Growing food outdoors puts plants into the natural environment where complex, often unseen, communities of plants, animals, invertebrates and organisms are all striving to survive. Sometimes our cherished plants are top of the menu for a range of creatures and sometimes they succumb to diseases or are overpowered by plants that would like to grow where our plants are getting started. At pod we don’t believe in eradication but in a balance where some losses should be expected – we do after all share the natural world that our food is growing in. We reckon on only using natural interventions where possible. In the following pages are a range of common pests, problem plants and diseases along with some practical advice on how to avoid them and how to manage them if they do happen to turn up in your garden.