Always plant your broad beans in a pattern like the spot arrangement on a "5" domino ie. with a guide line in place a bean c. 4" to the left and one similarly to the right of the line, then one about 6" in front but next to the line. A further 6" on repeat with the 2 beans then one by the line etc. This way the beans self support each other. My father has been doing this for over 50 years and it works very well.

H. Gale, Witney, England

You can run a length of string alongside the row a few inches below the tops and secured around sticks placed intermittently and at the ends.

Beverley Cover, Burcott, England

your lettuce are being eaten by wire worm.

alf crisp, Marple, Cheshire

I've done what I was told. I've sown the outside seeds for March/April in good composted and manured soil, and those that needed protection, were germinated in office/bedroom/kitchen/cold greenhouse with very encouraging plant growth in most cases.
AND THEN- they've got four legs, long ears, white bobbity tails, and an enormous appetite for newly planted out greens. Radish, spring onions, cabbage, lettuce, peas, and no doubt in the near future, my french and runner beans are victims of the massive upsurge in the rabbit population, who,despite the presence of ? scarecrows, a barking dog, as much fence protection as is possible, cheekily visit for their thrice daily meals. There's me blasting their very existence, and my neighbour, who only grows tomatoes, cluck cluckintg to the tune of , " But they're so pretty, don't harm the bunny rabbits".
Has anybody got suggestions regarding repellents? (OK, so a small electric fence may help.)
My greenhouse is heaving with ready plants

I.M.Morris, Machen, Caerphilly., south Wales

Broad beans are best stopped at 3ft. usually at this height they dont blow over and it prevents them bieng attacked by black fly

Tona shaw , Preston, united kingdom

Your lettuces sound like mine. I have found however that a small Orange worm like thing was responsible for mine. It is about an inch long and disappears real quick if unearthed. Does anyone know what this worm could be?

This year I also have these strange things in my garden. They are about an inch long size and shape of a caterpillar but black/grey and move like a worm. (If pinched they squirt a liquid out of one end) They ate my first crop of Radishes I had planted in troughs.

Rose Rose, Birmingham, United Kingdom

How can I get ripe figs off my fig tree in Lancashire? Should I take off some of the fruits to stimulate the ones I leave

Michael Gorton, Lancaster, Lancashire

"Can anyone give me any tips on how to stop broad beans flopping over in the wind?"

Actually, on a more serious note, davesgarden.com has this:

"[Broad beans] do tend to flop over when they are mature. To prevent this, you can stake them, or corral a bed of them with twine wrapped around stakes placed at the corners of the bed." (Posted by one rebecca101.)

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/2438/

Joe Jones, London, UK

The lettuces were in the greenhouse. Can slugs get in there? The trench was on the floor (because it was heavy), so I suppose it's possible. I couldn't see any slugs when I dug it up. I have since re-sown in the same soil, in the same place, and a couple of seedlings appeared then died like the last ones.

Alice Miles

Alice Miles, Petworth, West Sussex

"Can anyone give me any tips on how to stop broad beans flopping over in the wind?"

Grow radishes!

Joe Jones, London, UK