Ask The Expert

Please can you help, my carrots get up to about an inch high and then disappear they are under a protective cloche and there is plenty of slug pellets around. What I find is that not only do the carrots disappear but so do the slug pellets what could be eating them under the cloche?

I've got a small gooseberry bush with gooseberries which are currently about pea-size, and a small Cox?s Pippin apple tree which is about 2 years old and just starting to grow apples; I presume I need to cover these with netting to stop the birds or butterflies eating the fruit, please can you advise which type of netting I need

Can you tell me what it is that is causing my mint, when it appears to be growing so well, to appear to die off. The leaves go brown, dry & shriveled. I have found a few tiny green caterpillers on it, but not enough to make it look as though they are causing the problem.

I have a bit of a problem with what appears to be vine weevil grubs in my raised beds, I have adopted the role of main gardener (actually I am A Child Care Practitioner, a play worker ! ) here at the Bideford Bay Children?s Centre, in Bideford, North Devon

I have gradually been acquiring some beautiful scented roses but each year they produce black spots on their leaves with eventual die back

I have a box of old Blood Fish and Bone - 5 years old and it has "melted". Can I mix it with water and use it for general floral garden use?

Last night I went through into the kitchen and found a Vine Weevil walking along my worktop. I was rather horrified and wondered how it had got there and where it had come from. I detest them !!

I have just used Nematode slug destroyer and have watered it onto my lettuce plants. Are they now safe to eat or will I have to destroy them? There was no info on the packet about this?

I have tried netting vegetables with netting from my local garden centre, but birds sometimes get caught, and the business of removing dead birds is rather upsetting. I notice that you do butterfly netting in three different forms. Do birds get caught in these? What is the reason for choosing for example, soft versus heavy duty?