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-chewing garden pestsSlugsCaterpillarsEarwigsRosemary leaf beetle

.a range of ornamental plants, trees, shrubs, herbs, some vegetables, fruitspring, summerMore common garden pestsAphidsScale insectsFlea beetleEarwigs

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. Thankfully, these 4mm-long, brown, sn...

The rose leaf rolling sawfly injects a chemical into young rose leaves to cause them to curl protectively around her eggs. Within a week the eggs hatch into green caterpillars that start to eat their home. In mid-summer, leaving behind skeletonised foliage, they crawl down into t...

Purple-striped green beetles, 8mm long, congregate among the leaves, which they feed on. The beetles lay elongated eggs beneath the leaves from September and continue to do so on warm days right through winter. These hatch after a couple of weeks and the larvae feed on the plants...

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

The horse chestnut scale insect was first found in the UK in the late 1960s, having come over from southern Europe. It is now widespread and common in the south of the UK and Ireland, and is spreading northwards. Mature, adult horse chestnut scale

into the plant and can be present in concentrated forms in the nectar and pollen of flowers. If you do use these chemicals, remove any flowers before they open, as they will also kill any bees that visit them.mint, pennyroyalMay-SeptemberMore pests of herbs