Saturday Morning With Jack Tame

Yes, I realise it won’t be summer for another week or so, but the following observations are just a few Gardeners’ Tips to muck around with:  Ancistrocerus gazella is an introduced “potters wasp” from Europe. It got here decades ago and is a really cute predatory wasp that does some great things in your quarter acre paradise. This little wasplet makes nice nests inside hollow tubes and then it goes on the hunt for small caterpillars, usually the leafrollers that silk your leaves together and chew from within their leaf-silk tent.  Ancistrocerus paralyses the caterpillars, lays an egg on them and cements the quarry and its own potential baby inside the carefully chosen tube. Of course, the caterpillar will become food for the ectoparasite, and this helps to reduce the chewing damage on your roses, perennials and other plants.  Here’s a tip: create a bunch of small-diameter bamboo tubes as a choice of real estate for these wasps to live in. The accommodation runs a little bit like that of the ma