Gardens are wonderful places in which to create your own outdoor space, get back in touch with nature and to return to a calm state after the hustle and bustle of city life. Allowing yourself just to be, whilst observing the world around you can be immensely helpful for your wellbeing. For my part, I shun the often sterile, over-designed gardens and I find it an added pleasure to create a garden that is to be shared with, and helps support, some of the wildlife that lives around me.

The gardener who wishes to help wildlife and the environment can find inspiration at places like Kew Gardens, where they have introduced a number of ideas that both enrich habitats and therefore biodiversity - and that are interesting to look at. We can be creative, as well as environmentally aware.


Take this huge wooden stag beetle sculpture at Kew, for instance. This sits amongst rotting logs at the base of a standing but dead tree, the ideal habitat for the real stag beetle which is an endangered species, largely through the loss of habitats that it can live in. Many invertebrates, plus wood mice and amphibians such as frogs and toads which are struggling to survive, will be able to seek protection and find food amongst leaf litter and the humid areas between the logs.

The dead tree will also attract birds such as woodpeckers, that make use of holes in the trunk and will eat insects from under the bark.

 
The sculpture is home to fungi which forms an interesting texture visually. The sculpture may itself rot down into the log pile, eventually. So wood piles don't just have to look untidy and somewhat boring. With some imagination, they can create an interesting new feature in your garden that you can enjoy gazing at, whilst they also help wildlife to survive.

You need to be careful and look after yourself when lifting heavy logs around and it is a good time to consciously use the Alexander Technique.  Inhibit before lifting anything and give yourself directions; be thoughtful and aware of how you move and lift things.  A monkey position may be useful to use for lighter logs, or a squatting position may be better for larger logs.  In both cases, make sure that you are well balanced and keep the weight as close in to your body as possible, so that you avoid straining your back.

If you are a gardener who is wondering what to plant in order to help wildlife and promote biodiversity, have a look at the Natural History Museum's Postcode Database. All you do is supply your postcode and up comes a list of plants that are native to your local area. It's brilliant!

There are sections for all types of plants, annual, perennial, water plants etc. 'Gardenworthy' plants are marked, many are illustrated and there is information about each plant and any species of wildlife that needs it to survive. In this way, you can learn as you browse and choose plants. Of course, you will also be helping to maintain our own native plant stocks as well. 

It can be very satisfying and calming to sit in a garden that is full of birdsong and the buzzing of insect-life. Such a garden is usually a healthy and rich habitat, that is good to be in and likely to attract birds, frogs, toads and possibly hedgehogs, even in Stoke Newington.

I remember sitting next to a native blackthorn bush in a friend's garden, which was in full bloom. I spent a long, peaceful time happily listening to the constant hum of bees and hoverflies from amongst the delicate white flowers. Later, I enjoyed some of my friend's delicious sloe gin, made from the previous year's fruit from the same bush!

A silent garden seems barren and rather boring to me, no matter how many exotic plants are in it. Many insects find highly cultivated plants to be inhospitable, often because they cannot access pollen and nectar as flower heads are too tightly formed. So try including such beautiful flowers as primroses or purple loosestrife in your garden, native plants which help support many insects.

Check out the Website to find lovely plants ideal for your own area, so you can create wildlife habitats and make your garden or windowsills more interesting - and know you are helping the environment.
  
Here's the Agrimony entry from the Database - an attractive flower, native to Stoke Newington, N16.




http://www.nhm.ac.uk/fff/index.html