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We've been harvesting potatoes. After the dreaded potato blight hit the rows of potatoes I was quick to employ my son to cut off and rake up all the haulms.Although we couldn't lift the tubers immediately and we had a lot of rain, when we did lift

were filling in large holes! We raked fine sandy soil over the damaged areas, so hopefully the grass will soon grow back. The deeper holes were filled in and reseeded, and then raked over. It was nearly dark by the time we finished, and the lawn (as

be replacing the squash plants, applying more nematodes to the ground and then presumably raking up the once gorgeous azalea blooms. Please, someone, when do we get the summery weather?

. As anyone who has tried to earth up potatoes with a trowel instead of a rake or draw hoe, or harvest them with a spade rather than a fork, will surely agree.

as the seedlings are not attacked by slugs. Last year this was a real problem, and many of my young vegetable plants were lost to slugs and snails.When sowing seeds outdoors, it's important to prepare the soil well, fork it to a fine tilth and rake it level

then run the mower up and down to collect them (thanks by the way, to my son Luke, 11, for taking the photo). The great thing about using a mower rather than simply raking them up is that they get chopped up in the process. I remember the late Geoff

queen wasp making a nest in the shed. Much as I like wasps, and no matter how long I bang on about them being 'the gardener's friends' - helpful, interesting and attractive - I can't have a nest of 10 thousand of them guarding the rakes and spades