Get a buzz out of your garden
Let’s make a New Year resolution to go wild and help vital pollinators
AMID the pandemic it’s estimated three million more people have begun gardening in the UK to help them get through. I’m not surprised. Gardening helps us reconnect while we’re planting, weeding, watering or mowing the lawn. The task is all consuming and allows us to forget our woes, even if just for brief moments.
And it’s so satisfying to grow edible produce or flowers – the feeling of nurturing and creativity helps alleviate issues which can overwhelm.
In the past few days we’ve just begun a new calendar year and a new gardening year.
Outside things are still. Before the days get noticeably longer and before the soil warms and plants grow we can take time to consider how to make our plots more beautiful in a way that’s better for our environment.
Gardening is changing. We share our growing spaces with all types of other life forms. And we’re waking up to a realisation that our gardening practices need to accommodate the whole ecosystem rather than just our need for order, tidiness, bountiful blossoms and perfect produce.
This year my emphasis through these pages will be an exploration of how we can garden for the greater good. And there are a few headline topics which would be great to consider as we start out.
Through the seasons we’ll look at each topic in detail but for now these are my 2021 garden resolution headlines:
PLANT FOR POLLINATORS
BEE numbers have been declining for years due to a combination of reasons, including increased use of pesticides, climate change and parasites.
We need bees, moths and other pollinators to ensure our ecosystem is healthy and that we can grow food. By planting species which produce plenty of pollen which is easily available to pollinators we will ensure our garden buzzes with life.
So consider planting wildflower mixes, bulbs such as alliums and crocuses, perennials such as asters, sedum and poppies, plus shrubs like lavender and rosemary.
A varied ecosystem in your garden will enhance your enjoyment of the space and will attract beneficial insects and pollinators.
COMPOST YOUR GREEN WASTE
RATHER than shipping out your garden waste to let someone else take care of it, turn it into rich soil-nourishing material by creating
a compost heap with grass cuttings, blossoms which have been dead headed, leftover salad leaves.
Even eggshells will break down and in time form a nutrient-rich material which can be dug directly into the ground or used as a mulch around the base of plants.
This will feed the soil and help it to retain moisture, and reduce the need for chemical or other artificial feeds.
USE LESS OR NO PEAT
AS gardeners we’ve become far too reliant on peat as a base for planting and growing. It’s an excellent gardening aid but it’s a finite resource which comes from valuable bogs which deserve protection.
They are beautiful ecosystems in themselves which support a distinct group of flora and fauna, along with storing carbon.
So let’s look out for reduced peat or, even better, peat-free composts in the garden centre and do our bit to preserve our bogs while maintaining beautiful gardens.
CONSIDER ALTERNATIVES TO GRASS LAWNS
OUR default garden feature which seems to cover the country is the garden lawn.
BRIGHT IDEA Attractive chamomile flowers
And it can be a wonderful resource – a great place for children to play games or a beautiful green velvety rug, the perfect foil for flowericious borders.
However, lawns are highmaintenance features which demand way too much attention from lawnmowers, sprinklers and chemicals which make them look greener or kill off moss or flowering weeds.
What’s worse is the lawn is made up of hundreds of thousands of individual grass plants which would flower if given a chance, and those flowers produce beneficial pollen.
But before they get a chance to blossom it’s ‘off with their heads’.
So this year we’ll look at some alternatives... lawns which are made from clover, thyme or camomile.
And we’ll be really radical and examine what it’s like to simply let a portion of your lawn grow and grow and grow – and not worry what the neighbours think.
If you do that you’ll unleash a beautiful world of flowering wonder – and it’s better gardening for you and our planet 2021 style!