Thank Sacha, I think I might give the Tumbler tomatoes a go - I'm lucky, my
back yard is a real sun-trap, and it has a high wall so it's very sheltered
from the wind. It's an end-terrace not far out of the centre of Bury though,
so I don't get that many birds round my way (mostly sparrows and pigeons,
although there are a few seagulls which hang about the scrap yards not far
from my house!). I get a few bats coming round though! There's a park not
far away.

I do actually have a garden as well, but it's full up with herbs, trees,
bulbs and bushes and the like. I've got bags of space for veg though, as
long as I get enough pots.

I'm tempted to use slug pellets on the pathways around the pots, so that the
slugs don't get through the first line of defences. It's either that or
machine-gun emplacements manned by an army of mercenary mice. It's a shame
they can't just kind of "get the message" . . . death seems a rather unjust
price to have to pay for the crime of trying to get a good meal, even for a
slug!

Thanks for the tips - food for thought!

Andrew