Take an hour out with the birds
Make your bird-friendly garden count
Landcare Research is running its annual Garden Bird Survey from today until July 5. To participate, you just need to spend 60 minutes in your garden, local park or reserve, recording the birds you see. Count the native and nonnative bird species and record the highest number of each species seen at any one time. To take part go to landcareresearch.co.nz. There are numerous resources including helpful pictures of the birds you are most likely to see and printable tally sheets. Once you have done the count, you submit your results online and the surveys are analysed by Manaaki Whenua scientists.
This nationwide citizen science project monitors changes in the population and distribution of garden birds. Year on year, the data collected has revealed interesting and important trends in bird species’ abundance, but themore people who take part, the clearer and more detailed the national picture becomes. The hope this year is to see participation increase – partially because the recent lockdown seems to be driving a surge of interest in birds.
There’s a lot to love about frosts
A frost can wipe out pests and diseases and help break up heavy soil. Deciduous fruit trees like a winter chill, and a cold snap turns the starches to sugar in crops such as parsnips and swedes.
But not every plant in your garden likes a frost and it will damage the likes of citrus and tamarillos. Keep the frost cloth handy for them; but, if you forget and they get frosted, don’t cut off any frost-damaged stems or foliage. Doing so will encourage a rush of soft new growthwhichwill suffer the next cold night.
Frames should be big enough to hold frost cloth above foliage without touching it so a layer of air acts as insulation. For young citrus trees it’s worth building a frame to cover thewhole tree if you are in a frost pocket.
If it rains, stay out of your garden
Great soil is described as friable, or nice and crumbly if you rub it between your fingers. Friable soil contains air (enough to allow water to pass through but not so much that organicmatter is washed away). But walking on, or digging over, wet soil squeezes the air out and causes soil compaction that can take years to recover from. If you need to walk across your vege beds in order to harvest, lay down planks to walk along, tominimise the potential compaction.
In the flower beds, strategically placed stepping stones are easier to manage than long boards and they can be easilymoved if your planting layout changes. Individual pavers are available from hardware outlets or make your own from recycled materials such as bricks or slices of tree trunks.
– compiled by Barbara Smith