Hands On
|
South Dublin Branch Hands On |
|
| Home | Events | What's About | News | East Coast Sites | Projects | Getting Started | Hands On |
|
Dublin's gardens ain't what they used to be; for a start they're a lot smaller and probably a lot more minimalist than even twenty years ago. Front gardens have disappeared completely under paved parking space. Even so private gardens occupy a surprising 20% of the city's land area according to the draft DCC Biodiversity Plan, March 2007 . This still offers plenty of scope for would be wildlife gardeners. 
Birds have certainly adapted to the city; when once only Blue Tits came to peanut
feeders, now Goldfinch, Siskin, Blackcaps and others have learned the art. The Blue Tit was of
course the pioneer when it came to opening the foil caps of milk-bottles but the
disappearance of the bottle put pay to that. Some more robust species have recently hacked the Tetra-Pak.
The spread of the fox in the Dublin suburbs is legendary. They have found a haven
from predation, with the exception of the motorcar, and an unending supply of waste
food. Will the arrival of the wheelie bin mark the high point of their expansion?
Somehow I doubt it. Badgers also are triving in the larger parks around the city.
If you do go ahead, is it of any value to wildlife? A suburban garden with a native
tree or more, plenty of ground cover, a wide variety of plants chosen for nectar-filled
flowers and autumn berries and a regime that does without pesticides and herbicides
must rate highly as habitat for insects and birds. For real biodiversity, you need a
location near mature gardens or parks with trees and hedgerows.
The best-documented garden in Britain which was monitored for a 14-year period
ending in 1986 was on a busy suburban corner in Leicester. Here 2,204 species were
recorded including 21 kinds of butterfly, 263 species of moth, 91 hoverflies, 94
plants that arrived of their own accord and 59 vertebrate animals ranging from voles
to blackbirds. It did benefit from mature neighbouring gardens and it was close to
two parks with old trees. So it was not isolated - a vital factor.
The fox tends to visit larger gardens; its home range may be up to 90 hectares.
Hedgehogs are not so wide ranging but can cover 500 metres in a night. A bowl of
dog food, put close to a wall and cat-proofed by an upturned wire basket with a small
arch cut in it may attract them. With both foxes and hedgehogs it helps to be near
large mature gardens or parks or railway embankments. Britain's Mammal Society in
a survey of householders found 70% had sightings of hedgehogs, with mice and
grey squirrel way ahead of that and foxes and bats close behind.
Songbirds need dense vegetation to nest in, to help protect their eggs and young
from predators. This is not usually available in suburban gardens. You can help
the birds in your garden by planting climbers such as ivy and honeysuckle, and dense
shrubs such as hawthorn and large fusia.
The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) in a survey found no evidence that
increased numbers of Magpies have caused declines in
songbirds and confirms that populations of prey species are not determined by
numbers of their predators.
Most species never reach the same densities as in the countryside and gardens
cannot substitute for habitat lost from the wild. Nature is too complex to be
reproduced on a miniature scale, but wildlife gardens provide islands of support and
keep city dwellers and their families in touch with nature.
It sounds like a lot of work but once it's up and
running you can just let it go .. wild.
based on "Another Life", Michael Viney in The Irish Times 09/03/02
Compost bins are tidy, relatively cheap and available from your local garden centre or
at a reduced cost from your local authority.
Choose a spot in your garden
that is not too sunny and where the soil is free draining. This will ensure
your compost will be moist but well aerated and will encourage insect activity and
ultimately better compost. Locate the compost bin or heap in a position that
is convenient to your house - make using it easy foryourself.
Separate your organic kitchen waste and garden waste from all other waste,
put it in your compost bin and mix it with a garden fork at least once every two weeks.
Getting a balance between green and brown waste is essential. A good mix of
browns and greens achieves the best balance and also helps with the aeration
and amount of water in the pile. Too much of one or the other and you won't
make good compost.
For best results place the 'greens' and 'browns' in alternate layers
about ten inches thick. In most circumstances the compost will be ready in
2/3 months. Compost is ready when it becomes dark, crumbly and uniform in texture.
Compost can be used as mulch around plants, as a top dressing over your lawn which
can fertilise the soil or as a soil improver in vegetable or flower beds.
http://www.raceagainstwaste.ie
|
||||||||||||||
|
|Home|
Events|
|
The sheer urbanisation of life has probably prompted a few people to make over their
gardens for wildlife by digging a pond, planting wild hedges and trees and sowing a
wildflower "meadow". Wildlife gardening is big business. The bird feeding industry in
Britain is worth £120 million a year and growing at 20% annually. Its impact is
probably much less here. The idea of any untidiness, a necessity in a wildlife garden,
is anathema to people often one generation away from a mud hut. Most makeovers of
"period" houses seem to be inspired by the minimalist school of a far more recent period, so
when the hedges have been replaced by lapboard from Woodies and the grass by a
deck and a layer of brown gravel, the place is about as wildlife friendly as the Empty
Quarter on a bad day. Dense old fusia bushes are a great favourite with House Sparrows,
a species which now needs promotion, but the fusia in its more massive form is no longer one of the gardener's favourites.
