Well warned, Wigbag. I do agree and just hope people won't be caught out. I must admit, I had to plant out the celeriac and the spray chrysanthemum because they were getting too big for their containers, but I've got fleece ready to cover them. Similarly the potatoes which are growing in bags at hom...

Apparently, one of our local bee keepers has lost two thirds of his hives this winter. No wonder there not many bees about here.

I love frogs, too. My husband scythes the long grass on our local Nature Reserve and the trouble is, the frogs don't hear him coming (not noisy like a lawn mower, you see), so every year there are a few casualties, not at all nice, but he does do his best to get them out of the grass first.

It's strange how your 'children' always remain your 'children' however old they are. We've just had a text from son No 2, 47 years old, who is in China for three weeks. All is well, he is well away from the earthquake area. That was a relief! How dreadful, though, for the thousands of people affecte...

We net all our brassicas the moment they are planted but only against birds (particularly a rapacious pheasant which decapitates the plants but doesn't even eat them - what a waste!). Cabbage whites can get through the netting but, like Plumpudding, we squash the eggs and collect the caterpillars. W...

We've only just planted our main crop and late potatoes - this is our "normal" time and they always do ok. This year I am just worried about the dry soil on top but I am hoping that there is still enough damp soil lower down.

Forgot to say: I tried the mealworm culture once, Kevin, but it all went horribly wrong and mouldy. Do you think it was too warm?

Our first lot of robins fledged successfully and mother has now built a second nest in the same patch of ivy on the house wall but about three feet further up. Strangely, there is already a blackbird's nest only about 2 feet away but the two families (or couples I should say, at the moment) seemed t...

Colin, I've been looking out for bees lately and have seen very few, but lots of bumble bees, like you. We have three very large bird cherries (Prunus padus) growing near us. They are in flower at the moment and are usually buzzing with honey bees, but not this year. We have two bee keepers not far ...

Compo, I am not Geoff, but we do have a shredder, the largest electric one we could find some years ago. And it works to a point: it certainly shreds small straight branches and dry vegetation (say, of herbaceous plants) but it always has problems with softer stuff. Ivy tends to curl round the cutte...

Don't be tempted to buy dried mealworms - I find that the birds don't really take to them, they must be live. Wigglywigglers sells them as do some pet shops and shops on nature reserves but, unfortunately, more and more of them are now stocking only the dried version.

It's been a gorgeous day, hasn't it? And there is more to come according to the forecasters and the web. Will have to start watering the allotment soon! We bought a new garden seat today (the last one, 20+ years old, collapsed under husband's weight!), so we'll sit out tonight and watch the bats swo...

I use Humax all-purpose compost, good consistency, nice feel to it and easy to wet. Produces results, too.

We only have a smallish garden but at the last count we had two pairs of blackbirds nesting, one robin pair (all feeding young), two blue tit pairs in boxes, a dunnock pair and this morning a female greenfinch started carrying lots of nesting material into our ivy overgrown cotoneaster tree. When we...

We certainly haven't seen many bees around but plenty of bumble bees! The one thing which has struck me is the absence of butterflies, just a few small tortoiseshell, one peacock and one small white. There should be comma, green-veined white and orange tip about now. Last year was bad for butterflie...