A new season of gardening is fast approaching and with it dreams of prize parsnips, romantic roses and other alliterative garden successes, far too plentiful to mention. After all, gardening is as much about hope, as it is about the reality – which can deliver as many failures (best forgotten of course) as brilliant successes. For every fragrant sweet pea twining delicately round an arbour, there is a slug-rasped delphinium or beetle-ravaged lily which failed to bloom.

For most gardeners these days, preventing pest damage without harming wildlife is an absolute essential. What’s the point in a slug-free garden if the songbirds and hedgehogs are missing too? At Toby’s Garden Festival, our solution is to run our eco Garden Advice Clinic where gardeners can access advice from the experts without having to resort to nasty chemicals.

Once again, we’re delighted to partner up with Grazers, maker of deterrent sprays, which can see off slugs, deer, pigeons, even rabbits without upsetting the natural balance. What’s more they can even be used on edible crops due to the food-grade calcium active ingredient. They’ll also be bringing along their new G4 Lily Beetle spray, now in its second year, the only harmless product on the market for this voracious pest.

Dr Ian Bedford, head of Entomology (the study of insects of course!) at the world-famous John Innes Research Centre is back with his microscope too, full of helpful advice on everything from what to do about the humble garden slug to eulogising about and helping to identify the wonderful bugs that grace your garden.

Find the Garden Advice Clinic located adjacent to the Country Gardener Talks Tent at the bottom of the Castle driveway.

Picture credit Jason Ingram