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Q – What can I do with my 8ft (2.5m) cactus?Ìý

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Bunny – Buy a bigger greenhouse?

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Pippa – Give it to a botanic garden

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Bob – Turn it through 90 degrees and let it grow horizontally.Ìý The end will then turn up.

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Q – Every year we successfully grow Cosmos from seed but this year we haven’t had any flowers.Ìý The root systems look fine.Ìý What might have gone wrong?

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Pippa – It could be to do with high nitrogen levels.Ìý You could put sulphate of potash into the soil.Ìý

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Bunny – I think it will be down to poor seeds

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Q – I have a Canna (Canna tropicanna) growing in a pot that is getting quite crowded.Ìý When is the best time to divide it?

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Bunny – Early spring.Ìý Just before the little shoots come up.Ìý Should be pretty easy.

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Q – How do we get rid of the vicious ants that live on our allotment?

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Pippa – I would use nematodes as they will irritate the ants

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Bob – Boiling water.Ìý Or you could farm them.Ìý

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Bunny – Feed them oats

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Q – I inherited a mature baking apple tree.Ìý Over the last two years it has flowered and fruited less than before.Ìý Can I prune it?

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Bob – You can prune out dead, congested wood.Ìý But cooking apples can go into what’s called biennial bearing where they have a heavy crop one year and little the next.Ìý Try giving it some wood ash.Ìý Make sure to thin out as well; you get fewer but better apples.

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Bunny – Give the base a good mulch

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Q – When I clear land of weeds lots of mare’s tail crops up.Ìý Should I just leave the weeds be?

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Bunny – There’s a chemical called Ammonium Glufosinate which is very effective.Ìý

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Bob – With Equisetum and Great White Bindweed you’ll be able to kill off what you can see but they spread further than you can see so they will be back.Ìý

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Q – I have a Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae) and the tips of the leaves are going brown and crispy.Ìý Why?

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Pippa – Too dry, too wet, too windy, too sunny; any of those could be the culprit.Ìý If the majority of the leaf is green then I wouldn’t worry too much.Ìý Do check you haven’t got Red Spider Mite though.Ìý Try and increase the humidity.

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Q – What therapeutic plants would you plant and why?

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Bob – The old-fashioned herbs, especially Hyssop.Ìý Kale is very nutritious.Ìý Watercress if possible.Ìý Goji berries are good but don’t taste very nice.Ìý Red fruits are full of vitamins and anthocyanins.Ìý

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Bunny – Make it as green as possible – apple trees, bay trees, honeysuckle.Ìý Daphnes are great for scent.Ìý The best drinking herb is Lemon Verbena.Ìý

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Pippa – Try and get a water source in there to encourage lots of wildlife.Ìý

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Q – I want to grow okra in Manchester but I’m getting bad results.Ìý What can I do?

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Pippa – The main limiting factor is light so try and create a shelter (for warmth) but letting in lots of light then you might succeed.

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Bob – Poorer soil is better for them.Ìý You need to grow a lot of plants to get a decent crop.Ìý Water well but never feed them.

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Bunny – Invest in some LED lights.Ìý

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