Beginners Gardening

In the past I have always grown cucumbers which have female flowers only but this year my father in law gave me some which have both male and female. According to all my gardening books you are supposed to remove the male flowers or the cucumbers will taste sour. I have checked on this site for similar questions and people seem to think that male flowers should be left on, so what is the right answer?

My garden is uneven, weed-riddled and covered in winter grass and debris. What steps should I take to remove all the unwanted materials from the soil so that it becomes suitable for growing a lawn?

Hi,

The vege garden itself is fine, however my neighbours mandarin tree branches over my fence dropping right on top of the vege garden. As the garden grows should I leave the dead mandarins or should I pick them out as they drop? (Not going to ask the neighbour to trim it as I love my mandarins and help myself to any on my side of the fence.

Also with mandarins come fruit bats, will fruit bat faeces harm the garden or will it help out like most compost?