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with sunbathing beasts: shieldbugs, spiders, ladybirds, bees, and two cats nestled in at the bottom. The newts have returned to the pond too; four of them were swimming about in there. These are the regular denizens of my garden, but two unusual visitors were a

-fashioned technique, but it's a brilliant way to rapidly reduce the temperature in a greenhouse or coldframe. It also increases humidity levels, which helps to reduce the risk of red spider mite.But what I want to know is, if I had used some of the plant oil-based bug

as relentlessly. It is best just to watch: in the morning the spiders webs are glimmering with dew, the sun sneaks over the horizon at a much more civilised hour, the light is different, the sun (when it is there) is just the right temperature, the trees

greenhouse cucumbers always succumb to red spider mite. Hostas act like a magnet to the local snail population.Well, I'm not having this! I've been fighting back, organically of course, especially on crops I'm going to eat or feed the family.How disappointing

woodlouse in the middle of moulting. Unlike insects and spiders, which rid the whole outer skin at once, woodlice remove first the back half, then, a few days later, the front half. This is the smooth woodlouse, Oniscus asellus, just slipping off its

are available from mail order fruit suppliers for immediate potting. Kept on greenhouse staging, they quickly grow during spring. It’s important to be vigilant for signs of greenfly or red spider mite, and to treat affected plants immediately. Warm greenhouse

ready for the council to come and collect. On some of the leaves were ladybird pupae, while spiders spun new webs in the wreckage. There may also have been chrysalises of the holly blue butterfly, whose caterpillars feed on ivy in summer. They

, some cannas, bamboo canes, most of a fruit cage, various rodents, many spiders and assorted half-empty paint pots. Bit of a mess, really - especially when compared to Adam's shed.What it doesn't contain is much in the way of chemicals. I'm not strictly

in there. There are no skaters. They were usually the first insects to arrive and we used to have a squadron of them zooming over the surface. This bunch took advantage of a drowning spider. And there are no boatmen or beetles yet either. But Saturday saw

curtains (bear with me, this sort of makes sense). Midsummer borders would be all brocade and swags and ferluffles, while late-summer curtains would be a lot simpler and probably with a few spiders' webs along the edges.I think, perhaps, it's time