Wildlife Network: Creating a biodiverse wildlife corridor linking gardens throughout the area
Working together to create a wildlife network through our gardens
From setting aside a small area for wildflowers or creating a natural wood pile, to digging a pond or putting up a bat box, there are many ways to encourage nature to share your garden with you.
Take part whether you’re a newbie to wildlife gardening, or already doing lots for wildlife in your garden; whether you have a large garden or a window box - it can all help!
Sign up below to take part and share what you’d like to know more about (or what you could help others with if you have the skills)
What can we all aim to do?
Based on what works for your garden, choose any of the following that you’d like to add into your garden:
Plants for pollinators
Bird feeders
Trees which are good for birds and insects
Patches of lawn cut less regularly
Nesting boxes
Wild patches
Insect lodges
Wildflower areas
Ponds or water features/tubs/containers
Dead wood areas
Hedgehog homes
Organic gardens (at a minimum no pesticides, herbicides or fungicides used)
Hedgerow areas for birds
Let us know any changes you make, these will be mapped
Setting aside part of the garden or window boxes for wildlife
If you haven’t already done so, you could set aside a section of your garden for wildlife or if you don’t have a garden, a hanging basket or window box is perfect. It could include pollinator friendly plants, plots going wild, ponds or pots of water, bird boxes, insect hotels, hedgehog houses… and more. Let your imagination go...Wild!
Let’s create an East Linton map to celebrate what we already have and are doing.
Please share some tips and photos of what you do to support wildlife in your own garden by sending a video or photo (with your permission to use publicly) to jo.gibb@cael.community These will be pulled together to create an East Linton map celebrating and sharing what is already being done in the area. See Wildlife Map
One to one garden advice from a garden designer
We are very lucky this year (2023) to have a garden designer (Helen) in East Linton who is passionate about gardens for wildlife. She is generously offering her time to offer support to help gardens become wildlife friendly places.
She is offering to meet up with up to three households on Sunday afternoons : 25 June, 30 July, 27 August, 29 September 2023 @ 2.00pm, 3.15pm and 4.30pm.
For each household she is offering to look at the garden together and have a chat about where the garden is at for supporting wildlife, and what people would like to work on over the next wee while.
If you’re interested in receiving this amazing offer of one-to-one garden advice, please contact jo.gibb@cael.community for more details and Helen’s contacts.
Monthly Wildlife Gardening tips
Check out the CAEL website for monthly tips (see below). They are there to support each one of us cultivate our green fingers, nature rich gardens and community green spaces.
Why not share what you are doing for nature that was inspired by the monthly tips and send any photos to : jo.gibb@cael.community These can be added on to the map of what is being done in the area…..
Here’s an example of a tip shared by a member who lets some of his grass grow a bit longer in a managed and creative way!
Open garden days, demonstrations and workshops
Imagine visiting local gardens to see what can be done for wildlife, learn from each other and share ideas. We can make it happen!
Keep an eye on our events page on the website for upcoming garden visits or workshops to sign up to.
If you have a garden, however small, that you feel will inspire others based on what can be done for wildlife, please email jo.gibb@cael.community so it can be added to an Open Garden programme.
So far we have been grateful to a number of local residents who have opened their gardens up to others to visit. There have been opportunities to learn about managing wilder areas and grass, plants for pollinators, ponds and frogs, wildflowers, hedges, birds, homes for hedgehogs and insects, and bees.
An exciting range of demonstrations can be arranged over the year with local gardeners - please feel free to suggest topics. Some ideas to date are: how to build a pond, how to make a bug hotel, how to successfully create a wildflower patch. If you have these skills and could help be part of demonstrations please email jo.gibb@cael.community
Keep an eye on our events pages for workshops and demonstrations that are organised. Events — Climate Action East Linton (cael.community)
Wildflower workshop in the park
In Autumn 2021 a workshop in the park was organised with Sally Gouldstone from Seilich to learn about how to sow and manage a wildlflower patch. Participants were then given seeds to sow in their own gardens. Here are some notes provided by Sally on how to establish wildflowers.
Suggestions, Feedback, Get involved
If you would like to join the team in organising fun and innovative activities within this project, or if you have any feedback or suggestions on what could be done get in touch.
Shared information from members
Hear local botanist, Sally Gouldstone, give a talk at Night Owl Books in East Linton about creating a wildlife garden. Sally, through her business Seilich has set up her own meadow in East Lothian, sells products from it and runs workshops.
