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READ MORE ARTICLES....
How to Create a Wildlife
Friendly Garden - BBC Easy Gardening
Growing the 10
Best Plants for Wildlife in your Garden - BBC Gardens Illustrated
A Flavour
of April in your Wildlife Friendly Garden - Country and Border Life
The Rural Craft
of Hedgelaying in Dorset - The Countryman
Managing your
Garden in October - Country and Border Life
The Historic
Welsh Gardens of Plas Tan y Bwlch - The Countryman
Looking after
the Bees in your Garden - Daily Express
Making Wildlife
Ponds the Easy Way - Daily Express
Wings over
Mull - a Centre for Birds of Prey - The Countryman
A New Garden for
Wildlife with Butterflies in Mind - Butterfly Conservation
The
Wildlife Art of Ian and Richard Lewington - Limited
Edition Magazine
'I went to
Noke and Nobody Spoke' - Fascinating Otmoor - Limited Edition
Magazine
Gardening on the
Wild Side of Town - New Consumer Magazine
Peter
Parks and the Great Rainforest Project - Limited Edition Magazine
The Countryside in January - Limited Edition
Magazine
The Countryside in May - Limited Edition
Magazine
Return to Article Selection
Contact Jenny to find out more about her freelance writing
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MANAGING YOUR GARDEN IN OCTOBER
October is a
wonderful autumnal month that spans the seasons, when we might experience
the odd reminder of summer added to a dash of the winter ahead. I may see
an occasional swallow passing over my garden in the first few days. If
the weather is warm bumblebees will still be taking nectar from late
flowering Helenium and Echinacea in the borders. Butterflies, especially
red admirals and small tortoiseshells, continue to visit the Verbena
bonariensis and ivy flowers and may also feed on fallen plums and pears.
But by the end of the month frosts will have changed the landscape around
me and my hedges will have the russet colours of autumn.
This month all kinds
of bird species return to my garden to take advantage of wild seeds,
honeysuckle and cotoneaster berries, windfall fruit and of course peanuts,
sunflower seeds and other foods I provide for them. Last year fieldfares
and redwings, the Scandinavian cousins of our song and mistle thrush,
arrived early to quickly demolish the holly berries and they made quite an
impact on the hawthorn too. It is a time when birds are moving from their
breeding territories and searching for food further afield so I am more
likely to see small flocks of birds such as pied wagtails which visit the
pond, or whole families of bullfinches feeding in the hedges. Birds that
had been moulting, and therefore less in evidence, also reappear this
month and our yellowhammers in particular sit on the hedge tops in all
their canary-yellow glory.
The days are quickly
getting shorter which means I can expect to hear the local tawny owls
calling throughout the evenings. These birds start to nest as early as
February, so a lot of territorial hooting goes on now. Other creatures
are preparing for winter too, and the local grey squirrels are busy
burying hazelnuts from the adjacent wood all over the lawn. Each spring I
pot up any that manage to germinate. I grow them on to fill in gaps
in the boundaries. But in general it is the birds in the garden that
attract my attention this month. As the species around the garden change
and the leaves begin to fall, I can no longer ignore the fact that winter
is on its way.
OCTOBER PROJECT
Plant
Wildflowers into Grass
If last month you
cut areas of long meadow grass in your garden, or are planning a
meadow-like effect, you can add wildflowers (or wild bulbs) this month.
Wildflowers are best added to grass as ‘plugs’ – small plants with a
compact root ball – which establish and grow away quickly. Larger pot
grown plants can suffer from lack of water and competition from the
grasses. Small plants will also give a more natural effect as you can
squeeze more into a tiny area. Choose your plants carefully as not all
wildflowers will grow in grass. Oxeye daisies, field scabious, salad
burnet, knapweed and birds’ foot trefoil are easy to grow in sunny grass
but choose red campion, tufted vetch, betony and meadow cranesbill for
shadier positions. Remove a tiny area of turf with a pointed trowel or
bulb planter, push the plug plant into the hole and firm soil around it.
Water if the weather is dry but they should need no more attention. You
can mow the grass on a high cut in March and April but after that allow
the wildflowers and grasses to grow away with abandon.
PLANT FOLKLORE
Look out for:
Teasels
Even those who would
say they know little about wildflowers know a teasel when they see one.
This biennial plant, which often springs up on roadsides and in waste
places, produces its large green spiky-leaved rosette of leaves one year
and sends up a branched flowering spike the next. Few plants provide food
for so many different creatures, but the teasel has pollen for bees,
nectar for butterflies and seeds for finches, often all at the same time.
The flower head itself appears in July, and is made up of a collection of
tiny pale mauve or pink blossoms, opening in succession from the bottom of
the prickly head up to the top. As the lower flower heads die the seeds
begin to set. These are large and nutritious, and much loved by
goldfinches.
Teasels, known as
sweeps-brushes in many parts of the country, have long been commercially
important plants. The variety known as Fuller’s Teasel was used for
carding or ‘teasing’ wool prior to spinning. This particular form had
more curved spines on the flower head than the common plant. Teasels can
also be dried for winter decoration in the house. In all a most useful
plant to look out for this month.
BOOK REVIEW
Gardening
for Birdwatchers by Mike Toms and Ian And Barley Wilson. British
Trust for Ornithology 2008 ISBN 978-1-906204-30-3
Buy a book from the
British Trust for Ornithology and you know you will be getting something
excellent. Written by experts but always wonderfully readable, all BTO
books are packed with great photos, good, accurate and interesting
information, and this book is no exception. In spite of the title this
isn’t just about the birds in your garden. It includes information on
attracting all sorts of wildlife from bumblebees to moths. Several
planting plans are included with lists of wildlife friendly plants, plus
information on creating ponds and meadows.
However, as you
would expect, birds are featured heavily with details about how to attract
more species to your garden by providing natural berries and seeds, nest
sites and roosting places plus there are sections on how and why birds use
our gardens, An excellent book for any on interested in the birds in their
garden.
©
Copyright Jenny Steel 2017 |
