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); friends whose indoor plants 'got bugs so I threw them in the bin' (I give up) and my poor friend Eli, whose plants flowered and fruited but the tomatoes kept splitting as they ripened (no amount of arguing convinced me she'd been watering them enough

. Foxglove14. Heather15. Honeysuckle16. Lavender17. Poppy18. Pussy willow19. Raspberry20. Red Campion21. Rosemary22. Scabious23. Sea Holly24. Sunflower25. Teasel26. Thistles27. Viper's bugloss28. WisteriaI'm growing 21 of the above plants in my garden

and a pond. Every year a colony of buff-tailed bumblebees nests beneath the neighbours' shed and feeds on my mum's flowers, I'm sure the butterflies do the same. My dad has a nest of common carder bumblebees in his ramshackle allotment compost heap, just

can't bring your wormery indoors (a shed or greenhouse will do), wrap it up with bubble wrap or other suitable material. I'll be doing my best to insulate my compost bin this weekend - at the very least I'll put the lid back on properly. But I fear

. The smaller branches I composted (I was amazed how quickly they disappeared).The tree trunk remained propped up against the shed for six months, until I had a brainwave: I'd use it to make a solitary bee hotel. I got an old wine box, chopped the trunk

was prompted by Butterfly Conservation's Big Butterfly Count.From 16-31 July, Butterfly Conservation hopes thousands will spend just 15 minutes counting butterflies in their garden, local park, field, forest or school. This will help the charity monitor

- spiders are a thuggish bunch and there is always the danger of cannibalism. Although, in this case I don’t think he had too much to worry about. I think she’d probably already eaten too many wasps.

around 2001, and about that time I was shown the end-of-season remains of a nest in a small hollow tree in Sydenham Hill Wood. I had heard of them being spotted in Dulwich Park, but had never been fortunate enough to see them myself.There has been a

never got round to taking a picture of it 'before' and 'after'. All that has now changed.For the past 18 months, Paul Debois has been photographing my garden and allotment for Gardeners World magazine, and I've been really inspired by watching him work

we are making the changes we are making. We are simply going to refocus to satisfy the needs of our core audience."However, criticism of the programme continued through 2010, leading to the announcement last week of further changes for 2011