Watch this one minute video that one of the Wildlife Network members made on how to make a mini pond
How to make a simple wildlife Pond in an hour
Useful links and resources
How to attract bumblebees to your garden | The Wildlife Trusts
RHS Plants for Pollinators - Garden plants
All about the plants | The RSPB
‘Plants for Bees: A guide to the plants that benefit the bees of the British Isles’ by Kirk and Howes. This book is available to borrow from Climate Action East Linton - please get in touch
Hedgehog Hibernation & Breeding Calendar | Ark Wildlife UK - Ark Wildlife UK
Hedgehog Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD): Causes & Prevention | Ark Wildlife - Ark Wildlife UK
January
Snow, rain and hail make January an unpredictable month however the joys of seeing catkins spilling pollin as they blow in the wind and that very first sighting of a snowdrop tells you Spring is just around the corner…
Encouraging wildlife to your garden:
It might be tempting to cut back and tidy up our garden just now, but first have a think about the invertebrates that could be overwintering there. Do you really need to tidy up yet? Also, if you have ivy in your garden, don’t cut it back until it has flowered. Ivy is one of the very first plants to provide nectar for early emerging invertebrates. It is not unusual to see a queen bumblebee on a warm January day.
Shrubs that have berries are fundamental to a wildlife garden. For example, a cotoneaster, its red or orange berries will be a firm favourite with blackbirds and other thrushes.
Other helpful hints for getting going in your garden:
If you listen to any gardener, they’ll tell you there is always something that can be done in the garden to help prepare for the growing season ahead, even during these quieter months. However there is also much merit in using these long dark days to savor your energy, enjoy some calm and restore yourself; so kick back, relax and enjoy some well deserved R and R - after all you’ve done in your garden for wildlife, you deserve it!
February
After the darkness of January, February brings fresh hope of new life as nature stirs after its winter hibernation.
Encouraging wildlife to your garden:
February is a great month for staying in and putting your feet up with a good seed/plant catalogue. Choosing plants for wildlife is straightforward once you consider a few things.
Year round nectar and pollen sources, so go to the garden centre or plant nursery every month to pick up right plants at the right time (channeling Christine Walkden there! :)
Complicated double/triple blooms are difficult for our native insects to find the food in, so avoid these.
Look for open flowers that have the same kind of shape as native plants like daisies, buttercups or foxgloves. The insects know how to feed from these so copy nature!
https://schoolgardening.rhs.org.uk/resources/info-sheet/plants-for-a-wildlife-garden
One insect that may be easily but unnecessarily overlooked are moths. Moths are important pollinators, but they are an important food source themselves for birds in the garden. Did you know that not all moths are night flying? Some fly in the daytime and can be seen visiting plants like sedums, asters and ivy flowers. However, in the early evening and at night, other species love to explore night-scented plants like nicotiana, jasmine and honeysuckle.
March
You don’t need to have a huge pond in your garden to provide water for wildlife. How about sinking an old dustbin lid or washing up bowl into the ground to encourage birds and hedgehogs emerging from hibernation somewhere to access water? Be careful if you have young children visiting the garden and always put a few rocks or a piece of wood in it to help anything that may accidently fall in get back out and short legged things get in. Think of the creatures you are trying to attract and what they need to access it and stay safe!
This is the time of year that the birds are really getting excited in our gardens! They need plenty of energy for their spring nesting. Make sure if you feed the birds that you keep your bird feeders clean to avoid passing on bird diseases or checking for mouldy food that might have got wet.
image: ELCRS
As the wee birds in your garden will be planning and preparing their nests for their own wee ones, why not give them a helping hand by making and hanging nesting material balls. Here is a link to a beautiful natural one https://littlegreenexplorers.com/make-a-willow-nesting-ball/ or if you want a simpler option, bundle the nesting material together and tie it with a piece of biodegradable garden string. Hang in shrubs and bushes in the garden as the birds will want to keep to the safety of the shrubbery to collect their materials.
image: Jen Newcombe
You may notice some big bumblebee queens lazily buzzing around low to the ground in March in your garden. They have just woken up from their winter slumber and are on the look-out for a nest site and some early nectar sources to replenish their energy levels. Why not add some hellebores to your garden to help them out on their quest? Some hellebores have droopy flower heads so to see their full beauty, tuck a small mirror underneath them so you can get to enjoy them more. Or just get down on your hands and get those knees dirty! Ivy flowers and crocus are also brilliant as an early larder for bees.
