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of damage. They tend to feed on exposed areas of the foliage, so it's not too difficult to spot and remove them before they've decimated the plants.Of course, you may not want to remove them from your prized plants. Some gardeners choose to leave them be

one carefully constructed from one cut-out circle of foliage. Inside will have been eggs laid by the leafcutter bee, along with a store of nectar and pollen for the emerging grubs to feed on (we didn't dare look in case we disturbed them).We carefully

bouts of windy weather, they haven't required any support (larger varieties do sometimes need some help, though) and they've needed very little feeding. I just couldn't imagine being without ornamental alliums. And their close relatives garlic, onion

It's been a good year for many crops, but there have been so many critters feeding on the fruit.Most years we lose a fair few apples to the local birds. I never really mind, although it is irritating when they peck small holes in fruits, which

through the fruit press. I suppose I should just be pleased it crawled out before the apples were turned into juice.My slug visitor has thrown me into mollusc mania. I’m collecting slugs, snails and their eggs, and feeding them to the chickens.In theory

windfalls to collect, so we can make some more juice.I’ll save a few apples for the birds - I’m happy to feed them, but I begrudge the wasps, which hollowed out far too many fruits in this year’s crop.

the parent owls feeding what seems like an unbelievable quantity of meals to their young, and then, in recent weeks, its been fascinating, and I must admit often rather amusing watching the young owls learn to fly, and attempt to balance on the top

), the compost, the feed, the potting-on compost, the containers, in some cases the pest-sprays, the lighting and heating sometimes too. And that is not including the man-hours - probably the most unreliable, stressful and costly element in the equation!The other

, at most their feeding results in a little bit of shoot distortion, so leave them alone, or if you really can't bear them, remove them by hand-picking or jetting them off with a hose.

to contain the feeders, enabling the small birds to enter via the mesh holes and feed without the threat of capture. But will the sparrowhawk simply wait nearby and catch them as they leave? Will I still see the sorry sight of a little cloud of tiny feathers