Green Lawn, Trees, and Wildlife
May
10
A neat lawn with healthy plants, shrubs, trees, and an abundance of wildlife is a joy to behold but the aim is to be as green as possible in an environmental sense as well as having green and pleasant land.
Caring for the grass
Grass is much better for wildlife than concrete but your grass doesn’t have to be all manicured lawn. If you decide that some lawn is essential, and that turning your whole patch over to vegetables isn’t an option, make it as green as possible by using environmentally friendly ways of keeping it trim:
- Keep the grass down using a hand mower instead of a petrol or electric one, thereby saving fuel and reducing pollution. If your lawn is too big, you can get a battery-powered mower that charges using solar power, or use green electricity.
Alternatively, get a goat, which will keep the grass down, fertilise it at the same time, and give you milk.
- Leave the grass cuttings on the lawn to feed the soil. If you don’t want to leave the cuttings on the lawn, put them on the compost heap.
- Use native grass seeds for the lawn as they’ll grow better in the British climate.
- Resist the temptation to reach for the hosepipe at the first appearance of a brown patch. Once a week is all the watering your lawn needs even in the hottest weather. Over-watering can weaken your lawn by encouraging roots to seek the surface.
- If your lawn turned brown in the sun last time you cut it, let your grass grow a little longer and don’t cut it so short next time. Longer grass stays greener than a close-mown lawn, is less likely to scorch, and needs less watering.
- Dig any weeds out with a trowel or fork rather than using weedkiller.
- Leave some of the lawn to grow wild with wild flowers and grasses or plant some trees and shrubs. Those areas will attract wildlife and reduce the amount of effort that goes into caring for the lawn.
All the time, effort, and water you put into looking after the lawn can be producing home-grown fruit and vegetables instead.
Shrubs and plants planting
The ideal green garden has native plants and shrubs that thrive well in the UK climate. Native plants don’t need additional water and can withstand the native bugs and insects, so you don’t need toxic chemicals to keep the plants weed and disease free.
Native plants attract native species of butterflies and birds. Grow as many varieties of native plants as possible to support the wildlife in your garden. Grow native plants side by side that naturally ward off each other’s pests.
Not all plants native to the UK grow in all parts of the UK. Talk to your local garden centre about the native plants that grow best in the climate and soil where you live.
Wildlife
If you feel you can’t go green in the garden by growing fruit and vegetables, you can still make a big contribution by creating an environment that attracts and supports wildlife. Many once very common species of garden birds, insects like bees and butterflies, mammals, and amphibians are now thin on the ground due to changes in farming methods and disappearing hedgerows. By offering them an area where they can make homes, feed, and breed safely without danger from pesticides and other chemicals, you help their numbers to recover.
What you plant has an impact on the kinds of wildlife that choose to live in your garden. Think carefully about the species you want and grow the appropriate plants to attract that species. If you grow the wrong plants you may attract unwanted species like ants, wasps, and moles into the garden or they may make it impossible for other plants to survive. If you use pesticides to control weeds other species in the ecosystem may be adversely affected.
Make your garden as varied as possible to attract as many species as possible:
Plants like roses, honeysuckle, and lavender each attract different insects like bees and butterflies.
A woodpile or a wildflower patch encourages another set of garden dwellers. You might find frogs amongst the woodpile if it’s damp, and if it’s big enough to offer a safe place a fox might move in.
A pond – created from an old bath or basin – draws everything from dragonflies and frogs to birds and snails.
Hedges are great for attracting birds and insects and providing space for small animals to make their homes. Grow as many different hedge plants as possible together in your hedge as each different plant attracts different species.
Trees and shrubs that produce fruit, berries, and seeds are sources of food for your furry and feathered friends.
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