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Q – I tried growing quinoa on my allotment but it looks unlikely to ripen.Ìý Should I persist or is this a novelty crop?

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Pippa – I’m not convinced this is worthwhile

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Bunny – Bear in mind though that no-one grew sweetcorn north of Watford before the early 1970s and that has since changed.Ìý Maybe things will change for quinoa too.

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Chris – Amaranth is a better grain and easier to grow.Ìý

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Q – When and how should a contorted Hazel be pruned?

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Bunny – You need to prune the non-growing side harder in order to encourage it to shoot more and grow.Ìý I’d be tempted to pull a few out for Christmas flower arranging.Ìý I would prune a bit in the summer.Ìý

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Chris – They don’t like heavy pruning and if you heavy prune you’ll enter a real battle with the suckers.Ìý Put a light underneath it and allow the light to shine up through the canopy and the shadows have a very sculptural affect.

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Q – Someone told me to cut up banana skins and put them around shrubs as the potassium is good for them.Ìý Have you heard of this and does it work?

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Chris – The organic matter would be beneficial but it’s better to rot them down in the compost first

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Peter – Bananas also take a long time to break down

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Pippa – Yes, they will rot much quicker in the compost

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Q – I recently bought a Madagascar Dragon Tree for the conservatory.Ìý I’ve noticed what looks like tiny pieces of cotton wool on the leaves.Ìý Is this a problem and how should I care for the tree over winter?

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Pippa – It sounds like Mealybug – a very common pest of house plants.Ìý If you look really closely at the leaves you’ll see numerous grey/pink tiny creatures that look like miniature woodlice.Ìý They cover themselves in the white waxy fibres as protection.Ìý They suck the plant’s sap so they can do a lot of damage to plants e.g. cacti.Ìý Control them by either introducing an Australian Ladybird called Cryptolaemus montrouzieri, which will eat the Mealybug, or use an alcoholic spirit on a cotton bud and that will get rid of the waxy cotton wool-like stuff.

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Bunny – This is Dracaena and I find them easy to keep inside if you give them a good watering once a week, keep on top of the bugs, and give it a feed in the spring.

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Q – I can’t seem to grow a swede on my allotment.Ìý Can you advise?

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Bunny – I imagine the soil condition isn’t quite good enough.Ìý I’d try growing in a raised bed.Ìý Celeriac I find quite easy to grow as long as you leave them in long enough.Ìý With swede, I would raise it and give it a good moisture supply.Ìý

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Pippa – Give it 25-30% sandier soil into the mix.Ìý But make sure you are able to retain water still.Ìý I would make sure the soil is well fed with well-rotted manure and some phosphate feed too.Ìý

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Chris – You need a firm soil that is reasonably heavy and quite deep (go for 90cm rather than 30cm (35inches rather than 12inches) then you’ll get strong root growth

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Pippa – Whenever it’s windy make sure you go and re-firm your plants, especially brassicas.

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Correspondence:

Mycorrhizal fungi

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Q – Could the panel suggest something interesting to grow in the allotment next year?

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Pippa – Sweet potatoes.Ìý Okra (Ladies’ Fingers).

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Bunny – Physalis (Chinese lanterns).Ìý Varieties like ‘Little Buddha’, ‘Peter’s Beste’, and ‘Biscuit’ – they’re all really sweet and lovely to have after dinner.Ìý Green-leaved Pyrilla.Ìý

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Chris – On Chateaux la Chaire on the Channel Islands used to grow bananas and their own sugar cane too.Ìý If you’ve got room then go with a Pomegranate (Punica granatum).Ìý Under plant that with caper berries would grow like a nasturtium around the base.

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Q – For the last three years I have hacked lumps off our mistletoe at the Winter Solstice for Christmas.Ìý What should I do to manage the plant properly? It’s hosted by an old apple tree.

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Chris – Only take one third of any one bunch in any one harvest.Ìý Make sure you have a good distribution of male and female (the females carry the berries).Ìý Reinvest the berries into the stems of the host plant.Ìý

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