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accessible source of pollen for bees and hoverflies. If left into into winter, the papery brown seed heads look beautiful when covered in dense frost.Apart from the addition of extra grit to my heavy soil, keeping my alliums has been easy. Despite frequent

. Then water to settle soil around remaining roots.Allow flower stems to form. The small, pretty blooms attract aphid-eating hoverflies and other beneficial insects.Pods should be picked while small and tender. You can collect seeds for next year’s crops once

will be rat-tailed maggots - they're Hoverfly larvae (Eristalis sp.) and eat decaying organic matter in stagnant water - absolutely nothing to worry about! onehappy person - rimo is right they're rat-tailed maggots. They're not so pretty now, but if you leave

bee is very encouraging.  I had the largest number of bees and hoverflies in my garden last year than I've ever had.  The bees especially loved the 'early bird' dahlias and the hoverflies went wild for the lilies. I saw my first bee last week

with chives, they'll provide welcome pollen to adult hoverflies. My hope is that hoverflies are attracted to my garden to breed, laying their eggs on surrounding fruit trees and crops. Eggs hatch into larvae with a good appetite for eating aphids and pests, so

. It was a hoverfly. Myathropa florea is a handsome and distinctive fly, both wasp-like in its colours, and honeybee-like in its size, build and vuvuzela buzz.What was it doing in the drain? It was probably egg laying. This is one of the hoverflies

such as bees and hoverflies.  Good stuff.

, many of which are in decline. And ground elder has flat, umbel-type flowers, which are particularly suited to butterflies and hoverflies. So it might be worth saving time and effort and just leaving your wild patch, as it sounds like it is already a

You can create a wildlife corner in eventhe smallest garden, and it doesn't have to be a patch of unmown grass or a scrambling scrub thicket. A single, large container will suffice, containing plants to attract bees, butterflies, hoverflies

. In severe cases, growth becomes distorted, leaves curl up, the plant weakens and can die.Natural predators, such as birds, earwigs, ladybirds, lacewings, hoverflies, ground beetles, spiders and parasitic wasps are a gardener's best allies. Some