[rcf100]

My strawbs.  They are all flowering now, so I'm concious that I need to give some TLC. They're in a container and I was trying to source some straw, but then had a thought.  I have some stuff I use for my chickens nest box - it's called easy chick.  It's a wood chip that's dust free etc.  I was thinking I could put that on top of the soil to prevent slugs having my fruit and then jsut net them up.  I'm also wanting to get some runners into the soil for next year.  Normally I let my strawbs do their own thing, but I'm thinking we're just going to dip them into the soil until a few roots form, then snip them off and transplant.  Is this right?

Pumpkin & slugs.  I have a seedling that I would like to plant out in the next week or two, I'm hardening off as we speak, ground's prepared, the only thing I'm worried about is the slugs.  I have chooks that are allowed in the garden when I'm out and a 1 & 2 year old, so using chemical slug pellets isn't really feasible.  Would the easy chick wood stuff in a ring round be a good prevention?

Chard - never grown it or eaten it, but want to give it a go.  Am I too late to sow seeds straight into my border?

Potatoes - last year I planted some pots into one of them planters where you can access the bottom.  Earthed them up, then blght struck.  I just left it as the container was old and I knew the whole thing would need disposing of.  This year it started to shoot, I left it as a job to do, then when the chooks arrived, I thought I'd stick it in their run.  Well they love it, standing on it, taking th eleaves etc.  Now what has dawned on me is that I've seen no sign of blight on them this year.  Could I have been wrong about the blight last year and there may be some nice spuds in there, or if I open it up and I going to unleash a whole load of mouldy spuds all over my chicken run?  I'm just thinking that if their was blight last year and the pot hasn't had anything done to it then there would be nothing but blight this year and surely the signs would be there loud and clear?

Sage - I've had a big bush I've repotted and I'm wondering when I can get savage and cut it back so it looks good and how savage can I be?

Peach and plum trees - thinking about getting one - what can you tell me about soil types, pests, fertility etc.  I was at a garden centre today - they have a couple, he will do me a good price on either as he can't tell me what they are.  He's a new nursery man so shooting in the dark a bit.  I have space for one, both are fruiting currently, how can I say no to a bargain

[JayG]

Strawbs/pumpkins - never heard of "easy chick", although it would have been an intriguing concept in my younger days! (   )
I doubt whether any product which is capable of absorbing water would make a good slug barrier - if you net the strawbs and the pumpkin you could safely use slug pellets underneath it.

Chard - not too late at all. I've sown it much later than this, although mainly to overwinter.

Spuds - blight or no blight, I can't see how you will have much in the way of new tubers if the chickens keep eating the foliage (equally if there are few leaves there's not much there to catch new blight spores!) Keep an eye on them, and if you do see signs of blight bin them rather than emptying them anywhere else.

Sage can be cut back quite hard - it doesn't get as woody as some other herbs but don't remove all the softer growth. It roots very easily from stem cuttings if you want to back up your pruning efforts.

Knowledge of peach and plum trees = zero!