Joao Winckler

Leaving a patch of bare soil somewhere sunny helps a lot for ground-nesting bees, which is most native species actually. They don't want mulch or grass over their nesting spots. A shallow dish with pebbles and water gives them somewhere to drink without drowning too. Beyond flowers, those two things made the biggest difference for me.

On cuttings in water that's usually not powdery mildew, it's just regular mold that loves the moist conditions right at the waterline. Changing the water every couple of days is good but you could also try adding a tiny splash of hydrogen peroxide to the water, it keeps things cleaner without hurting the roots. The other thing that helped me was using a narrower vessel so less stem is exposed to damp air above the water. Perlite or vermiculite in a cup works well too if you want to get away from water propagation entirely, holds moisture without everything sitting wet.

Comfrey is a magnet for them if you have the space. Mine is covered in bumblebees from spring right through to autumn and it grows back after cutting so you get multiple flushes of flowers. Not short though, so depends if that matters. For something lower, creeping thyme works well between paving or at bed edges and they seem to love it.

Keeping them under 3m from the start is the only thing that actually solved it for me. Summer pruning in July to control vigour, then winter shaping. Once you let a tree get away from you it's a nightmare getting it back down without stressing it. My apples and pears are all open vase now and I can reach everything from the ground or a short stepladder. Not as romantic as the big old standard trees but I actually get the fruit before the birds do.

Holly leaves break down slower than most but they do break down, and the spines soften up as they decompose. If you compost them in a hot pile for a few months they'll be fine. For direct mulching I'd be cautious with barefoot kids around until it's had at least a season to rot down, the spines can take a surprisingly long time to go soft. Might be worth using it as a thick layer at the back of borders where nobody walks and saving something gentler for the play areas.

Jay, mine struggled in a pot the first summer too. They really resent being root-bound and the foliage gives up before the roots do. If you can, pot it up into something bigger with good drainage and give it morning sun only for a couple of weeks. Afternoon heat on a small container just cooks the roots. Once it settles in they're surprisingly tough plants but that first season in a pot is always rough.

Honestly the powder route is hard to beat for volume. I grow way too many chillis every year and drying them then grinding into flakes takes up almost no space compared to jars of sauce. I just thread them onto string and hang them in the kitchen until they're completely dry, then blitz in a cheap coffee grinder. Keeps for ages in a sealed jar and you use them in everything through winter.

I grew a few Georgian grape varieties years ago and they really are vigorous, those things will take over if you let them. For a small garden a single wire trellis at about 1.5m height works well and keeps things manageable. The key is being ruthless with winter pruning, cutting back to just a few buds on each spur, otherwise you end up with a tangled mess by midsummer. Since yours are cuttings from an unknown variety I'd start with a simple vertical shoot positioning setup and see how they respond before committing to anything permanent.

I had the same issue with jiffy pots indoors last winter. The fan thing does actually work, even a small USB one on low pointed at the trays. I think it stops the surface moisture sitting long enough for spores to take hold. The other thing that helped was letting the pot surface dry out a bit between waterings rather than keeping them constantly damp. Once the seedlings were big enough to go outside the mold disappeared on its own anyway.

Kaolin clay seems to be the go-to for a lot of apple growers now. I started using it on my trees a couple of seasons ago and the difference is noticeable, way fewer damaged fruit than the years I relied on just traps alone. The reapplication after rain is the annoying part but it beats bagging individual apples by a long stretch.