is. When we 're working in our veg plot we have to rescue worms before the chooks get them. Not always succesful.If you add Ile de France to your profile, people will be better able to tailor advice - climate and soil make a huge difference to what grows well.

Thanks regarding the dog violets as well, I have loads of them in the back garden. They seem to really love it there in the shady places and also edges of the lawn

Was eaten by East Enders here too after the war, so OH.

It survives around here is all I can say, dont have it myself but have seen it in gardens.

@Plantminded Who had thought that my garden was fox main road

Queen of the Night seems to be the consensus here. I've got a few red ones that keep coming back year after year but honestly couldn't tell you what variety they are anymore, the labels vanished ages ago. The red ones always seem the most stubborn about returning which suits me fine.

Well done all worth it in the end no time to rest its spring well occasionally

Good plan.

That plant looks like Euryops pectinatus. A common sub shrub that's used in a lot of public planting schemes.

23rd March 2026On the evening of the 23rd into the 24th, Cherry the hedgehog was out, trying to get rid of fleas! The hog was shaking so much, it lost its balance and fell over! Nearby, Bandit the cat has been spotted a few times, sitting by the Thorny olive tree, watching the nearby mouse...

Ha, love the detective work. Finding block paving under gravel under concrete is properly cursed layering. At least you know the previous owner was committed to never gardening. Pots are honestly the way to go for now, especially if you might rearrange things later. You can get a surprising...

I have used those horrible yellow sticky paper things too, plus 12 fly papers, plus two UV insect killer mosquito fly pest traps that I mentioned, a pop-up mosquito net for the bed, a ceiling fan, two dehumidifiers, a fruit fly trap sticky insect ball, two knockdown plug-in mosquito killer -...

The repellent balls not working is so on brand for squirrels. Ours used to sit on top of the ultrasonic deterrent eating hazelnuts. Only thing that ever actually kept them off anything for me was physical netting, everything else they just treat as a mild inconvenience.

Loads more here too this year, way more than the last couple of springs. Noticed them clustering around the rose buds already which is perfect timing honestly, the aphids were just starting to show up. The warm February probably helped them come through winter in better shape than usual.