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Birds bring gardens alive, and in so many ways they make gardening worthwhile. It's lovely having them as companions, delving into newly dug soil for worms and pests, but better still when they take up residence and make a nest.What better accolade

, or sparrows, which come in small groups, starlings always arrive mob-handed. It's hard counting them, as they're constantly on the move.And exactly what they're feeding on as they peck their way across my lawn is a mystery. Can there really be enough worms

Although flowers usually steal the headlines, think how bleak a garden would look without foliage. Leaves are a vital part of every garden. Consider the contrast between the lushness of summer and the bleakness of winter, when tender plants have

. Among my favourites are mizuna, pak choi, beetroot, spinach, coriander, and a host of others. I've even been enjoying some rat-tail radish, eating the small seed pods that taste exactly like, well, radish.Fitting fruit into a small garden is always

Hamilton actually collecting leaves fallen from trees along his road, so keen was he to make the most of Nature's bounty. Well, why leave all this lovely material for the council to collect when you could use it in your garden?Shredded leaves will rot down

made it impossible to sow seeds directly outside in the garden. The ground was just too wet, making it difficult to prepare the surface soil to sow into. Any small seeds I did endeavour to sow got washed away, wasting time, effort and money

of the genus Galanthus). Fortunately, there are many great gardens around the country where such enthusiasts can get their snowdrop fix over the coming weeks.Although I grow snowdrops in my own garden, and I admire their short-lived display – most welcome

’t notice its new residents. The nest inside looks quite small, so I suspect it was made by a wren. Which other small birds use boxes I wonder?People often ask me what they can do to attract birds into their garden - well, providing food and water is a great

.In the end we called the Council, who baited boxes, carefully positioned around my neighbours garden. And finally a dead rat was discovered - problem sorted. Happy chickens. Happy neighbours...and a very happy Pasco family.PS Where did the statistic come from

It's worth getting out into the garden even when the weather is so cold. I find I've been missing out for the past few weeks; there's a plant doing its own thing while everything around it is dull and dormant - the hellebore. The oriental hellebore