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, but one I have not seen for some time, indeed, probably not since finding it in my parents’ garden 40 years ago. The small bristly black and brown boot-brush of a caterpillar eats almost anything, and it is quite at home in downland, heaths, woods, parks

and use resistant varietiesCover the developing crop with well-pegged-down fleece from the moment you plant it. This avoids infestations of leek moth, whose caterpillars cause foliage dieback and low croppingMore on growing vegRead Pippa Greenwood's blog

, but the larvae, with their larger than expected size and strange almost caterpillar-like scuttling habit, are more likely to be incorrectly identified. All too often people tell me they have squashed them, believing them to be garden pests, when in fact

in the lawn? Not on my watch … squirt. Squirt … out damned blackspot. Caterpillars? No way, Jose … squirt, etc, etc. The default action was to reach for easily accessible and much-advertised chemicals.A couple of decades before that not only did gardeners kill

. They are in desperate need of some good PR. Having spent the last four or five months diligently, but rather secretively, helping the gardener by eating caterpillars, aphids, flies and other insects, now is the time they start making a nuisance of themselves around

, such as caterpillars and insects. My problem was that I suddenly didn't want to go anywhere near my beloved compost heaps.Feeling despondent, I asked my friend on the plot if she had any advice to give me. "I know it sounds strange" she said, "but you might have heard

a hot bath and a glass of something restorative.May the caterpillars discover that synchronized swimming is infinitely preferable to cabbage munching.May your tomatoes be strangers to blight.May you always have just the right number of pots to hand

the small golfball-sized embryo nest with its 15-20 cells in a single paper comb. After she has laid her first 15-20 eggs in these, she must forage for caterpillars, flies, aphids and other insects to feed to the grubs that hatch.This is a vulnerable time

attractive to butterflies and moths. If left to seed, it will naturalise all over the garden.Verbena bonariensisThis climbing evergreen provides a supply of nectar and pollen until late November. Holly blue caterpillars also feed on its leaves, while many

- all of which are rich in nectar, and are particularly attractive to hoverflies and lacewings whose larvae, in turn, eat aphids.Stinging nettles are essential food for the caterpillars of butterflies such as red admirals, tortoiseshells and peacocks