Public enemy

Yes, we’re back to the likes and dislikes of the great British gardener, and according to a recent survey, more than a fifth of us agree that wasps are the garden insect we love to hate.

The survey, by GardeningExpress.co.uk, asked people to pick out from a list of 10, the garden creature they hate the most. And that irritating (but very useful) wasp topped the poll with 21 per cent of us saying that the striped stinger looked sinister and had no real purpose apart from annoying people.

One respondent said: “My children despise wasps. They can be happily playing in the garden and all of a sudden one will scream ‘wasp’ and they’ll coming running in at 100 miles an hour. They’re very menacing to look at, and, of course, they can sting. Nasty creatures.”

Not surprisingly, slugs took second place with 18 per cent of respondents saying that the molluscs were completely pointless, destroyed too many plants and their trails of slime were stomach-turning.

Another respondent said: “I’ve never seen the point of slugs. All they do is leave a disgusting trail of slime around my garden and eat my plants. If it wasn’t for slug pellets, my garden would be destroyed.”

Taking third place in the poll was the crane fly, aka daddy long legs, whose larval stage has a bad habit of eating the roots of lawn grass. The insects themselves look a lot like mosquitoes, but they don’t bite humans. Nor do moths, but they got they earned 14 per cent of the vote.

Coming in fifth were ants, with 11 per cent of respondents saying that ants’ nests are a big nuisance and that the insects get everywhere.

The much-maligned spider came next with 10 per cent of the vote, while the plant-damaging snails managed just seven per cent of the vote.

Taking joint eighth place were gardeners’ friends – worms and bumble bees, while the equally valuable ladybird came 10th with a mere one per cent of the vote.Thankfully, one respondent came to their defence, saying: “How can anyone hate a ladybird? I love them. They’re so sweet with their red shells and black spots, are great garden pest catchers and when they crawl up your arm, it really tickles. I adore them.”