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I have been greatly preoccupied with ponds recently. A client of mine has an unbelievably wet field - most of it squelches underfoot and any holes dug fill immediately with water - in which we have been digging ponds. These are not small ponds

and this year there were far too many; I pulled out about half but that was not enough. They smothered the other plants and ruined a whole corner of the garden. This autumn I shall be ruthless and will dig up 90% of the seedlings.That is probably enough of my

lucky the Central Committee for Agriculture may plant some of my annual flowers for the cutting bed I had planned, but for all I know they could be planning to dig the whole lot up and plant nothing but potatoes!

a short flight to the raspberries, comfrey and clover he grows.If you want wildlife nesting in your garden, then build log and leaf piles, start a compost heap, leave a messy area, plant nectar-rich flowers and dig a pond. You could also use an old

the hours of darkness or when you are at work: never at the weekends.May your bindweed throttle itself.May your neighbour's cat be less generous with its toilette.May all your trees grow straight and true.May all your post-digging back aches disappear after

they simply become bird food!Crops are planted in beds about 1m wide with a narrow paved path between each for easy access. I've just finished digging the beds, adding plenty of homemade compost deep down in the process, and now I'm planning what to grow

themselves here. They are smaller and tubbier than the bees, and have a distinct long straight pointed proboscis for sipping nectar while hovering in mid air. It's no coincidence that they are here too. When the bees start to dig their nest burrows

as growing plants. Last year I planted some seedling rhubarb plants from an organic veg plant supplier, but seedlings were only available of the popular 'Victoria'.We expect a lot from our rhubarb, so it's important to dig plenty of rich organic compost

queens and males emerge en masse and fly in the air to mate, before the females drop their wings and search for new digs and the males crawl off to die. The day, usually in late-July, is timed perfectly to ensure optimum weather conditions for the event

soil preparation is such an important part of gardening. It may sound like I'm a broken record repeating the advice “dig plenty of compost or manure into your soil”, but without this water-holding, sponge-like reserve, water just drains through soil