Cozillonne's Outbox

I have chickens, they're great and, despite my intial reluctance, the pluses well outweigh the minuses. I found Katie Thear's book excellent help when we got our first birds. Apart from the eggs they produce and the endless entertainment, mine do a grand job turning leftover veggies, weeds and more especially cockchafer grubs and other undesirables into very useful compost accelerator! Mine also offer a splendid weed clearance and scarifying service on my veg beds.

A tip to keep foxes at bay - get a man (or better still borrow a male dog) to pee around the perimeter. It's not 100%, but it does deter them if you can do it regularly.

In France borage is used as a green manure - dug back in, but before it (prolifically) self seeds and it's also good on the compost.