Has anyone got any foolproof methods for success? Tried everything (module planting, sowing loads direct, freezing seeds first). Very poor results- almosy nothing coming up. For one of my plot neighbours they self seed and she had millions with zero effort- what gives?

I fry the stem the bit flower head on.
Very nice.
You can use the flower stem in a salad.

Bit of a mixed bag so far today - bright warm sunshine one minute and the dark thunder clouds the next. The only constant is the bitter wind from the West keeping everything moving along swiftly.

When the new pellets were first introduced someone on here (and forgive me but I can’t remember who) posted to say they needed to be used a bit differently to the old ones.

Use sparingly, but regularly and start before you plant up was the gist of it.  I have been doing this with scatterings across areas I intended to plant up for a week or 2 beforehand, then top up scatterings every few days afterwards.  So far, not so bad.  I have been using the blue ones.

It is also worth making sure your plot edges are cut if they are grass and that you keep weeds down so there is as little cover as possible.  If you have raised beds, patrol the edging boards and any other spots likely to provide a spot to nest up - piles of pots and the like.

My main casualties have been ornamental plants I potted up in the back garden at home, because I am very wary of using pellets anywhere the chickens could get to them.  Survival of the fittest here and a process of trying to select things that are not attractive to them 

Oh dear, I’m sorry to hear of all the devastation!
We are currently in sunny Spain but know it was pouring yesterday back home so dread to think what it’s all going to be like when we get back