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the blackbird dug them up, looking for grubs. The second batch of seeds I sowed suffered the same assault. Sid then mysteriously disappeared - has another frustrated gardener taken revenge?The third batch of beans is barely past seedling stage. I'm sure

Yesterday I discovered cuckoo spit on my red valerian (Centranthus ruber). It's considered a pest by many gardeners, but, for me, it's a symbol of great achievement: I've successfully converted a barren, paved courtyard into a lush, green (albeit

, where birds such as sparrows can hunt for caterpillars and garden pests. A clean bird bath provides them with water to drink and clean their feathers (which enables them to insulate themselves against the cold).There’s nothing like that in my garden

crops to kill 'pests' dramatically reduces the amount of food available to them.Luckily, there's a lot gardeners can do to help. If you garden for amphibians, birds, bees and butterflies, you will have already created a fantastic bat habitat. You can

I found a winged, black ant in the garden last week. The child inside me said "Flying Ants Day!" but there was no sign of any others. Perhaps it had just left the nest prematurely to test the atmospheric humidity, or was impatiently hoping to find

greenhouse in Manchester in the hot summer of 2006. They did rather well. This time I'm in London and we’ve had pretty good weather, but I don’t have a greenhouse and my garden only gets sun for two hours a day.My grafted plants 'won' the contest about four

or espalier, try MM106 or MM116 rootstock. For larger trees, choose MM111. You can get smaller rootstocks such as MM26 and MM27, but these tend to produce a smaller crop of fruit with greater susceptibility to pests and disease.What are your favourite apple