When weeds can give nature a helping hand
When it comes to my own allotment plot, I have to reassure myself that appearance is not all that counts. At this time of year, I find it easy to feel a degree of envy at some of those plots where the ground has been raked and there’s not a weed in sight.
My own plot still has dried-out stalks of teasels and sunflowers and the blackened remains of French beans. However, they are there for a purpose. Roots of legumes such as peas and beans fix nitrogen in the soil. When I need that area for planting up, they’ll get composted. In other places, there’s a sward of weed cover consisting mainly of chickweed anchoring the topsoil in place when heavy rain falls. Seeding flowerheads have given food to tits and finches and now their hollow stems are homes to ladybirds and other wintering insects. Spring bulbs like crocus and brilliant blue rosemary are welcomed by early bees venturing out on sunny days.
At the back of the plot, I’ve got a bundle of old raspberry canes that will come in handy as supports for first early peas. Just now, they’re doing good service as perches for a pair of resident robins who watch, waiting to pounce on anything tasty I unearth. Nature is not out there to ruin things for us. Actually, we need nature more than it needs us!
We often talk of a food chain to try and understand which creature depends on another and in what way. Their interdependence can be quite
Bare earth with no odd corners of weeds is a hostile place for wildlife
complicated and I think it helps to think of it as a food web where there are dozens of different connections and not just one pathway. Bare earth with no odd corners of weeds or heaps of dried twigs is a hostile place for the wildlife we should be cherishing.
An enthusiastic DIY plotholder on our site has been making bird boxes which are now in place. They are all numbered and success rates will be recorded. According to the RSPB, a blue tit chick can eat an astonishing 100 caterpillars a day as well as seeds, insects and berries.
There’s a world of a difference between an allotment plot which is being managed holistically to provide food for people and wildlife and one which is under-used and unkempt and needs to be given up and handed on to someone in the queue of plotholders on waiting lists. n