As well as attracting wildlife you may be thinking about growing your own fruit and vegetables too...for those just starting out, here are some tips which might help:
So what would you like to sow and when?
image: Jen Newcombe
It’s always good to grow something you and those you live with are going to enjoy, whether it’s carrots, ‘for their sweetness’, potatoes because ‘you can’t beat a new tattie’ or lettuce because it ‘just tastes so much nicer when it’s fresh’. Plant things which will excite you to help you get the buzz… The tricky thing can then be knowing when to plant/sow things and where - straight in the ground or in pots on a window ledge first? The good news is there are lots of useful guides in the form of books or on the web to help plan your sowing
- we think this web based one is one of the best:
https://www.realseeds.co.uk/Monthlysowing.html
If you prefer books then: Fruit and Vegetables for Scotland by Kenneth Cox and Caroline Beaton is a really inspiring and informative read.
Where to source your seed? Who knew that some seed suppliers, as with so much we purchase, can also be fairly harmful to the environment? The good news is there are some really ethical and sustainable suppliers in the UK. These are worth considering if you’d like to purchase organic seeds which are not genetically modified, are open pollinated (so better for insects) and encourage the use of heritage species to keep the life lines of now sadly, quite rare varieties available.
Some of the highest rated for all of these reasons are:
Real Seeds - https://www.realseeds.co.uk/
Seed Co-operative - https://seedcooperative.org.uk/
Vital Seeds - https://vitalseeds.co.uk/
Tamar Seeds - https://www.tamarorganics.co.uk/
(It is frustrating that some of these suppliers are so busy this year; some are only opening intermittently to take orders, but perhaps it’s reassuring to know so many people want to make the right choice in where their seeds come from. Persevere and you’ll get your order placed!)
So you know what you’d like to grow, your seeds are on their way, why not make some biodegradable seed sowing pots from loo-rolls in time for your first sowings:
image: ELCRS
image: Jen Newcombe
April
Aries and Taurus - a time of growth and moving forward in new and positive ways.
At a Glance Notes:
Birds
Egg Hunt. If you have kids they will love to discover that the Easter Bird has been out and about …a great opportunity to have a bit of fun. Hide a few mini eggs in flowers, under leaves, secret moss nests and clefts of branches.
image: ELCRS
Nifty Nesters. Keep an eye out for where birds are visiting regularly especially if they have twigs, dry grass or moss in their beaks...if it’s worms, well, then they already have a nursery! Shhhhh!
Bird ID. Have a bird book ready to help identify who your visitors are…or look on the RSPB site. Children love to learn their names. https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/identify-a-bird/
Nature Know how
image: Lucy Aykroyd
Snowdrops on the move. If you’d like to give nature a hand, carefully dig up, separate and replant snowdrops while they are still ‘in the green’ to help them spread. NB. It’s illegal to dig up wild snowdrops but you can do it in your own garden!
Seeds. From mid-April sow french beans, courgette or pumpkin seeds into your little toilet roll pots and keep them watered on a sunny window sill. It's a bit early to grow veg outside yet - wait until you can walk barefoot comfortably on the soil - a good guide.
image: Jen Newcombe
Bees. Once the flowering currant (the one that smells like cat pee!) is blooming then the bees will be out and about. Keep an eye out for the pollen pouches on their little back legs.
Wild flowers. Scratch a few patches of your garden clear of weeds or grass, rough it up a little with a fork or rake, then scatter some wild flower seeds. Walk tenderly over the area to press them in and keep watered. PS: They are quite tough and like poor soil!
Have fun and let us know how you get on!
And now for For The Keen Beans:
Encouraging wildlife to your garden!
April is officially the start of the bird breeding season, but no one seems to have told the birds as they often start a bit earlier than that! Well, if you are trying to raise two or even three broods in a year, you need to get cracking! So, this is not a good time to be cutting back shrubs or getting the hedge cutter out, just leave the plants to grow and protect your birds’ nesting sites.
If you want to have a variety of different bird species to the garden, you need to not only have different types of bird feed but also different bird feeders. Robins are ground feeders, so only the bravest souls will go for a hanging bird feeder, while birds like goldfinches have beaks adapted for collecting wild seeds, such as thistle seeds, so they like the black nyger seeds which you will need a particular nyger seed feeder for.
