Friday 16 March 2012

Biodiversity in the Garden

In the past my gardening exploits have quite often either lacked the time when the was good or lacked good weather when I've had the time. I have therefore somehow neglected a bit of that biodiversity needed in the garden. There have been some nectar rich plants in the garden but often they got usurped by just what I could get my hands on that would look pretty. This year I plant to differently instead of the most biodiverse part being the bit that was tucked away in the corner so yo couldn't see it from the window unless you craned your neck, it is going to be all over the garden this year. I shouldn't be too hard on myself as I did do some planting that will & have been beneficial last year with a ceanothus, lavenders, foxgloves & bergamots, but this year I want to add to this so I can create a garden which is buzzing with activity, where the cats get terrorised by butterflies & my other half's siblings get freaked out by the hoverflies thinking that they are wasps. With the decline in pollinating insects we should do more to encourage them or it is bye bye to many of our foods. The RHS have started a garden centre labelling scheme which has a bee logo on it to show which plants are beneficial to pollinators & if you are buying plants which aren't from a garden centre follow these simple rules:-

Double flowered flowers though may look pretty but it is the insect equivalent of eating a bar of dark chocolate with a knife & fork whilst wearing boxing gloves & a blindfold.

If you can't see the source of pollen on the flower neither is an insect, so those horrible cheap looking begonias & busy lizzies are a no no

If you can smell them an insect will too, but be careful there are some flowers that smell very strongly of rotting meat or fish which will just get you pestered by flies.

Purples & yellows are much loved by insects, yes they have their own colour tastes too.

Give them some succession of food for the year, it has the bonus of your garden looking more colourful than your neighbours all year round.

They also need waster so a shallow edged pond would also be beneficial too.

So enjoy your garden & lets hope our smaller winged friend will do too

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