Afternoon everyone!

I hope you are all well, on this lovely day.

If you have been over to the reserve recently you may have noticed we are revamping the little garden at the front of the visitor centre...

 

It used to look like this (please excuse the bad picture, I couldn't find a better one but it gives you the idea):
 It was meant to represent a dry river bed. It had lots of stones, small ones where the 'river' used to run and larger ones on the edges, and the plants were mainly ferns and hellebore.

 

We decided that we could make it a lot better for wildlife, so Vicky, Derrick and Keith (Vicky is Assistant Site Manger, Derrick and Keith the Lead Volunteers) came up with a plan to completely redesign it.
In spring the volunteers started to remove the stones, ferns and hellebores (some have been replanted in different places around the visitor centre and some of the stones used for the path).

Since then they have created a path , a raised bed which is a herb garden, and lots of plants have been planted.

 I took this picture a couple of weeks ago. You can see the raised bed full of herbs (and Keith weeding), the path, the lavender border and the bare earth you can see is where lots of plants and bulbs had been planted. In this area that looks like bare earth is planted with primroses, snakes head fritillary, and a grass mix.

 

It doesn't take long for the plants to grow, this is was taken just a few minutes ago:
 The grasses are growing well, there are lots of new plants in, there are 'feature' pots (with corkscrew hazel and a japanese maple), a bird bath and lots pf pretty flowers! We are planning to have a nasturtium growing out of the old chimney.

 

 Here Keith is weeding the raised bed. It's a good idea to weed a bed like this regularly. We filled the bed with soil from the site so it was full of weed seed. It's good to weed regularly so you disturb the top layer of soil, which will get rid of the germinated seeds and encourage other seeds to grow, so eventaually you will have erradicated the seed bank so just your nice plants will grow. 

I'll take pictures of the garden regularly so we can see the changes!

 

 

You Can Garden for Wildlife Too!
Could you be one of the 170,000 people creating the UK's largest nature reserve? If you own a garden, or even just a window box, you can take simple, practical steps that will benefit many of our most important birds, mammals and insects.

The plants in our new garden were picked so it will be a fantastic garden for wildlife. There are lots of things you can do to make your own fabulous wildlife garden.
You could make your own wildflower meadows in your own garden. Wildflower meadows traditionally cover large areas of land, the same flowers can thrive in a garden and provide food and habitat for insects, birds and mammals. You might need to spend a little time getting it right at the start, they're easy to manage; they need minimal mowing, and you don't need to add fertiliser because they thrive in nutrient-poor soil, so they're perfect if you want a vibrant and colourful but low-maintenance garden.

You could see grasshoppers in your meadow, as well as lots of different moth and butterfly species, mammals like hedgehogs and voles, and birds such as goldfinch and yellowhammer.

To create a wildflower meadow, we suggests the following steps:

  • Pick an area as large as possible and measure it to work out how much seed you will need.
  • If the top layer of soil is rich in nutrients, as most gardens are, remove the top 5-10 cm in August.
  • Let the bare ground rest for a few weeks, removing any weeds.
  • In early September, sow a mixture of wildflower and meadow grass seeds evenly and rake them lightly into the soil. You can protect them from birds by hanging up shiny objects like CDs.
  • Mow your meadow the following spring with sharp blades to avoid uprooting the young plants, and then every 6-8 weeks during the first year.
  • In the second year, mow in early July to have a spring meadow, or in March and late September for a summer meadow.
  • Leave clippings on the ground for a few days to shed their seeds, and then remove and compost them. 


     

Children aren't getting close to nature, so having a fabulous wildlife garden you can help wildife and get children close to nature. By transforming part of your lawn into a rich habitat, you can bring the outdoor classroom to your own doorstep.

We advise you to buy seeds rather than collecting flowers from the countryside, where they could already be supporting wildlife. 

For more information and advice about gardening for wildlife, visit the RSPB's Homes for Wildlife project webpage: www.rspb.org.uk/hfw