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Purple-striped green beetles, 8mm long, congregate among the leaves, which they feed on. The beetles lay elongated eggs beneath the leaves from September and continue to do so on warm days right through winter. These hatch after a couple of weeks

, sugary substance (called honeydew) which encourages the growth of a fungus called sooty mould. Early summer is the best time to tackle the problem, when the newly hatched insects are crawling around looking for a place to feed and settle

the base of trees with garden compost to maintain general health, and water well in dry summer weather. Avoid over-feeding with nitrogen fertiliser.Spray the whole tree or bush with Bordeaux mixture during late January and repeat two weeks later to kill

with a mulch of straw or ash.AdamWater regularly but sparingly and feed fortnightly during the growing season with a high-potash fertiliser, such as tomato feed. Agapanthus flower best when they're slightly pot bound, so plant them in a container smaller

Make fat cakes for the birdsEnjoy watching birds feeding in your garden all through the winter by making your own fat cakes for them. Feeding garden birds is important for their survival over the coming months so make up a pot of our mixture

materials - dry, wet, soft and woody - otherwise they become slimy. Don't add nettle roots, unless your heap is very hot.Nettles on the compost heapMore about using garden weedsMake a nettle feed in a containerHow to feed your plantsMake a comfrey feed

and avoid letting the compost dry out.Once the seed leaves have fully expanded, prick out individual seedlings into 7cm diameter pots. Handle the seeds by the leaf to avoid crushing the stem. Feed with a general liquid feed - such as seaweed - once a week

two years for your ball shape to fully develop.Find out how to create more topiary shapes, in Alan Titchmarsh's feature in the November 2011 issue of Gardeners' World Magazine, on sale now. Alan explains how to make a range of shapes, including cones

the adult bee, while the pollen is collected to feed the young. Of course, the more flowers you have, the more attractive your garden is to bees, so you can never have too many!Plants for lifeTry the following to attract more bumblebees into your garden

Find out how to identify the six species of bumblebee likely to visit gardens, by using our easy-to-follow guide.In recent years, bumblebeeshave suffered massive declines, leaving two of the UK's 27 native species extinct. Loss of habitat