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of my great pleasures is weeding while listening to my iPod. So easy to use and no danger of ruining it by squishing soil into the springs or weeds into the woofers. Sometimes I have random music so it can easily flit from Rachmaninov to Radiohead, Gogol

completely different foodplants. Butterflies in the spring emergence lay their eggs on holly and their caterpillars feed on the developing buds. When these insects reach adulthood in late-summer they lay their eggs on ivy flower buds. At least

for jumping or burrowing like similarly endowed insects, nor does it seem to use them in any peculiar mating ritual. And, as my finder asked, if only the males have fat legs what do we call the females?On the allotment, spring has arrived in the form of a

down drastically. There was a time when the water was only potable after using one of those tabletop filter devices to get rid of the chlorine smell, but now it's as clear as bottled spring water. I've always told people that the tap water is now fine

, it's the apples and pears that have been the subject of my attentions. As we know, apple trees blossom picturesquely in spring. These flowers then develop into small fruits and then, in June, the tree shrugs and loses a fair few of these (this

.But this is no longer enough. Next year I want cornflowers (a pretty easy option: direct sow where you need them in spring) in blue and purple; I yearn for chirpy orange calendulas; I pine for the delicate pink Nicotiana mutabilis and, more than anything, I want

the base from early spring, unfurling beautifully. The only other thing I've noticed with new growth in my pots is that it can look very pale, which I put down to lack of feed. So pay attention, and add liquid feed to a watering every couple of weeks

Garden Media Guild Awards) but above all he is an enthusiast.He follows in the footsteps of not only recent figures (the late Geoff Hamilton springs to mind) but of many of the great plant hunters. Have you ever grown Viburnum farreri? You should

. Hopefully to be caught by the beekeeper and introduced to a new hive or skep. In a good spring, when nectar and pollen are in glut, an early swarm in May or June would be a welcome increase to the keeper's holdings well worth that hay or spoon.April does

they hunted in packs, like wolves. Of course, each is hunting alone, but they often appear in numbers at this time of year, scurrying across bare ground in the spring sunshine.The ones running around my tulips are Pardosa, and although I can't decide exactly