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Mole hills - piles of fresh, excavated soil - don't fully convey the extent of one mole's underground tunnel system, which can cover a surprisingly large area. If a young plant isn't developing, it could be due to tunnelling beneath it. Seedlings can also suffer badly when their ...

Of the black, red and yellow ants that are commonly seen in the garden, only the red ones (from the Myrmica species) sting. Other than that, ants are more of a nuisance than a pest. They feed mostly on insects, including other ants, and honeydew

, and place horticultural fleece over the seedlings, which will provide a physical barrier against the pest. Some carrot varieties - 'Resistafly', 'Sytan' and 'Fly Away' - are less prone to attack.carrots, celery, parsley, parsnipsspring Common problems when

insects - which have a fluffy white covering - carry on feeding on the sap, prolonging the problem. Prolific breeding in summer means the symptoms don't disappear. Young, winged, sap-feeding insects attack young bay foliage, discolouring and distorting it

anythingearly spring, summerMore common garden pestsLeatherjackets on lawns, brassicas, strawberries and ornamental plantsElephant hawk moth on fuschia plantsWhitefly on greenhouse plantsMullein moth - affecting verbascum, buddleja and figworts.

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

.rosemary, lavender, sage, Russian sage, thymelate-summer, autumnAdvice on growing herbsTaking rosemary cuttingsDealing with cuckoo spit on herbsPicking herbsAdvice on growing medicinal herbsVideo demonstration of planting herbs in a window boxVideo advice on how

Every garden has its fair share of slugs and the bad news is that they are around for most of the year. They're active mostly after dark, especially when it's damp. In hot dry weather they bury themselves to avoid dehydrating.Holes are chewed in soft, new growth, young stems are ...

Snails, like slugs, cause a great deal of damage to plants. They feed mostly at night, seeking shelter during the day from the drying effects of the sun. However, the snail's shell allows it to move more freely than a slug over dry areas, such as paving. It too, leaves a tell-tal...

(causing no damage) to be taken up by the sap-sucking whiteflies.tomatoes, cucumbers, fuchsias, other greenhouse plantsspring, summer, autumnMore common garden pestsAphidsLeaf miner flyEuonymus scaleMealybugs