Wild About Your Garden is introduced by Nick Knowles and he tells us that in Great Britain people's gardens covers more area then all the nature reserves.
Every garden could be made into a wildlife haven, have a look at your own garden is it welcoming for wildlife?
This programme is to transform peoples gardens to make them welcoming for our natural wildlife.
The Wild About your Garden Team includes Award Winning Garden Designer Chris Beardshaw, Wildlife expert Ellie Harrison and Presenter Nick Knowles.
The team are in Birmingham to help Annie, Andy and daughters Dominique and Claire who enjoy spending time in their long garden but want more wildlife to visit them.
The team arrive and Chris and Ellie go to look round and Nick ask the family about how they use the garden.
Dom has her friends round a lot in the evenings and they sit outside and Andy has started a vegetable plot at the end of the garden, Annie previously has a small patch in the garden but now wanted a mini allotment.
They don't mind what they do to the garden as long as they can relax in it and also wanted Chickens and a pond but are quite open to any ideas
The Garden
The garden is already quite wild in places with lots of trees and covered areas so they already get some wildlife and the neighbouring gardens have lots of variety of plants.
Ellie thinks they could attract Hedgehogs into the garden with a bit more cover and they make different nests in the summer with moss and leaves but the hibernation nests need thicker cover to keep them warm.
They can add Hedgehog boxes instead of the dense cover.
Ellie wants water in the garden, even a small amount will attract more wildlife, Chris says can it be formal and Ellie happy with any type.
The garden is very long so they have to decide if just doing a part or all the garden but Chris is in an ambitious mood so looks like its all in!
Nick questions Ellie and Chris and they both really like the garden and tells them they like using it in the evening and night time so this is ideal for Chris Hybrid plan of wildlife and people to have an entertainment area.
Ellie suggests also planting for Moths as there are such a variety of them.
So it is....Hedgehogs, Moths and Funky Entertainment Area and not forgetting the vegetables and chickens, they have just 4 days to do it.
Garden Plan
Chris starts his design and straight away he mentions adding a canal to stump the team, and he wants it at the entrance so you have to walk through it!
Next he wants a Gothic Chapel with tumbled down walls made with stone from the quarry and architectural salvage.
The builders and garden contractors arrive to see Chris's plans and they are very unsure if they can pull off building a Gothic Chapel!
Work commences
The Contractors move in with the diggers to start clearing the garden and digging the canal, they manage to save a lot of the plants to reuse in the new garden.
They start measuring and marking out the garden into the 'zones' Chris has planned and everything has to line up Centrally
Anne comes to look at the work in progress and is a bit worried they may need to swim across the water.
Nick says there no bridge and they will need to pole-vault to the rest of the garden!
The foundations for the being laid for the ruins and thats the end of day 1.
The next day the stone arrives for the folly.
Today they also fill the huge canal in the middle and will it leak.
The wormery arrives which will turn their kitchen waste into really good compost for the garden.
To start with it just has a couple of thousand worms but after a few years can be up to 6 thousand worms in them.
The wormery is in layers and the household scraps get put in the top and works through the layers until it is compost ready for the garden in the bottom layer.
The stones for the folly are being aged by bashing them with a hammer to rough up the edges and are being built up to form the chapel ruins.
Raised beds are being constructed and the supporting walls for the canal are being done.
Day 3 of the build and they are still doing the gothic folly and even Colin the landscapers starting to warm to the design.
Out the front the plants and trees are starting to arrive and they go help to unload and Nick struggling with the plant names before recognising some mint which is actually cat mint.
At the end of the day the vegetable boxes are full and ready for planting, the canal is behind schedule but the stepping stone have been done.
The Gothic ruin is not completed and the team worry it was too ambitious and will not get done in time.
The 4th and final day of the garden transformation and a 7am start for most of the team except Nick.
The patio done, some trees are planted, the canal needs filling up and makes his way to the ruin and tells Chris he worried it not going to be finished.
Nick goes to see what the animal cage is that is being constructed and Ellie joins him to tell him about the chickens.
They are having Old English Pheasant Fowl Chickens which come from Yorkshire and are having 3 of the rare breed chickens.
Ellie says you can also get ex battery Chickens that you can rescue from Organisations that rescue them from being slaughtered.
Often they are in a bad way and featherless but in a couple of weeks their feathers would all grow back and health improved.
Chris is ageing the ruin by rubbing a mix of manure and compost into the gaps and stones on it to encourage the lichen and algae to grow.
Everyone flat out to get the transformation back on target and then it starts to rain which stops the concrete going on on the stepping stones which they need to access the rest of the garden for the family to see!
The canal has a sloped end so that any Hedgehogs that fall in can get out easily.
The trees are arranged in straight lines so these continue all the way down the garden making it look longer.
The planting begins and the trees are surrounded by fresh wildflower turf which is 50% grass and they add the off cuts to the ruins to give it a natural look.
Ellie using some spare timber to make a Hedgehog nesting box for the winter as in the summer they make temporary nests out of leaves and moss outside.