Now this might not be popular with hardened lawn-lovers, but why not leave some dandelions in your garden? They are so important as nectar sources for insects, and early-emerging bumblebees and hoverflies will also love them. Hoverflies are great pollinators and their larvae are voracious aphid predators, so a win-win species for the garden. So maybe just a few wee dandelions wouldn’t hurt?
You don’t need to have a huge pond in your garden to provide water for wildlife. How about sinking an old dustbin lid or washing up bowl into the ground to encourage birds and hedgehogs emerging from hibernation somewhere to access water? Be careful if you have young children visiting the garden and always put a few rocks or a piece of wood in it to help anything that may accidently fall in get back out, and short legged things get in. Think of the creatures you are trying to attract and what they need to access it and stay safe!
image: Jen Newcombe
May
Join the No Mow May movement and leave areas of your garden un-mown…. and see what will grow!
An example of a front garden in East Linton which was deliberately left to grow
1st of May brings Beltane - the Pagan festival of fertility.
As the Earth bursts forth in green abundance, we give thanks for all the many gifts of nature, from the newborn animals to the unfurling buds. Beltane celebrates the union of the Goddess and the Green Man – the coming together of male and female energies to create new life.
Here are more tips on how you can celebrate this wonderful time of Beltane at: https://thegreenparent.co.uk/articles/read/5-ways-to-celebrate-beltane#
Encouraging wildlife to your garden
May is a great time to sow sunflowers in the ground. They are fabulous seed sources for birds so it is well worth adding them to your wildlife garden.
Why not have a section of the garden that is for wildflowers? They do sometimes need a different soil type from the rest of the garden as they usually like a much less nutrient-rich soil for them to grow happily. Why not check out the great selection at Scotia seeds for a Scottish supplier https://www.scotiaseeds.co.uk/ as what grows down south may not do well up here, and less miles for delivery.
image: shutterstock
Lawn-lovers, if you have been brave enough to leave a few dandelions, how about leaving a section of lawn to grow long? Wildflowers and invertebrates love the longer grass and even small mammals like voles and field mice use it for important cover in a garden.
Other helpful hints for getting going in the Garden
image: Michala Phifer
The Joy of Containers - gardens come in all shapes and sizes from an acre to a container! All are so valuable and loads of fun. Just remember if you’re growing in containers they can look so beautiful but are wholly dependent on you. As long as you remember to feed and water them, then they can bring endless joy and harvests. Here are some we made from favourite old children’s wellies and an upcycled planter that we liked the shape of. We think they are quite jolly!
Saving Water - it pours then it never rains...or something like that anyway!! With climate change affecting our weather it’s time to get savvy with water saving. You can connect a water butt to a downpipe on pretty much any building/shed/greenhouse you have access to. Not only will this reduce the amount of rainwater going down the drain but it will also give you a surplus of fresh water just when you need it most. You’ll be surprised how quickly they can refill from just one downpour.
Feeding frenzy - Flowers, veg and pots are starting to look a little unhappy; they may just need a little bit more food. You can have a go at making your own. Why not designate a wee patch of your garden to comfrey and nettles to grow them just for this job. Full instructions on ‘How to’ are here:- https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/sites/www.gardenorganic.org.uk/files/resources/fflp/A41-Making-liquid-feeds.pdf
Tender loving care - it’s not too late to sow those owe so tender delights; courgettes, squash, french beans, corn, nasturtiums and borage. Just remember to keep them warm until after the last frost, usually at the end of May.
Young trees need you - Remember to water any young trees during drought. These wee ones can take a year or two to fully establish so give them a helping hand by pouring a full watering-can regularly over their roots during prolonged dry periods to help them through.
Inspired by the monthly tips? Then please share your successes by sending any photos to jo.gibb@cael.community - we’d love to see them!
June
Brings the promise of the Summer Solstice, the longest day in the year.
The Summer Solstice is a time to reflect on your personal growth and the meaning of the season of light and growth. This is the moment of our year when there is the most light available to us. In terms of consciousness, it is when we are the most present to ourselves and who we know ourselves to be — the Sun represents the light of all life and consciousness.
Summer Solstice 2021 in the Northern Hemisphere will be on Monday June 21 5:31 AM Central European Time.
