AM always amazed by the codswallop that garden experts write—ponderous statements of fact that I know from my own experience to be complete bunkum. Here’s an example: ‘Never water plants in sunshine because you’ll scorch the leaves.’ Utter nonsense. Here’s another: ‘Plant garlic among your brassicas to scare away aphids and cabbage-white butterflies.’ Try it if you wish, but it doesn’t work. Nor do marigolds. The truth is that aphid infestations vary enormously from week to week and garden to garden. You never know whether or when one will turn up. Some years, I find very— do not repel moles.