She has made a wooden box with a long tunnel entrance to keep out foxes and badgers.
It also has a wooden lid and she made 2 of them but literally anything could move in to them!
Stonemason Visit
Chris takes Colin to visit a local stonemason yard visit and he points out various statues to wind him up before showing him a Gothic ruin similar to the one he wants built.
Chris is keen to find out if Colin can make one and Colin says he will have a go.
Allotment visit
Ellie and Andy visit a local allotment because they want to grow their own produce in the garden and for it to be wildlife friendly.
Ellie shows him how to have netting in the garden that safe for animals and the dangers of slug pellets and the danger to slug predators.
You need slugs as they are part of the food train and hedgehogs like to feed on them, the allotment is fenced all the way round which ideally would have 24-5 inches hole cut in it.
Moth cooking
Ellie is in the kitchen making some moth recipes to attract Moths into the garden.
For the first one she had a pan of cheap red wine and adds some dark sugar which she melts into the warm wine.
Once its all melted in you dip in an old soak and hang it in the garden.
For the second recipe she pours some Irun-Bru into a saucepan then adds a good dollop of treacle and some real ale and then it is painted onto a tree to attract the moths.
Garden visit
Chris takes Nick to Hidcote Manor Gardens to show him how straight lines and borders can be used in a garden.
They reach a spot where several straight lines of garden meet which entices you to explore the garden.
Chris looks for plants that will attract the Moths and pastel coloured flowers like blues and whites they like as the blue shows up as the sun goes down.
Sutton Woods visit
Ellie and Dom visit Sutton Woods and meet with Moth Expert Richard Fox to show them the moth traps he has but they want to test with Ellie Moth cooking to see which attracts more Moths.
Richard says using wet socks is an unusual method of attracting Moths but this was a way in the past to attract Moths by using homemade recipes but not usually when there are so many flowers to attract them too.
As darkness falls they leave the woods and the traps and socks until the morning.
When they return the 3 moth hunters compare their results, Richard has quite a few in the egg cartons in the trap.
Moths are very good for the eco system as are eaten by a lot of birds and their chicks.
Ellie socks are empty.
Allotment
Chris has been back and making new friends at the Allotment and they are discussing Tomatoes before moving onto slugs and alternative ways to get rid of them.
Chris tells them that watering at night encourages the slugs where as in the morning the slugs will not cross the ground.
There are also Nematodes worms you mix with water and put on ground which get onto the slugs and eat into them to kill them.
He also suggests swearing at them!
Next is a family on their allotment and he tells the young son to ask for porridge for breakfast and instead take it to the allotment and put around the plant and the next day all the slugs will be full and not eat the plants.
Hedgehog Hospital
Ellie takes Andy to visit West Midlands Hedgehog Hospital and meet Joan Lockley who cares for and rehabilitates the Hedgehogs that need rescuing.
She shows them a Hedgehog that was found wandering in the day time who was underweight and being out in the day time is a sign they are sick and need help from a rescue centre.
She has a list of safe gardens that she has vetted and releases them there, they need to be natural and no deep ponds.
Joan shows them a victim of eating slug pellets who a very poorly Hedgehog, they are probably not going to be alive tomorrow and its a horrible death.
Sadly it did not survive and the irony is that Hedgehogs are excellent at keeping the slug numbers down as they do eat them.
They now have just the finishing touches of the planting and the final touch letting the chickens into their new home and the garden is complete
Grand Reveal open your Eyes
The grand reveal is in the evening which is perfect for the Moths and Hedgehog friendly garden.
Annie, Andy and daughters Dominique and Claire all gasp, 'it's beautiful' 'can't believe its our garden' 'it's amazing' 'you've done the most fantastic job, it's brilliant'
Chris takes the family on a tour and across the canal stepping stones and into the Folly which they admit they were dreading it being naff.
They love the garden vegetable beds and most of all the Chickens.
As an extra surprise 2 rescue Hedgehogs are released to enjoy the garden
Nick says Wildlife gardens do not have to look rough and ready this one is beautiful.
They leave now and wait for the garden to mature but not before putting up wildlife cameras to record any visitors.
4 Months Later....
The garden has flourished and they return for a day time visit and the trees and plants have all taken well.
The Hedgehogs have been seen in this garden as well as the neighbours but they not used the house but might come the winter.
The canal is full of frogs and the Water lilies are doing well and there been birds bathing in the water.
They have seen a lot of Moths although this year not been a good one for them and butterflies.
What has gone down well is the Chickens the whole family love keeping them.
Wildlife Camera Reveal
Andy and the team have a look at the camera footage and there lots of bird activity on the feeders.
Next the cat from next door enjoying the Cat Mint!
Frogs and Newts from the Canal.
This long garden has been transformed and is now a garden for Day and Night as well as being self sufficient and a haven for wildlife.
Previous Episode 🦋 Next Episode
All Photographs are Copyright of BBC.com
No comments:
Post a Comment