Search - Articles

of excavated soil on lawns and around the garden - and underground tunnels, found when digging the soil or making a new planting hole. Mole traps are very effective. Insert one in a tunnel, cover it with turf and an upturned bucket to exclude light, and check

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

, the moment the symptoms appear. Wait a minimum of two weeks after spraying before using leaves in the kitchen.bay leavesmid- and late-springKeeping garden pests at bayWhiteflyMealybugsScale insectsRed spider mites

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

.Snails mostly feed at night; mild, damp conditions suiting them best. Go out with a torch and collect them by hand. Either re-home them on a patch of waste ground, well away from your garden as they have a homing instinct, or drop them in a bucket of hot, salty

(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