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few weeks, stopping two weeks prior to the show. In the final week we'll just remove the flower heads that are going over.As spring advances, so do the pests. We've had our first outbreak of aphids, and have responded by spraying the plants

Last week I mentioned that my broad beans were mysteriously free from their usual curse of blackfly. Strictly speaking, blackfly isn't a black fly, but a 'black bean aphid'.And while my broad beans may be free from the pest this year, they normally

The plot is abuzz with wildlife, including ladybirds, lacewings, bumblebees and ground beetles. They're all marvellous for my crops; bees increase my yields by pollinating flowers, and ladybirds and lacewings eat a lot of aphids. As well

lacewings have started to seek out basic B with no B in the old out building near my house. Their young or larval stages are such voracious predators of aphids that I'm happy to have their parents to stay any time! Quite often they turn up in the house too

are the larvae of a micro-moth, probably one of the many Coleophora species. Only about 5mm long, they're hidden in a sock-like bag of silk covered in bits of debris and lichen, which camouflage the creatures against the bark.A white aphid proves to be a dead

cypress aphid (No. 10) with civil words and offers of a cup of tea.

feed on pollen from the open flowers, and hopefully breed and lay eggs. Developing larvae then feed on aphids, acting as a form of natural pest control.When I experimented with the 'square foot vegetable plot' planting technique a couple of years ago, I