Growing vegetable plants in bulk can have its problems, with various bugs and beasties wanting to eat the bounty before you. A  trip to almost any garden centre or agricultural wholesaler will undoubtedly offer an arsenal of chemicals to make your plants grow bigger, better and healthier...But.... there is always an alternative and in many cases the organic treatments have been tried and tested for centuries. Garlic for example has more uses than just pan Andaluz (olive oil garlic toast..mmm) so here is an organic recipe that keeps the greenfly population down and also controls other basic plant afflictions.

The month of July in Andalucia is a time when many young creatures become active around the garden. Many have been waiting for the warmth to build up to trigger their hatching or were previously too tiny to be noticed. There are hundreds of mini sized grasshoppers which ping through the dried grasses as we walk beneath the olive trees. A closer look also reveals some diminutive Ameles species of mantis which live amongst the islands of grass which we leave uncut as a refuge for wildlife. This is a time of plentiful bounty for the many young birds which have fledged around the garden.