Biodiversity and the lazy gardener…

If you like your gardening easy and low maintenance….

Sometimes brevity in a blog post is important. It underlines the point you are trying to make.

This blog is about how to garden to achieve an increase to biodiversity in your garden. This is simple to achieve and so I’ve reflected that simplicity here.

This is of course great news for the lazy gardener…and the lazy blog reader…

1) Stop using poison it isn’t necessary (that includes anything that kills creatures, plants, fungus or anything else as it has been shown that, for example, herbicides affect gut bacteria in bees to make them more susceptible to disease)

2) Stop mowing your lawn as often and let some lawn flowers grow - creating the bejewelled meadow beloved of medieval poets and artists

3) Plant a tree - Crabapples, Rowans, Maples, and Cherries can be selected not to grow too large

4) Create a space for water - a pond or even just a sunken sink/bowl/bucket that you top up (the hoverflies will love it)

5) Stop believing that a garden should show plants surrounded by soil - cover the ground with plants for nature to hide in and to protect the soil from erosion

6) Go and look at the nature in your garden…turn over a trowel of soil and watch the invertebrates, view the pollinators, and sopt the birds. The more you see the more you will want to encourage to remain.

And that’s it…Happy Gardening!