Tag: gardening for wildlife

The insect hotels in our garden

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date May 5, 2016
2 Comments on The insect hotels in our garden

We recently made a new insect hotel and revamped one of the older ones, so I thought I would share them with you. This post is particularly for the follower who asked about insect hotels and adding green roofs to them. Apologies for not getting back to you sooner and more personally – no excuse except a bad memory.

This is the first one we built in our garden and it has proved very successful with plenty of minibeast visitors but it also gave us some surprises! Last year a Dunnock nested on one of the layers and at the end of the year we discovered that a Goldcrest had nested in one of the holes in a brick.

We then built a second hotel for our garden critters in our Spring Border and this one was created from an old wooden vegetable box. This one had a surprise for us too as at the end of last summer we found an old nest of a Dunnock.

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We next made a smaller insect hotel from a wine box and placed it in the Crescent Garden. So far no bird has nested in it but there are lots of “minibeasts” especially Ladybirds living in it and hibernating there through the colder months. Sitting on top of it though is one of our pieces of sculpture, a thoughtful young girl.

And then this spring we added yet another insect hotel, this time we constructed it in our Freda Garden and placed two small log piles on each side of it to attract Violet Ground Beetles who we hope will eat the slug eggs in the ground.

On our allotment we made an insect home with a green roof to add further interest and another habitat. We grow succulents, Sedums and Sempervivums on top of our insect hotel as they have tiny flowers loved by insects especially bees. The secret is to make a tray which sits on top and supported by 4 posts banged into the ground at each corner of the hotel. This means the posts support the green roof rather than putting weight on the insect hotel itself.

Each spring on warm, calm days we enjoy seeing the Ladybirds emerging and resting on the driftwood pieces to absorb the warmth of the sun.

Tags beneficial insects, garden insects, garden wildlife, gardening, gardening for wildlife, insect homes, insect hotels, insect shelters, insects, predatory insects, wildlife gardening

birds colours garden design garden photography garden wildlife gardening gardens open to the public ornamental trees and shrubs trees woodland

A Week in the Lake District – Part 4 – Brantwood

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date June 30, 2015
3 Comments on A Week in the Lake District – Part 4 – Brantwood

I had read a book about the making of the gardens at Brantwood in the Lake District, so when we found ourselves nearby we were determined to make time for a visit. Brantwood was the home of John Ruskin who believed in gardening with wildlife so his garden is often described as one of the closest to the ideals propounded by William Robinson.

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We visited on a hot sunny day so were pleased that we were exploring a woodland garden. As with other places we visited in the Lake District we were astonished to hear so much birdsong, missing now in much of the UK due to modern agricultural practices. Thrushes both Song and Mistle, along with their cousins the Blackbird, seemed to sing loudly from every tree. Blackcaps, Robins, Wrens and Whitethroats performed with equal gusto from the layer of shrubs and bushes.

Every surface whether ground, tree trunk, wall or rock-face seemed to be home to plants. We had to look everywhere all around us to make sure we didn’t miss a hidden gem or two.

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From the highest parts of the garden we glimpsed on occasion views of Coniston Water. It is possible to arrive at Brantwood via the lake on a steam paddle boat.

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The woodland garden felt just as Ruskin wished it to when he wrote about gardening there. He wanted to look back at where he had been gardening and see no sign that he had been there, just the hand of nature.

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As we wandered the garden paths through the valleys, alongside streams and beneath trees we kept a look out for Ruskin’s seat, set in his favourite part of the garden. It was beautifully crafted from local slate and was now weathered and covered in lichen. I think this would please Ruskin if he could see it now.

Tags Brantwood, Cumbria, garden wildlife, gardening for wildlife, natural gardening, Ruskin, Ruskin's garden, The Lake District, The Lakes, the wildlife garden, woodland, woodland garden, woodland gardening

garden design garden wildlife gardening gardens log piles natural pest control wildlife

A Weekend Promoting Gardening for Wildlife

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date May 18, 2015
2 Comments on A Weekend Promoting Gardening for Wildlife

Tim, the plant manager of a local plant centre asked if I would do a weekend there to help promote wildlife gardening. The centre is going to set up a “plants for wildlife” section and this weekend was planned to launch this innovative idea.

Tim and his plant centre staff had put a collection of suitable plants together with their new sign and Caroline, one of the centre staff had created a bug hotel from an old wooden veggie box.

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Jude the Undergardener and I set up our display alongside. We had lots of photos and books to display along with my garden journals. We wanted to illustrate the diverse range of suitable plants and to show how easy gardening with wildlife really is. The main focus was on convincing people that wildlife gardens can attract and provide homes, food and shelter for wildlife of all sorts and still look beautiful.

It was great fun talking to so many different people who were interested in gardening for wildlife, gardeners of all ages, all levels of experience but united in their desire to help our wildlife by gardening with it in mind.