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, not like the fat, flavourless cherries currently in the shops. Even with attention from the birds there was still plenty for us.Of course, not every foraging trip or cookery experiment works brilliantly the first time. Once my mum and I gathered rosehips

, that badgers and birds won't dig up looking for grubs, that dogs won't ruin with their scorch marks. And worm casts? What worm casts? Lawn life as we know it replaced by a carpet of convenient, sterile 'turf' -  like paving slabs in disguise.But what is a

that the plants are providing a late source of nectar and pollen for bees, hoverflies and other pollinators. Soon they'll be plenty of seed for the birds.How are your sunflowers coming along? Have they reached the dizzy height of 2m or more? Do let us know

.In the meantime, hungry birds will make short work of seedheads and do a much better job of finding slug and snail eggs than I ever could. The frogs will bed down in their hibernaculum and among leaf piles, and the mouse, worms, slugs and beetles will stay warm

relatively easily, without worrying about sections going brown (unlike the Leyland cypress). A dense yew hedge is perfect for nesting birds, and the red arils are eaten by thrushes in winter. It’s not the fastest growing tree, but yew isn’t as slow growing

of this Chelsea perfection in my own garden. But then it wouldn't be mine. I like my scruffy, battered, half-eaten plants. I like the fact that there are caterpillars available for the birds to feed their chicks with, though I could do without the pigeons

's cornflower, field poppy and bird's foot trefoil will have self-seeded in my lawn, but if not, I'll be sowing seed in the lawn's margins. The lone foxglove produced plenty of offspring, but I'll have to wait until 2012 to see those flower.I'm still not pleased

, while swallows and house martins will struggle to find mud to build their nests.If it is still bone dry where you live, consider buying meal worms for nesting birds (rehydrate dried ones in water), and leave a dish of mud for house martins and swallows

taste of what life was like before we built on the land. Green roofs on our sheds and bird tables don't provide such 'wild' habitats, but they do offer an additional source of pollen and nectar, as well as nesting opportunities.There are other advantages

-looking wreath, so foraged for holly and ivy stems in the park. I chose both mature (non-prickly) and juvenile (prickly) holly, to reduce the pain factor of making the wreath, and took a very small number of holly and ivy berries, leaving plenty for the birds