Press the button to find some beautiful rituals to help celebrate this special time:
image: Callinish / BBC
Encouraging wildlife to your garden
We know that it is really tempting to reach for the pesticides in June, when all your lovely plants appear to be under attack from aphids. However, these chemicals don’t just attack the aphids, but kill all the invertebrates that you have been working so hard to encourage to your garden. So why not try mixing a weak washing up solution with water in a spray bottle and schooshing those pesky aphids off your plants!
Aphids are tenacious though so you might need another approach. Did you know that aphids are the favourite food of ladybirds? And who doesn’t like ladybirds! So encourage more ladybirds into your garden and to eat your aphids by making them a ladybird house.
Nettles are not top of the list for many gardeners, but they are the vital foodplant of the Comma, Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell butterflies. If you leave a small patch of nettles in your garden, then these caterpillars will chose to eat the nettles and not your favourite plants (fingers crossed!). If you want to grow a big patch of nettles, try making some nettle tea or nettle soup - go on, it is better that you might think, promise!
Other helpful hints for getting going in the garden
Deadheading - Who doesn’t love the busy buzzing of the bee’s and fluttering of butterflies. Keep your garden buzzing by deadheading your flowers as soon as the flowers start dying off. Nip of the flower head at the top of the stem to encourage another bloom, and another. You’ll have a summer of colour and some well fed insects as a result!
Harvesting often brings rewards as some crops, like flowers, really benefit from being picked. Peas and beans actually produce more if they are harvested often, so don’t hold back waiting for those pods to grow, pick them young and you’ll be rewarded with lots more.
Pest Control - this can be a time when it’s not just you who wants the harvests of your labour.
Birds will just love your soft fruits, so it is a good idea to drape over nets to protect the fruit from hungry birds and while you’re at it; fill up your bird feeders to detract them from your own nibbles!
Slugs ready dislike gritty, sharp surfaces so try protecting your new planted seedlings by creating a circle of clean crushed-up egg shells or coffee grinds around each plant. It’s amazing how well this keeps them off.
Failing that, they really can’t resist beer (sound familiar?). Check out this link of how to make your own beer traps, it also gives a ‘beer alternative’ if you’d really rather share your precious beer with friend, not foe. Surely it’s a kind way to go!
Killing slugs kindly with beer
Winter crops - Finally, as mid summer approaches and the light will once more begin to fade, it’s a good time to start thinking about winter crops. Sow swede seed early in June and winter cabbages, such as savoy, can be under glass or in nursery beds. Don’t panic, there’s still lots of time to get other winter crops in - we’ll cover more in August. For now, enjoy the sunshine, the harvest and these beautiful long days!
summer in Scotland
July
A time to celebrate those long balmy days when summer is in full swing. So sit back and enjoy your garden along with all of the beautiful wildlife you’ve welcomed into it.
Encouraging wildlife to your garden
Water : Of course July is going to be hot and sunny, so first off, sit back and enjoy your garden! However, hot weather can be hard for the garden. Try adding a waterbutt to collect your own water rather than relying on the garden hose. Also add some buckets and containers around the garden for collecting any rain we do get, which the birds and other wildlife will enjoy using in the meantime (think bird baths and drinking sources).
Image: Chris Morgan
You can also not pour your washing up water down the drain, use it to water your plants in pots and containers.
Bats: There is every chance that you may already have a few nocturnal visitors to our garden, but how about making a bat box? Many pipistrelle bats live in and around towns and villages and need extra spaces to hibernate later in the year. Check out https://cdn.bats.org.uk/pdf/Bat-Box-Information-Pack.pdf?mtime=20181101151309 but keep in mind our northern species are generally smaller so don’t be tempted to make the box opening too big.
Other helpful hints for getting going in the Garden:
Managing your fruit crop: If you have fruit tree’s in your garden, you’ll notice the fruits starting to swell. When spring conditions have been favourable for pollination, there might be more fruit than ideal. You can remove excess fruit to improve the size and quality of those that reach full maturity and put less strain on the tree so you might avoid the biannual bearing which fruit trees often do. Read the RHS guide to find out how: https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=340
Enjoying your veg crop…throughout the year! If you’re growing your own, then July is often the start of the bounty with lots to harvest. You could be enjoying broadbeans, early potatoes, broccoli, courgettes and the start of the peas, not to mention strawberries and raspberries.
