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I haven't that much experience, but we have 7 chickens and the only ones laying at the moment are the 3 hybrids, all the others (pure breeds) are either broody or moulting or laying somewhere obscure so we can't find the eggs! I would definitely stick with hybrids in future, they are the friendliest...

Definitely groundsel.
I didn't know cinnabar moth caterpillars ate groundsel, though it was just ragwort. I will leave some groundsel untouched from now on!

Hope someone can help please! I noticed just now that at least two of my chickens seem to have a pretty bad case of scaly leg mite, I feel terrible for not having noticed earlier. Will check their legs regularly in future. Anyway just wondering what treatment do other people use? I would prefer to a...

We have 6 chickens which we keep for eggs, all have been named by the children so we have Storm, Nutmeg, Thor, Toffee, Lavender and Pluto! We are also getting bees in a couple of weeks so we're very excited about that!

Frogspawn!!
Seems very early to me but there were 4 big clumps laid in our pond yesterday.

Garlic is antibacterial, works for people too, so no harm in trying it.

Thanks battybird, I was just wondering what that shrub was as we have one and it really does smell wonderful, I stop to sniff it every time I walk past!

Hello and welcome from another newbie.
Hubby made his first ever raised bed for me at the weekend, out of an old pallet. I'm very pleased with it!

They are self pollinating, I looked into it last week when I bought one. That's about all I know about them though I'm afraid!

Wow, absolutely magical.

I'm about to plant mine now the ground has thawed and dried out a bit. It will still grow but the bulbs may not be as big as they would have been if planted earlier. Although this winter I guess they probably wouldn't have grown at all if planted earlier and would have met the same fate as my Autumn...

I had a gorgeous passion flower growing up the front of my last house, it was in a large pot which was nestled by the bay window, facing South. It thrived so much that it rooted in gaps in the concrete next to the house and I did have to trim it a couple of times (it was there for 10 years) as it gr...

How about experimenting with using only the rinse and/or prewash cycles, if the machine will let you?

Hmm, interesting topic and very interesting replies. I was brought up in the usual consumeristic manner in the 70s and 80s, we weren't rich but had little regard for nature or for the planet. (My parents still don't do recycling despite having recycling bins in their gardens. My brother keeps coal i...

Your place sounds lovely. Welcome from another newcomer!