When they have a problem with pests, they need to be told how to solve it. What they don't want is a sermon on how they should befriend these darling little critters in their flowerbeds and kitchen gardens. It's like asking a doctor for help with your personal creepy crawlies and being told to welcome the lice in your hair and the fleas on the dog.
I do not want aphids in my garden. They suck the sap of my roses, distort the growth and carry virus diseases. But the RHS calls them 'an important part of many food chains, supporting many predators' and therefore, 'part of a balanced garden ecosystem'.
It tells us to wait patiently until wasps and ladybirds eat them. I quite like ladybirds, although they don't always turn up when I need them, but I don't want the wasps anywhere in my garden. They get in the way and quickly turn nasty. Hornets are worse. They are noisy, big and frightening. Heaven knows why the Germans give them statutory protection. And now we must contend with the Asian hornets, which are much less cuddly because their nests are enormous and they prey on our beehives. No doubt the time will come when the RHS considers them 'part of a balanced garden ecosystem'.
Denne historien er fra September 14, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra September 14, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds