Search - Articles

of wildlife. They're also much better adapted at dealing with our soils and climate, being able to withstand long periods of dry weather, and will grow in difficult areas of the garden.I've just lifted the concrete slabs of my back yard, in a bid to transform

. I've been debating whether to get a tree for ages, but my garden is 4m² and gets very little sun, and I'd have to grow it in a pot as the soil is so shallow.Another problem is that my garden is isolated. Of the five 'gardens' in the row, mine

, such as 'John Downie' and 'Red Sentinel', which seem to also have good wildlife value. They’re all hardy and do well in most soils, and are now usually grown on dwarfing rootstocks so they reach an eventual height of just 4m. But they do like a bit of sun

of ants scaled this giant, slicing through branches with their machines.I was quite upset but, ever the optimist, I used the opportunity to collect some local, native logs to make a nice wildlife habitat in my mum’s garden. I was sure she wouldn’t mind

it's not legal, but I'm not aware of anyone being prosecuted for it.I attended a wildlife gardening conference recently, where one of the speakers, Jan Miller, author of Gardening for Butterflies, Bees and other benificial insects gave a presentation

behind plant pots and at the back of the borders. She's much more inquisitive than the male, who is only interested in apples, turning leaves, pecking at soil and frightening birds. We've called them Sid and Nancy.So I will be taking part in this year

the perfect habitat because they're damp, while the compressed soil makes them ideal for overwintering (they love squeezing into cracks and tight spaces, apparently, so will even crawl beneath the bags). The fact that my grow bag has the additional shelter