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Protection' I remember sitting in gloomy horror as the full array of chemicals used on mass-produced potatoes was revealed. Now I know things have changed since then, but a lot of those chemicals are still used today.Shop-bought organic spuds often leave a

the protection needed to get them started.I'm off to unpack a large box that the postman has just delivered. It seems I got carried away ... again.

, but they are prone to cracking in the summer sun. "It's easy to protect them though," I told her, "you just cover the curds with their own leaves, fixing them with a clothes peg." Laura was rather taken with this idea. "Brilliant!" she said. "I'll use some colourful

of it as everything with protection is looking just fine. So far none of these structures has moved.Another job has suddenly become more necessary — the watering. All this wind, often combined with sunshine, is horrendously drying, so I must grab that watering can

way into a crevice, clearly finding a cosy spot that provided protection through winter.After such a good summer for butterflies, their populations should have been boosted, so let’s hope for even more next summer.

what it was, so I'd look to the sky for answers, hoping I'd see a cuckoo swoop down and spit on the plants. It was only a few years ago that I learned about the froghopper nymph, which protects itself from predators and dehydration in a coating of froth

, which often appear early here, were nowhere to be seen.When they do finally emerge, I’m worried the bulbs will suffer if the freezing temperatures return. So, I’ve been mounding some loose, light wood and bark chippings around the crowns, as a protective

. Beans are frost-tender, so it's important to give them protection if sowing them now, and they don't like having their roots disturbed when being transplanted. So, rather than sow indoors now to transplant later, I've just sown them direct in a deep, 50

hispanica): a plant that has been muscling its way into our gardens and woodlands. Bluebells are protected and it is illegal to dig them up from the wild although there are various nurseries who grow them for sale. They are best planted around this time

protecting from moorhens, but I doubt that this is a very widespread problem.So, this Halloween, remember a pumpkin is not just for carving into scary faces, but tastes delicious too.