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Poor early-summer weather, with a prolonged cold spell, and few insects results in poor pollination. This means courgettes fail to develop, and they quickly rot on the plant. However, this is only a temporary problem, and once the weather starts

's more prone to infection. Spray with myclobutanil.marrows, courgettes, pumpkins, squashsummer, autumn, winterCommon fruit and veg problemsTomato blightGooseberry mildewGrey mould on soft fruitsSooty mould

hot spells and provide shading. Promptly pick off any split tomatoes before they start to rot.tomatoessummer to autumnCommon problems affecting tomatoesTomato leaf mouldTomato blightTomato frost damageBlossom end rot

of thinning the seedlings releases the carrot's scent. Plant strong-smelling crops, such as garlic, onions, shallots and leeks adjacent to the carrots. Follow a strict crop rotation plan, avoiding growing carrots on the same site in consecutive years

Turn over a leaf and you'll see 2mm long white flies. With a life cycle of just three weeks, whitefly breed very fast. Both adults and offspring are sap feeders and a severe attack will weaken a plant. They excrete the sticky excess, called honeydew

The culprit is the flea beetle, which, like its namesake, jumps away when disturbed. The small, shiny, black, brown or blue beetles emerge in April and May, after winter hibernation, ready to start feeding. Eggs laid near host plants hatch in late-summer. The beetles feed for a f...

to feed. After 2-3 weeks, the larvae pupate inside the leaves and emerge as adults. The damage is mostly cosmetic but where many leaves are affected, the plant may be weakened or die. Different species of leaf miner fly affect specific plants.A maze

with the biological control Steinernema carpcapse.With heavy infestations, use an insecticide based on pyrethrum (only use once a season on crops).brassicas and nasturtiumsearly spring to autumnCommon problems when growing vegetables

Protected from predators and the risk of dehydration inside its moist ball of bubbles, the juvenile yellow-green froghopper (or spittle bug) is busy sucking plant sap. It's quite harmless unless it's attacking the shoot tips, which can result in distorted growth. The adult frogho...

Pea and bean weevils are a nuisance but rarely a major problem on the veg patch. The larvae live in the soil and feed on the root nodules. Then when the adults emerge in June and July, they climb up the plants and eat the edges of the leaves