Q Do you have any tips for getting rid of slugs from my garden without using the standard chemical slug killers? Slugs and snails are the bane of my life!

A There are many tried and tested ways of dealing with slugs and snails that work for some people more than others, besides using the ubiquitous blue slug pellets.

For generations many have recommended a beer trap - where a container is filled with beer and sunk in the ground. Of course the idea is the slugs fall in and drown happy. This is variable in its success rate, especially if the slugs in your area are teetotal! Please remember if you do this to leave the rim of the container considerably above the soil level to prevent friends and predators such as the black ground beetle from falling in. This beetle feeds on slugs and should be encouraged in the soil.

Another traditional tip is to use crushed eggshells, though I'm not sure how practical this is on a large scale. A favourite one is to go out at night on a slug hunt with a torch and gather them in a bucket.

Nematodes are available to buy via mail order or sometimes the garden centre and are useful for clearing particularly small areas of land such as raised beds, otherwise it can become quite expensive. Nematodes are biological safe slug control at its best. Wash the nematodes into moist soil and they reproduce inside the slug, killing it in the process. Other tips include putting small piles of bran around the garden near to vulnerable plants. I'm told this is very effective and reputed to be safe for birds too.

Try half a melon filled with water, or even putting used coffee grounds around plants.

The humble watering can plays its part too. Try diluting three tablespoons of instant coffee and pouring on the affected area. Or adding 1tbsp of crushed garlic in the can before watering. Other suggestions are to smear petroleum jelly around the rims of pots to stop slugs entering and devouring your young seedlings.

There is a school of thought suggesting slugs are habitual creatures and like to follow their existing trails. Regular hoeing and destroying these trails may confuse them and deter them to some degree.

I've saved my personal favourite till last. Use a copper strand of wire attached to pots in greenhouses and on staging etc. The slugs will not cross it and should turn back the other way.

Q Every time I sow pea seeds on my vegetable patch, they always get eaten by mice. Do you have any solutions?

A I have found the problem of mice on vegetable plots very much hit and miss. In some areas it is an endemic problem, while just a few miles down the road, literally, everything is left alone.

The suggestion of dipping the seed in paraffin has not worked reliably in my experience. On one occasion an allotment neighbour unwittingly had a mouse inside his shed overnight. He had some peas out on staging that had been dipped in paraffin and others that hadn't. The mice eat the ones that had been dipped in paraffin reputedly! Not exactly the idea - but it's worth a try, as I have known success as well with this method.

One tip that should help and also speeds up the sowing process is to sow pea seed in a length of plastic roof guttering in a greenhouse or polytunnel in Spring. Fill the gutter with compost, sowing the seeds in staggered rows.

It is important to keep the gutter off the ground to deter any mice that will invariably enter the structure in areas where there is a severe mouse problem.

When the seeds germinate and reach about 6 inches in height they are easily transplanted to their permanent home.

Dig out a furrow approximately the same depth and length as the gutter. Then slide the peas and compost complete as one into the furrow, by holding your hand at one end, while gradually pulling the gutter away.

This can be a bit nerve wracking the first time you do it, but once you have firmed and watered the seedlings, they will romp away. While you will have saved time and hopefully defeated the mice too.

Mice in general will leave pea and bean seed alone once it has germinated to a height of several inches, so it is a matter of protecting them in the first few weeks before germination commences.

Q I have heard a lot about globe artichokes but I've not grown them. Do you have any information about them?

A The globe artichoke originates from Southern Europe and the Mediterranean, growing to a height of up to 2 metres tall. It is very closely related to the cardoon.

The advantages of globe artichokes are threefold; they produce an early summer crop, they are perennial and look fantastic - adding height to any garden they are planted in. Their bold, silver-grey leaves and significant height make for a striking impact and are equally at home in the flower garden or ornamental kitchen garden as well as the allotment. If left to mature the impressive flower spike resembles a large thistle.

Globe artichokes are already producing their stems with succulent edible heads while annual vegetables are still getting established. For growers who like early crops like myself, this is a fantastic bonus and any extension of the cropping season is to be welcomed. The delicious hearts will be produced from the second year onwards.

The difficulty can be in knowing when to pick them. The edible heads are made up of scaly bracts surrounding a fleshy heart, which supports the immature flower heads.

The secret is to harvest while the heads are very young - when flavour is at it's best. At this stage they are tender and succulent enough to be eaten whole.

If you can't bear to harvest the heads at such an early stage there is another way. Let the artichokes swell until larger and plump, then cut before the bottom scales spread out. The rest of the scales should still be soft and tightly closed. The bracts should have a fleshy base when the head is cooked.