Before the gluts arrive, it’s useful to be thinking about what you’ll do with excess; share with neighbours, cook some bulk meals to enjoy later in the week and start saving those jam jars for the preserving you can do to stretch your bounty out throughout the year. River Cottage have lots of wonderful recipes; definitely worth a look: https://www.rivercottage.net/recipes-in/preserves
August
Lùnastal - A Gaelic festival, marks the beginning of the harvest season. Traditionally it is held on the 1 August. In the past, the festival inspired great gatherings that included religious ceremonies, ritual athletic contests (most notably the Tailteann Games), feasting often on the first fruits as well as matchmaking, and trading. Many of the activities would have taken place on top of hills and mountains.
Encouraging wildlife to your garden
One of the keys to a wildlife-friendly garden is not to be too tidy-hooray! Leave some of the seed heads on herbaceous perennials as these are great spaces for invertebrates to hide in. Also, many birds love the seeds straight from the plants, so be brave and leave those seed heads on - they look like floral arrangements that you might bring into the house too!
Those pesky birds that you have been encouraging into your garden all spring and summer have now got their wee eyes on your lovely soft fruits. So if you are not so keen on letting them have their share, (though next year you may just want to plant more so they can happily take it!) try hanging up old CDs in amongst your fruit bushes to scare them off. You will need to keep moving them around though, as they get wise to it…
Other helpful hints for getting going in the Garden
Seed sowing is often thought of as a spring task, but by getting savvy and sowing seeds in late summer you can have a veg supply throughout winter and flowers in late spring!
When it comes to veggies - early August it’s a good time to sow winter lettuce (keep out of the glare of the sun), rocket, spring onions, pak choi, spinach and winter kale to ensure you have a supply throughout the cold spell.
Summer pruning of restricted fruit trees
The end of August is the best time to prune back any restricted fruit tree’s you might be growing. These include cordons, espalier’s, fans and pyramids when tree’s are purposely kept small to fit into smaller spaces. Pruning at this time allows light in to ripen this years fruit and ensures good cropping the following year.
The RHS provide great instructions on how best to do this.
September
On the 22nd September the hours of light and dark are both equal; we find balance and harmony, and it is now time to start watching the darkness creep in. This is the time of the equinox, autumn is often upon us now, and the promise of the sleepy winter lies ahead.
Encouraging wildlife to your garden
Gardening is often about preparation, so get ordering your spring bulbs now. These are so important for emerging bumblebees, needing an early nectar source, so if you can get them ordered and planted out now, you can get to put your feet up, knowing that spring is sorted!
Just like August, don’t be too keen to tidy up. Plants like alliums, honesty and sea hollys are great for butterflies and bumblebees and once they have flowers, leave the seed heads for the birds to pick over.
Now is the time to cut back that longer area of grass that you might have left for the wildflowers and small mammals. If you want to encourage the wildflowers next year, cut the long grass and compost the cuttings away from the area. This means that the soil underneath doesn’t get too nutrient-rich. Why not scrape some vegetation back, to show some bare earth and plant some yellow rattle, a native plant that parasitises grasses? This can help encourage other wild plant species to grow - plus it is beautiful!
Other helpful hints for getting going in the Garden:
Start Seed Saving - Until about 40 years ago this was something everybody did, but more recently these skills have been lost as seed packets became more readily available. By growing our own seed we are creating varieties which are able to cope with our own local conditions, making them more robust and less threatened by change. The great news is, it’s easy and you’ll get great results. For all the why’s, how’s and what-for’s of seed saving, look on the very informative Real Seeds website where, even as a seed provider themselves, they actively encourage you to do the same! It’s real no-brainer. Enjoy your new journeyQ
Dividing Perennials - Elsewhere in the garden, if conditions allow, it is the perfect time to start splitting perennials as they move towards dormancy. The beauty of dividing your plants means you’ll have more plants to fill any gaps, or you can give them away to friends and neighbours to help build up their wee haven.
RHS provide a great resource on how and when to go about this for all varieties of perennials.
October
Enjoy nature's very own spectacle of colour as Autumn unleashes its magic throughout this month.
Encouraging wildlife to your garden
If you have fruit trees in your garden, then try leaving some of your windfall apples on the ground, or even on the trees, for the birds. All animals at this time of year are building up their fat levels for winter, so leaving some apples on the ground will help the birds and the small mammals in your garden.
