Welshonion

best way to get rid of rats

Busy-Lizzie, isn't the object to kill them rather than discourage them?  They are rats, carriers of disease as well as the damage they do.

best way to get rid of rats

There is a thread entitled Rodents on the next page of this Forum.

Apple trees

Funnily enough it isn't the prevailing wind that does the damage.  Trees do get used to the normal direction.  But if a gale comes from a different quarter - that does the damage.  But, yes, if in doubt, stake and replace the stake if it rots.

Apple trees

What it really depends on is the rootstock.  Some rootstocks have to be staked forever; some can  dispense with a stake  after some years. Look on the RHS site.

Building Rockeries

Things often look better in groups of alternate numbers.  1,3,5.  Take care the finished structure doesn't get nicknamed 'The dogs' graves'.  Or worse!

Rodents

Flowering Rose, you are pulling our legs with your ground glass method of killing rats, aren't you?

I would hate anybody to think that was a legitimate method of pest control.

Tomato Seeds

There is a whole page of results if you Google. Are they all in the USA?

Pruning acers

There was a piece about pruning Acers in a newspaper this weekend and it was stasted that Acers should be pruned very early in the year or they will bleed.

But best not to prune them at all.

Rodents

I know it is a counsel of perfection, but rat poison should not be 'put out in small bowls'.  The best place to put it is in lengths of drain-pipe on the ground, then nothing can get at it except the rats.

What's so good about fruit trees?

I know you said 'tree' but had you thought to start with fruit bushes?  You will get a good yeild from blackcurrants, gooseberries and raspberries.  The yeild is pretty well guaranteed, unlike some of the suggestions up-thread.

As I presume you are not the cook as well as the grower, find out what will go down well in the kitchen.

If you decide on a fruit tree, do a bit of research first, because some fruits and varieties are much more challenging than others.

Swifts