Ask Gerry

My cabbages are getting eaten and as i have seen earwigs at them assume they are the problem. i have put wet newspaper down in the evening to trap them without much sucess, any help would be great

I tend to get gardening type presents for birthdays, fathers day, etc etc which include plant nutrients such as fish meal & bone mixes. Do these things have an expiry date (as I seem to accumulate of lot of boxes of different types of veg supplements?)

I'm very pleaaed with my rhubarb as it's been very plentiful this year. I am now wondering when I should stop pulling it?

Leeks on my allotment have got rust. RHS website says do nothing, other sites say to use dithane 945. What do you recommend?

I have had a problem with premature die back of potatoes for a number of years resulting in reduced size of tubers. It is not blight as the tubers are not affected. This year I was growing Sarpo Axona and Orla. The same problem has effected my greenhouse tomatoes, grown in growbags, this year. My neighbour grew the same potatoes without this problem.Rgds, Dec1.Have been growing vegetables in this garden for more than 25 years and I think it is getting tired and diseased.

I want to start growing Veg & Fruit in my garden. I have a large enough garden but want to know am I better using raised beds or digging up the soil? Also, can I start now with some winter veg or am I better off waiting til Spring time to get going? Do I need acid soil in a raised bed for growing blueberries, or what is the best way?

Round up was sprayed between Potato drills 2 weeks ago, are the potatoes safe to eat?

Could you please explain about composting wood shavings and why there can be a problem (bacteria using up all necessary nitrogen, or something?

My Endive, and my Chard have bolted fiercely, and my lettuce also, recently. Have they been too dry?

what if anything can i plant now as space in garden. I am going to put in some garlic but would like to try maybe something else?

I grew carrots for first time this year. Carrots are severly cracked, short and fat. Also they appear to have worms.

This is my first year growing parsnips. Is it true that parsnip canker shows itself on the leaves first as a redish brown colour then a yellowing of its leaves as this is whats happening to mine.