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'm growing for the Gardeners' World Magazine series) seemed to be as happy as Larry.That will teach me to be big headed, last night I found it - evil blackish brown blotches just starting up on the leaves. Luckily it has finally stopped raining so the spores

eating and growing until just large enough to transform into the fleeting adult.Although I find them regularly, I've never seen vapourer caterpillars in any great numbers, but according to several of my moth books they can occasionally be so numerous

A wide variety of pots have graced my patio all summer, hosting a wide and varied range of plants from agapanthus and phormium to miscanthus, eucomis, pelargoniums, and an assortment of colourful bedding - to name but a few.I love growing things

as if it's been the year of the slug, it was rather gratifying to see how successful Pippa's beer traps have been! I have also struggled all summer to get my head round growing beans for drying and when to pick them.You actually leave them to dry

150 years. It feeds on the fruits, using its stylet mouthparts to suck out the juices, in autumn moving to the berries of yew, which also grows profusely on the chalk downs.However, during the 1990s Gonocerus was found, first, at Bookham Common

and would almost certainly treat any of our ants (No.4=) as cocktail snacks.We are unlikely to stumble across the giant Palouse earthworm. Though harmless - and endangered - it can grow to be about a metre long which is enough to give anyone a bit of a shock

-cream stripes down its leaves. This plant I had to buy.Clivia is an evergreen perennial from South Africa where it can be found growing in woodland areas, often alongside streams. From this I surmise it will grow well in a warm, shaded position, and needs

with light levels, as the warm intense sun has appeared in-between both rain and snow showers. While the plants are growing rapidly in the greenhouse, they're also growing soft; we're having to move them outside to keep their growth turgid. However

from slugs. This year I'm determined to do better; I'm trying out two varieties I've not grown before: Tendersnax, an early-maturing sweet carrot and Flyaway, which is supposed to deter carrot root fly. I'm also growing my favourite variety, Parmex

and riddled with holes.However, one should not give up growing hostas just because they can be a little troublesome. Did David take one look at Goliath and wander off to the pub? Did Leonidas and his Spartans gaze upon the hordes of advancing Persians