Does anyone know anything about gardening?

lupins are a nitrogen fixer so you can chop them up and dig them back into the soil

Depending on which variety they are, you may even be able to do something with the seeds:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupin_bean

I've had various lupin burgers and they've all been pretty tasty.

Difficult if you have one of the bitter varieties, which can be fairly toxic (as noted in the article linked to above).

@eone @Oliver Schick
Thanks guys. What a bonus, something with pretty flowers, good for soil and I might be able to eat some of it!

I love lupins, mine are just coming up.

Just did all my weeding and planted an elderflower, got some rhubarb and a Carolina allspice bush to plant too once they are established. Along with my herb garden and ancho chillies I'm growing stuff I can put in my homebrew beers.

Bought a cheap Bosch electric mower in the end. Lawn looking great. Should have got a strimmer as well as I can't get right up to the wall in a few places. Hey ho.

I have loads of bluebells come up but they're just masses of leaves that fall over everywhere covering the soil and barely a flower stalk between them. The few flower stalks there are also bent over.

Q1. Why? Could they be at wrong depth? They were already in the garden but I relocated a lot of bulbs in the autumn.

Q2. Will it harm them to just cut back the leaves? Thinking to leave 6" or so, it'll look a bit odd but less messy and space to plant/sow around them. I guess the bulbs won't get as fat for next year.

they use their greenery to put energy back into the bulb for next year
chopping the greenery might make next years bluebells less energetic

i have traditional and cross bred bluebells neither of which is out yet, maybe it isn't time for the flowers proper yet, i wouldn't chop for both these reasons

Bluebells don't flower until the middle of April.

St George's day by tradition.

Fuck tradition.

Yeah. Nostalgic wank. I want bluebells in august.

Deleted - I failed at uploading a photo..

@hoefla sounds like they are a bit shallow though the wind and the mild winter mean they would tend to blow over in wind as andyp says they will not flower yet so do not cut back.

Cheers all, I won't bother the bluebells then. Need to do some seeds in a tray though I think, since the bluebells are covering the ground nothing else will germinate. Maybe I should leave more gaps...

You might have a think about which variety they are too. If I recall correctly there are the lovely English versions and the 'terrible' Spanish ones. The Spanish ones can hybidise with the English ones essentially wiping them out as a species (I may be over egging it a bit). The advice we had was to remove them and allow English ones to flourish.

http://www.bbowt.org.uk/blog/bbowtblog/2016/04/18/how-tell-difference-between-native-bluebell-and-spanish-bluebell

PS our allotment bod is not Nigel Farrage.

Mmm if they're the Spanish then you'll have to keep them in check as I've found they spread more rapidly than the native. Dig 'em out when their leaves are still in full flow though or you will never find the pesky little bulbs!

I have ground wasps in our garden. How can I get rid of them?
Lots of holes where they're coming from that look like this

Diggers don't normally sting but are annoying when they buzz you in large groups. Pour an ammonia solution into the holes at night, after the pubs shut, about half a pint per hole. Repeat on fresh holes for a week or so.

Are you sure they're wasps and not bees?
Bees are good things for gardens.

Agreed, burrowing/mining bees are good - even Rentokil says so! http://www.rentokil.co.uk/blog/mining-bees/

The burrowing wasps aren't that bad either (if they don't sting), as they eat pests.

You should treasure them.
They will be stockin each hole/larder with immobilised insects for their grub offspring to devour.

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll try to leave them alone. The problem is that most of the holes are between cobbles right at the entrance to our basement, where my bikes and tools are, so I'm in and out of there all the time. It's difficult trying to not step on them. Also my kids like playing in that area. But saying that none of us have been stung yet.

I've got an allotment question this time.
What crops need covering up from pests? I see people covering young seedlings with netting, I guess it's to keep birds off.
I'm guessing brassicas?
I don't want to plant out our precious seedlings just to have them gobbled up.

We cover all brassicas on ours as we've lots of pigeon and magpie pals and they love them. We build frames for the netting and it stays on until harvest to protect from butterflies as well. I also cover onions after planting 300 out one year only to come back and find that birds had plucked them back out and they'd withered in the sun. Natures great innit.

I had some brassicas covered in a mini pop up greenhouse only for butterflies to still get in and lay eggs all over them. Can seem quite futile at times but sometimes you're lucky, sometimes you're not.