Squirmy Wormies

It's spring time, and for your garden birdies that means one thing – chicks, and lots of them! Your garden birds will be super busy at the moment, and with the wonderful warm spring we've had most will be starting to think about their second brood. In the garden this weekend we've already had Greenfich, Goldfinch and Sparrow fledglings hopping around.

Live food at this time of year is a very welcome addition for those busy parents, Robins, Blackbirds and Sparrows are particularly partial to a mealworm or two. They're high in protein so make a great food source for those growing chicks. We get ours from CJ Wildlife – who not only stock live foods but a large range of seed mixes and nuts.

It can work out pretty expensive so we only really put them out at this time of year to give our feathered friends a helping hand. We'll then revert back to our normal feed which is a combination of kibbled sunflower hearts, peanuts and nyjer seed.

Basil Blunder

We're going for three different types of Basil this year. A Basil Bush, some Mini Basil and then the traditional Sweet Basil we all know and love.

Look at the image on the packaging of the Sweet Basil. I find this a very odd choice! It's a shot of some fully bolting Basil. Why would I want my Basil to bolt?! Packaging is all about luring the customer in - mmmmm look at this wonderful sweet juicy herb. I can't imagine there are many gardeners out there who would want their Basil to bolt - it goes very bitter and peppery at that stage and isn't very nice at all. Oh well - let's hope for once the packaging doesn't hold true!

Repotting tomatoes

We repotted the tomatoes today. They've been quite happy on the windowsill for about six weeks and were starting to outgrow their pots.

Repotting is pretty simple but a good tip for tomatoes is plant them deep so the soil almost comes up to the first set of leaves – it makes for a good sturdy plant as it encourages them to send out lots more roots.

Tumbling Toms have been our pick for two years running, so we thought it's time for a change – this year we're growing two varieties – 'Gardeners Delight' which is a bit of a classic apparently and also 'Sweet and Neat' – a mini yellow variety.

Hopefully they'll give us a good harvest.

Yet ANOTHER pest to worry about...

Check out this fella. I thought he was very attractive at first - metallic, almost jewel like. So I did a little Google and it turns out him and his crew have taken a liking to our Rosemary bush and are working their way through its juicy leaves.

Chrysolina Americana or the Rosemary Beetle is actually from Southern Europe and has been found in the UK since around 1994, mainly in London but slowly spreading. The RHS are monitoring the spread of this pest so if you want to record your sighting submit your record here.

It seems there are no natural predators for this pest so currently the RHS are recommending either hand picking the adults and larvae off or using a suitable insecticide. I think I'll try the hand picking first to see if I can reduce the population enough for the plant to bounce back.