I’m fairly sure you can’t use the term “des res” (desirable residence) anymore if you’re an estate agent. I think there was a law passed some years back that said particulars had to be factual and not emotive. I think it was intended to stop the more ambitious estate agents doing Marks and Sparks particulars for houses.

However, I’m hoping that you can use the term to describe DMs new insect boxes that he’s made from offcuts of fence posts. Basically all they are are ends of posts, with holes drilled into them to provide shelter and breeding places for insects. The idea is that there are as many insects that are good for our gardens as are bad and that the good ones will help to control the bad ones!

I don’t confess my garden geekiness too often but not only do I love being in the garden and doing my digging and growing, I also am an avid reader of horticultural stuff. This month’s edition of “The Garden” plopped onto our doormat this week. It’s the monthly journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, of which I am a committed member. I can’t think of a nicer way to spend a day than to spend it wandering around Rosemoor, their place in Devon. Anyway, when I opened it, we spotted a completely marvellous photo on the front cover. It was a shot of a section of the “Future Nature” garden that won a silver-gilt award at the show and it was basically a row of insect towers. The photo was wonderful, as was the idea but unfortunately there was no specific reference to these wonderful palaces for invertebrates contained within the journal at all. That’s often the case with the journal – they have a lovely shot on the front but no further reference inside.

I want to know more. I want to know if these fabulous towers were built with an insider’s knowledge that they would actually be desirable habitats for insects. What might be attracted to them, how to build them, questions, questions, questions?????

Anyway, our habitats are modest by comparison but nonetheless very satisfying to me.