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plants (there was a particularly striking group of them in Tom Hoblyn's Chelsea garden in 2009). These have slippery sides into which insects fall and are then digested by the fluid at the base of the pitcher. There are large colonies growing in both

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

, is a bit bracing, there can be midges (one of those insects created with no obviously useful purpose) and rainy days are not unknown around here. But, apart from those minor niggles, it is a paradise largely unspoilt by man.

the young leaves were added to peoples' sandwiches; it supports at least 149 species of insect and the berries feed more than 23 species of bird; hawthorn is pollinated by dung flies and midges attracted to the mildly unpleasant smell and the fact

insects, vegetables and wildlife.You Grow Girl is Canadian, has been going since 2000, and covers pretty much everything.For some reason Austin, Texas seems to teem with garden bloggers - there are at least thirty of them. For a taste of gardening where

only slept in a jungle once and was kept awake by noises and insects, so I lay there enjoying the sound of rain. The connected problem of very wet socks and damp bedding was less appealing. I have to say that I was quite pleased to get out of there

organic as I do have glyphosate (for paths and serious weeds) and a miraculous weedkiller that kills nettles and thistles while leaving grass unscathed - but that's about it. I find pesticides pretty unnecessary as I have only two insect problems: woolly

with a vampire) then bat droppings are not bad at all. Incidentally bat guano looks very similar to mouse droppings. You can easily tell the difference, though, as bat poo crumbles easily (consisting as it does of digested insect corpses) while the mouse

problem: the hazel (unlike many plants) cannot fertilise itself, so needs to find another tree. How to disseminate pollen from one tree to another? Many plants use insects — bees, wasps, moths, butterflies or ants — while others draw on the services

the same lines, is Credit Munch by Birmingham City Council. It is a lush and overflowing vegetable garden with extra plants placed for the benefit of visiting insects and assorted wildlife.Another gold medal-winning garden was the unbelievably colourful