Exploring ways to improve our local environment and live healthily
Some simple methods we have tried of improving biodiversity in our garden.
If only it was still just ‘tuppence a bag’ (thanks Mary Poppins!) then our efforts to feed up the city’s starling population would cost us a lot less. As it is, the cost of meeting the voracious appetite of these birds for our dried blow-worms is proving exorbitant – but worth it! I write about …
Feed the Birds… How we adapted our feeders to be more ‘starling friendly’ Read More »
If, like us, you have a patch of lawn or garden that doesn’t get a lot of sunlight, is often damp and doesn’t enable much to grow on it – even grass – have a think about creating a bog garden. Our patch is in a corner of a lawn in our almost-North-facing front garden. …
So, our first go at a miniature wildflower meadow didn’t quite come off as we hoped! We had high hopes for this little wilding project as we’d seen it work in my mum’s garden and, to a lesser extent in a corner of our back lawn. Suitably encouraged, we took the ambitious step of turning …
Why on Earth did we decide to plant a little native-hedgerow in our smallish garden, with its one flower bed and lawn…? What possessed us to order a batch of 50 tiny shoots of hawthorn, blackthorn, crab apple, bird cherry, field maple and hazel to plant out in said border…? Who the heck wants their …
I’m daring you to go bare for the environment. I know, it is a bit cold for that sort of thing but the time is just right to order some bare-root trees, shrubs or bushes and get them into the ground in your garden or into a pot on your patio/balcony. This will attract birds …
To my mind, a good pond can be the feature that establishes a garden as a truly wildlife-friendly arena. So, while a nice bed of flowers may be great for bees and hover-flies, a carefully-planted- out pond does that too and can attract a greater variety of beneficial and interesting , including dragon-flies, pond-skaters and …
Who wouldn’t want to give nature a home in their garden, yard or balcony and hasn’t read, in the numerous articles on the subject, that the simplest method — in a garden at least — is to let a corner of the lawn grow wild and untended? In my limited experience — I’m not a …
Are we able, even with a small back-garden, to set aside space for nature to take its course a little? When, about a year ago, my wife and I moved into our bungalow, from our large detached house, there were only a couple of downsides to the downsize— one of which was the new place …
How about we all let a little bit of garden go wild? Read More »