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, bumblebees prefer to nest in messy gardens (although they will feed anywhere with suitable flowers), so I want to give nest-searching queens the illusion that I don't garden at all. The grass will grow long, the borders will rot into themselves

to a cuckoo in the trees. What a beautiful sound, I thought. Then my granny told me that they lay eggs in other birds’ nests and the hatchling kicks out its adopted siblings while the parents continue to feed this monster, oblivious to the fact it

.We're challenging you to grow the world's tallest sunflower. The current world record stands at 8.03m, and is held by German flight attendant Hans Peter Schiffer. He took the record in 2009, but it's not been held by a Brit since 1976 (that was Frank Kelland, from

flowers, thickets and wilderness?), but it's amazing how important the little things are. I see it time and time again, like the value of topping up the bird bath throughout the year, leaving apple windfalls for the blackbirds, or leaving the coriander

and have one snuffling about in the bushes nearby or see one bounding across one of the paths.Then round the corner there's a fight between a grey squirrel and a magpie. The bird is showing its characteristic persistence by hopping and fluttering back

transfer to my newly cut down borders.I try and leave anything with a decent structure standing for as long as possible to give sustenance to small birds (and probably mice), as well as on the off chance that we might have a frost and everything

called 'Morello Crown' on Gisela 5 dwarfing rootstock. It's smaller than the 'Colt' rootstock, so the tree should reach around six to eight feet after 10 years. The 'Crown' variety is a slightly larger strain than the usual morello cherry, it's the one

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

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

of interesting things about oaks:1. Oaks are host to an awful lot of insects, lichens and birds - not to mention the various fungi that hang around the root systems.2. Because of the number of feeding insects, oak leaves look a bit shabby by July but