Pests to watch out for this spring Encourage predators. Frogs, toads, ground-beetles, birds, slow-worms and hedgehogs all eat slugs and snails. See our guide to making your garden more attractive to pest-preventing animals and insects. Aphid-munching ladybirds and lacewings can be a gardeners' best friend. Encourage them with a ladybird house or lacewing chamber. Check evergreen plants for sooty mould, which could indicate a cushion scale infestation. Later it will turn to a waxy white deposit as eggs are laid. Wipe with a damp cloth. When cleaning your greenhouse, look for fluffy, white wax on the underside of leaves. It could indicate mealybugs. During the summer, they are prey for certain wasps and ladybirds. Otherwise, throw out affected plants. Irregular notches on leaves could mean vine weevils. Treat with Nemasys Vine Weevil Killer. It might be ugly, but wire netting is about the only way to stop squirrels getting at young plants, bulbs and seeds. The cold and the wet may have helped to limit some pests, such as aphids, viburnum beetles and the horse chestnut leaf-mining moth. For organic pest control, see Green Gardener (01493 750061)