ORGANIC gardener Graham Gooderham, of Pershore, has produced the first three books of what he hopes will be a series for children about the creatures that will visit gardens where no poisons are used.

"It seems important to me that we tell our children and grandchildren what goes on in the gardens if we don't kill them all off," said Mr Gooderham, of Abbeycroft, Pershore.

He took early retirement from being an architect in local government where he specialised in the conservation of buildings and trees.

Mr Gooderham has been an organic gardener in his walled garden in Pershore and a member of the Henry Doubleday Research Association for over 30 years. He has carried out many experiments for the association in his garden.

He is the Green Apostle at Evesham Methodist Church which was the first church in the country to receive an ECO award in 2001 for caring for the environment.

Mr Gooderham explained: "The books are meant to be educational as most will tell the life story of the animals. There are tips on how to encourage the animals into your garden and they have adventures, scary as well as good, as they grow up, talking to other animals, including humans."

The books are based on things that have happened in his own garden and were sparked by his eldest grand-daughter who used to say: "Grandad, can we go and look at the animals in the garden, meaning spiders, worms and birds."

The series is called Organic Friends. The First is Anita the Ant, the second Ferdinand the Frog and the third Henrietta the Hedgehog.

Ants have always been known to be highly organised, Mr Gooderham said. The book follows the life history of a female worker ant as she organises trips out to collect honey dew for the new baby ants. Frogs do a good job in the organic garden as they love to eat little slugs which can do a lot of damage to plants and Mr Gooderham charts the amazing life history of Ferdinand as he goes from spawn to tadpole to frog. Hedgehogs have always been of interest to children, the balls of spikes moving much faster than people think. Follow the life history of Henrietta from when she is taken into an organic garden and meets Henry.

Illustrated by Barrie Dunwell and published by Tucann books, they cost £3.25 each and are available from Pplumz, High Street, Pershore, and Phoenix Book Shop, Riverside Arcade, Evesham.

Signed copies are available from Arcade Bookshop, High Street, Pershore, and personalised signed copies from Mr Gooderham on 01386 553930. All profits are going to charity.