If Stefan can...

STEFAN Buczacki is impeccably turned out, his trademark bow tie neatly knotted. So his top tip for gardeners of all abilities comes as no surprise. "One thing I always say, and it's relevant at this time of year, is a garden that looks neat and tidy is bound to be a healthier garden," he says.

"Clear away the dead plant remains and old plant pots, places where pests could hide.

"I don't mean the place should be absolutely spotless. I would also advocate when you cut down plants you leave some of the dead seed buds. If you do, the birds will have them and are less likely to peck the buds on your fruit bushes."

Listening to him, it's like being in your own personal episode of Gardeners' Question Time. It would be easy to take advantage, to ask him about our knobbly lawn and misshapen hedge, but that would be selfish.

Instead, I inquire about the book he has travelled to Waterstone's in York to promote. Plant Problems: Prevention and Control does, he explains, exactly what it says on the cover.

"It's about identifying problems of all sorts in your garden - pests, diseases, fertilisers."

Had he written this book a generation ago, some of the advice would have been very different, he admits. Today he only advocates limited and careful use of chemical pesticides. "Twenty-five years ago we recommended chemical control measures without a second thought.

"There were many more chemicals around then. People expected that and used them as a first resort.

"I think good gardeners are intuitively organic. But what's happened in more recent times, people have been made more aware of it."

Prof Buczacki makes it clear that he is not advocating a quick-fix approach to gardening. Last year he hit the headlines after criticising TV programmes such as Ground Force that "use their subjects as entertainment".

He is a traditionalist, even defecting to Classic FM from Radio 4's Gardeners' Question Time because it was "too showbizzy".

"You have got to put the effort in. That's why I have said on a number of occasions that I worry greatly about the makeover programmes.

"They do imply that gardening has a quick answer - it doesn't. Gardens aren't created in weekends. More to the point, the garden isn't finished at the end of the weekend. I am not suggesting that gardening is a chore or a labour, I'm saying it does take time to do it properly. The pleasure of gardening comes from doing it in a leisurely way."

You need eight years to establish a mature garden, he estimates. His own, in Stratford-upon-Avon, is 16 years old.

As a long-serving panellist on Gardeners' Question Time he has answered tens of thousands of queries. He has settled garden-based disputes between husbands and wives, and regularly dealt with the hardy perennial: "'We want a plant for a north-facing wall that's going to grow quickly, need minimum maintenance, produce perfumed flowers and be hardy enough for some northern part of the country.' I'm not sure there's a plant that fits those criteria."

He has rarely been stumped, save for the time when someone told him: "I planted a plum stone and an apple tree has grown." "There's something they're not telling you," he says. "Percy Thrower used to say to me if asked a question you don't know the answer to, tell them 'you have planted it too deep'."

Prof Buczacki's biggest project is his next book, Fauna Britannica. It will be an extensive tome chronicling the many ways in which wild animal life in Britain has become interwoven with human culture and folklore.

His love of animals preceded his love of gardening, and he says a good gardener is automatically a naturalist.

He would love to hear from anyone who has examples of animal folklore or legend in Yorkshire. If you can help write to him at PO Box 24, Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 8ZB.

Plant Problems: Prevention and Control by Stefan Buczacki is published by David & Charles, price £20