Weaverham Gardeners 25Th Oct 2016:

Weaverham Gardeners 25th Oct 2016: Sue Makin, on Gardening for Wildlife

As a child, Sue enjoyed her dad’s wildlife garden in their small yard – tin bath for a pond, pile of brash for wildlife etc. What’s important:  Diverse plant types and flowers  Range of habitats  Sanctuary from toxics  Corridor between habitats Her garden at Clemley covers 2 acres. They’ve planted fruit trees and bushes, providing nectar, fruit, shelter and insects. They had an adventure with cows breaking in. Her daughter was coming home with her new flame, and was hoping to impress, so checked whether things were tidy. Yes, they were. As she drove out to pick them up, cows broke in and started making a meal of the garden. Husband Tom contacted the owner, who was recovering from drink so wasn’t too speedy arriving; his dog proved useless too, only assisting in returning the cows to the garden through the gate. Climbers on walls provide great invertebrate cover. Keep hostas in pots, in saucers of water, out of contact with other plants and walls: as long as there were no slugs in the pots in the first place, they should stay that way. Compost heaps: theirs are magnets for wildlife, including a grass snake. Grow organic veg. Alliums and nasturtiums are both companion plants in their own ways. Nasturtiums attract white butterflies to lay eggs on them; but they’ll still lay on brassicas anyway. Comfrey: Bocking 14 won’t seed around. Soak leaves for 1-3 weeks in a bucket, dilute 1:10 to feed plants or use the leaves direct as mulch. The liquid feed is highly smelly, and will stick to you for days (a bubble burst a splash on her, didn’t wash out for days). Nettles also work, they can be diluted less (1:5). Bat boxes: on a north face, they don’t get overheated. Our bat expert reckoned bat boxes in gardens were rarely used, as they prefer the heating of our homes. A woodpecker raided one of Sue’s wooden bat boxes, so she’s opted for woodcrete ones (made from straw). Buy or make bird boxes; some commercial ones are useless. See http://www.arborvitae.uk.com/shop/schwegler-general-purpose-double-panel-bat- box-2f-copy/ And https://www.britishbirdfood.co.uk/shop/2f-general-purpose-bat-box Old boots – she’s stuffed straw in them and put in hedgebottoms, where they get used by nesting birds before the invertebrates move in. They have a lot of amphibians using their pond, and their neighbours’. They prefer to use the road rather than grass at night (it’s warmer), so they suffer from road traffic. She’s taken to assisting them in March and April. She’s got the Highways Agency to install a ‘beware toads’ sign. Volunteers welcome. Toad numbers are down, so any assistance is welcome. Broxton Barn Owl Trust (http://www.bbog.co.uk/ - they cover an area west of and excluding Northwich) installed a barn owl box – it’s not yet been used by barn owls. Pigeons etc, yes. They have a badger sett. They dig up lots of lawn. Sue helps with vaccination – but they’ve run out of vaccine. The attractive meadow area started with corncockle and other annuals, now it’s gone to perennials. They used to machine mow it, then they got sheep in (from a sheep dating service - http://www.sheepkeep.co.uk/). They found gaps in the cow-proof hedge/fence, and ended up down the road. Feed birds naturally – with seeds, berries, fruits and insects, exposed and in deep mulch. No pesticides! Slugs are food for ground beetles, centipedes, frogs, toads and hedgehogs. Strulch: weed and water the soil before applying it, in 3” layers. Worms will incorporate it. Use anytime. They do a 150 litre bag, for much the same as 100 litres. (https://www.strulch.co.uk/buy-strulch) Soap spray: kills aphids, ladybirds too. Aphids: a fat ball attracts tits, while one’s feeding, the waiting tit(s) can devour aphids. Wasp bags: hang under trees, wasps don’t like the idea of such competition so don’t nest nearby. They cost £15 each, or fill an Ocado bag for £3-4. Thomson and Morgan have a lily resistant to lily beetle. (Lily ‘Defender Pink’, ‘Exotic Sun’ is also good) Orange Tip butterfly caterpillars feed on honesty. Nectar Bar: plant things to flower year-round, including winter flowering daphne and clematis. Flowers of different shapes, natural shapes, with a long season. Knapweed is best in the meadow. Picture of hoverflies on teasel, the base of whose leaves catch water. Picture of lavatera and Verbena bonariensis. The old pond had dried up when they arrived. They dug out 15 land drains to enable it to fill – the fifteenth they found using a dowser. They dug a pipe under the lawn to conduct water from the roof, via a sandstone filter and reedbed to the pond. Purple Loosestrife is good, and makes good pea sticks. A family of ducks arrived on the pond – Sue knows their life history. The achieved 25 out of 26 for their wildlife friendly garden from Cheshire Wildlife Trust – they only lacked a green roof. You only need 12 for a gold award. (http://www.cheshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/mywildlifegarden) Her garden’s been featured in publications: “Tales from Tarporley” in the Cottage Garden Society magazine. In Cheshire Life. In the RSPB magazine, next year. Sue doesn’t fancy wildlife cameras, doesn’t want to see the grizzly detail of what happens. Our bat man gets all sorts in his garden, and has an old badger sett at the bottom. His garden faces Owley Wood. Next year’s open days: 17th June and 1st July, 1-5.30pm; and 21st June, 6-9pm. Contact: [email protected], 01829 781737