How are birds linked to house prices? How can a gardener improve the flavour of their vegetables? Do wildflowers really thrive in poor soil? In this collection of articles from The Telegraph, biologist and gardening columnist Ken Thompson takes a scientific look at some of the greater – and lesser – questions faced by gardeners everywhere in a bid to sort the genuine wisdom from the hokum. What is the ideal temperature for a compost heap? What do bees do that improves strawberries? Why are gardeners in literature always such dummies? This is an expert's gardening miscellany, aimed at making you not necessarily a better gardener, but probably a far more thoughtful one. AUTHOR: Ken Thompson was for twenty years a lecturer in the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences at the University of Sheffield. He writes regularly on gardening for the Daily Telegraph. His previous book, Where Do Camels Belong? (Profile, 2014), was described as 'lively and punchy' by the Sunday Times.