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plant can produce 20,000 seeds in its short lifetime. Fat hen is a weed that will quickly spread and colonise any open ground, competing with your other plants for nutrients.Hand weed or hoe out seedlings as they appear, or smother them with a good layer

Valerian, Centranthus ruber, is a pretty plant that produces bright pink-red, fragrant flowers from late-spring to late-summer, but it also produces masses of seed that germinates all over the garden. Butterflies love it, so if you want to encourage

Spray potatoes and outdoor tomatoes with Bordeaux mixture or similar to prevent blightThin heavy crops of apples, pears and plumsTie in new raspberry canes to support wiresCover brassicas with fine netting to prevent cabbage white butterflies laying

Divide irisesWere your irises lacklustre this year with precious few blooms? If so, give them a boost by lifting and dividing clumps and next year they'll flower their socks off.Keep lawn edges trimmed Look out for cabbage white butterfly eggs

by boiling). They also provide food for the caterpillars of some of our loveliest butterflies, including red admirals, small tortoiseshells, peacocks and the lovely comma . They not only feed butterflies and ladybird larvae, but can also feed us (although

Last week I spotted a speckled wood butterfly sunning itself on one of my plant pots. It was fresh and new looking, like it was drying its wings after emerging from a chrysalis. I was proud to think it might have come from a patch of turf I'd let

Field bindweed, Convolvulus arvensis, is a pretty, white-flowering climber loved by butterflies. However, it's a pernicious weed that will smother anything in its path, and will quickly take over beds, borders, walls and fences unless kept in check

by seeds from its flowers (June to November) which are loved by butterflies and bees. However, it is an aggressive weed in lawns and will quickly establish itself and compete with the grass. Plant spreads by seed in late summer/autumn, restricting growth

!).We've grown the classic round summer cabbage which is moth-eaten or rather caterpillar eaten after the attentions of the cabbage white butterfly babies. Looks terrible but tastes lovely - once you've fought your way through all the ragged outer leaves! All

of the cabbage white butterfly caterpillars, cabbage root fly, pigeons, slugs and snails. Maybe it's just as well I've got so many.