Search - Articles

, by July and August there are millions more hungry mouths to feed. For tits, finches and sparrows, garden feeding stations provide a real lifeline. And even for birds like robins, wrens, thrushes and blackbirds, availability of insects, fruits and berries

to visit gardens in autumn and winter, as they rely on bird feeders when their natural sources of insects and grubs dry up. They need calorie-rich suet, sunflower hearts and peanuts to maintain fat reserves on frosty nights. In colder weather, look out

creatures are likely to use your pond:Frogs need ponds to breed and tadpoles will feed on the algae in the water. Create an area of plants where frogs can shelter, to provide valuable shade and cover from predators.FrogsBirds will visit ponds to drink

Spring is in the air. Birds are tweeting. Comfortable nests are being flung together. Plants are sprouting. Frogs are croaking lasciviously. Daffodils are flowering away with nothing less than gusto and the gloom of February fades into distant

, such as clover. Many pesticides just kill them.Our gardens are fast becoming refuges for bees - especially some species of bumblebee, which are happy to nest in wild corners, bird boxes and under sheds. Many also come into our gardens to feed. Sadly some species

Jekka McVicar's 10 herbs for wildlifeJekka McVicar's organic herb garden achieved a gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show 2009. We caught up with her at the show to discover her top 10 herbs for attracting wildlife.Herbs have been used for culinary

plant of local provenance has grown in its locality for a long time. By definition, it's a wild, native plant and has evolved over hundreds, even thousands of years in tune with its local environment. Self-seeded by wind, or spread by birds or mammals

and a wonderful stripy frog.Unlike most of her gardening friends, Fabiana grows native plants for moths and birds. A former farm, the land was sown mainly with Italian rye grass for grazing animals. Fabiana removed most of this grass and replaced

an expert, and choose the right plant for the position and space you can provide.Reading news of declining house sparrow populations over past years, I only have to look out into my garden to watch them flock to my bird table each day. And which plants do

of year. I’d start sowing now but I don’t want weak, leggy, light-starved plants.I’ve never had a blank canvas for a garden before. It’s not a big garden, but there’s room enough for a few mistakes. I’ll be growing most plants from seed, and scrounging