Resist yet another cut of the lawn to help starlings, magpies and rooks in their search for leatherjackets in the earth under the lawn. Leatherjackets are the pupae of daddy-long legs and the birds sticking their beaks into the lawn may leave wee holes, but these holes will help aerate your lawn in the autumn!
Now is the time to think about providing much needed shelter for all our garden friends who hibernate over winter. There’s lots you can do, from a simple pile of logs or twigs in a corner to a fancy bug hotel, or you can even build a hedgehog house for your local hedgehogs! All will be welcomed by our sleepy friends who are looking for a safe, dry and cosy place to curl up over winter.
Hedgehogs are best fed with a complete hedgehog food and fresh water rather than bread and milk, as we used to think.
Happy Hedgehogs - where do they live? :
Other helpful hints for getting going in the Garden:
Leaf Litter: Now is a great time to be thinking about what to do with all those leaves you might be raking from lawns. How about a leaf pile tucked away in a corner somewhere for invertebrates, ladybirds and caterpillars to feed o?. You might even find a toad or hedgehog curled up in it for winter! Leaf mould is also a valuable resource in your garden. It can be used for sowing seeds in, mixing into compost or for mulching beds. If you just have a few leaves then collect them in bin bags, tie up and pierce with a garden fork then store for a couple of years while nature does it’s work. For large amounts, make a square or circular frame out of chicken wire and stakes where you can store your leaves for a couple of years while they turn into this beautiful and free resource.
Covering bare soil is an essential job as crops are finishing on the plot and soil is becoming more visible. Protect the surface as well as all those microorganisms working away below the surface by laying a 5cm layer of manure or garden compost on the surface. No need to dig it, the worms will be delighted to do that for you throughout the winter!
November
As the light and warmth begins to fade, hibernation will begin. It doesn’t just have to be for the animals you know!
Encouraging wildlife to your garden
The tree planting season starts now so look for different native trees that will bring year round colour, flowers and fruit for birds. Why not plant a native hedge? Of if you don’t have room for as much as that, consider hawthorn which is great all rounder, blackthorn for early blossom in the spring and sloe gin in the autumn or elder with gorgeous creamy-white foam blossom and dark purple berries that the birds in the garden will gorge themselves on.
This is the time to split sedums and asters to get more plants without buying more. Sedums and aster are fabulous for bees and butterflies so if you want those in your garden look out for them at the local garden centres throughout the year.
Other helpful hints for getting going in your garden:
As the growing season slows down and the need to tidy your garden can wait until after winter, you can turn your attention to new projects in the garden.
Like a pond…
A water source is the most important requirement for any wildlife visiting your garden and it doesn’t matter how big or small it is. It can be as simple as an up-turned plastic bin lid with water and pebbles to a fully dug out and lined pond with aquatic plants, attractive edging and a viewing platform to watch the wildlife at work.
So as the garden slows down, November is great time to start planning your build - for inspiration and advice check out : https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=622
December
December brings us to the end of another year and we get to celebrate the Winter Solstice - around the 21st December - this is the longest night and a time filled with hope, as once again, we start to welcome the light back in.
Encouraging wildlife to your garden
The quintessential bird of Christmas time is the robin. Why not make a robin nestbox for next year? They love an open fronted box, quite unlike the classic bird box that is more of a blue tit’s prefererence. Something to note though, robins are happy in human items that are left around the garden, so why not leave an old walking boot or an old tea kettle with the lid off hidden in the shrubbery, they may just be as happy with that!
Other helpful hints for getting going in your garden
If you are thinking of giving vegetable growing a go next year then the no-dig technique is a fantastic way of being low carbon and because you are only adding growing medium to the surface of the ground, it is so much easier than lifting turf and double digging soil, which has been the traditional way of preparing the ground for many years.
To find out more about how to develop your No-Dig vegetable Plot check out:
https://charlesdowding.co.uk/ The site is filled with top advice, useful tips and everything you need to know to get you started.
Funding has kindly been provided by NatureScot for some of the materials at the Wildlife Demonstration border, and for the scythe and wildflower seeds which will be used at the Wildflower workshop and for future use by the whole community.
Funding has kindly been provided by NatureScot for some of the materials at the Wildlife Demonstration border, and for the scythe and wildflower seeds which will be used at the Wildflower workshop and for future use by the whole community.
