Eco Gardening

  GET INSPIRED TO CREATE A WILDLIFE FRIENDLY AREAS TO ATTRACT &

SAVE OUR THREATENED SPECIES
 

We dont all have a garden or our own, and few have a meadow like the one above, but we can sow meadow seeds in any available space we can find and make our environment more friendly to both bugs and creatures alike. Below are some ideas to start you off and you can try using window boxes, tubs, containers like old watering cans, colandars, or coloured enamel tins.
If you cannot cultivate your own garden, be inspired by the Guerrilla Gardening site

Bumblebees & Honeybees! 
Planting nectar and pollen rich plants to attract and save them such as  -  
Wild Flowers:   foxglove; red campion; honeysuckle; calendula; larkspur; lupin; clover; bird’s foot trefoil; knapweed; any of the scabious family; teasel; heather; blackberry; wild marjoram. 
Garden Flowers:  rosemary; hollyhocks; any of the mints; comfrey; lavender; delphinium.

Meadow planting:
 in your grass area or in pots or create a wildflower meadow

Butterflies and moths need cover and nectar and pollen rich plants

Ladybirds - BUT beware of Harlequins who eat lots of pests including our ladybird larvae! What does a Harlequin look like? check it out on the button

  and like all the other gardening helpers – all need Bug boxes – you can make your own and save money

Log piles for shelter and hibernation - Wild untidy corners, great excuse NOT to clear up – ivy provides good cover too.

Hedgehogs - help them by setting up urban trails- get your neighbours to help you join your gardens up so hedgehogs can move more freely when hunting and avoid roads by planting hedges not fences and making scoops under the fencing to allow access! Make a hedgehog box as a hibernation home

Toad and frog and newts – ponds, make dry retreats for them outside of the ponds. Check Icy ponds advice on managing the water and creatures hibernating at the bottom

Toad crossing, if you have one near you get it registered with a warning sign!

Birds  - See our Bird page & the RSPB here

Bats  are a sign of a healthy garden, especially if there is a pond, bog garden and other producers of insects. Try identifying which ones you have seen

Composting - how to do it and also make leafmould     

Wormeries can help your compost – vast array to choose from and the UK has about
28 species of worms all of our own

Rainwater butts provide free water for gardeners, put buckets under hedges to collect more –
always put sticks in for creatures to escape on!