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of newspaper in a warm, dry place they'll continue ripening, and I'll be able to shake out the seeds.The best germination comes from sowing right away, and not saving for another day. Just sprinkle seeds onto the surface of compost in a large pot and cover

to hate them though, as they cavort around with each other, fluttering charmingly above my rickety constructions of netting. But until last week, I'd never seen anything bigger than a mouse on my plot. It lives in the compost heap and seems to love

The only wildlife I've seen this week has been the rather dead-life brought in by the cats - three and a half mice and a rat not much smaller than our guinea pig. I'm more or less calm that we have mice in the compost bins, but I'm uneasy about

suddenly sprung into life. The mildew-ridden courgette plants have been busy sprouting golden yellow blooms and tender courgettes - thank goodness I didn't give up and consign them to the compost heap in August. They're probably more productive now than

when they're going short of moisture on hot days by starting to droop. Secondly they need food, and I mix in a liquid feed at least once a week to top up reserves in the compost. And thirdly you must deadhead. This can be viewed as a chore

. But of course I didn't. I bunged it in a big pot with a bit of soil and old compost because I didn't know where to plant it, neglected it horribly and only chucked a bucketful of water at it when it looked like it was about to pop its clogs.I really do

into mush. All those beans, squashes and lettuces that still thought they had some go left in them will have turned up their toes. Hah, their next stop is the compost bin! But the rain was relentless so a quick inspection after work is all I've had time for

. Prune back any damaged roots, dig a decent hole and add some good compost.I will not be ordering either this (which I have christened Rosa 'Euggghh') or this (which I now call R. 'Letitia Dean on Strictly Come Dancing' - because it is too pink

in the way of a lot of large people wearing clumpy boots. The same has happened to an entire bed that should look like this but instead looks like this.This weekend I shall cut everything down and consign it to the compost heap. So what to do? Depressingly

on the surface of the compost and cover with perlite, the white granular material that can be purchased at most garden centres. Then put the seed tray or module tray in a propagator or on a heated mat at 16°C. The seeds will germinate in about 20 days, depending