Keep your fruit safe while protecting our wildlife - photo by Gavin Dickson
Wildlife gardening in October
Keep your fruit safe while protecting our wildlife - photo by Gavin Dickson
Community Wildlife Officer Barbara Polonara shares some ideas about what to do in your garden for wildlife this month.
A fruitful tip
Apply sticky grease bands to trunks of fruit trees. This pesticide-free method will help reduce the numbers of unwelcomed visitors and have trees ready for a beautiful spring blossom.
Watch the video below by Ben Vanheems for tips on how to go chemical-free in your garden to help wildlife.
Natural pest control (https://youtu.be/ztAE-p-CjY0)
Natural pest control
Bird box by Ross Hoddinott/2020VISION
Clean out bird boxes
Now that nesting season has ended for most garden birds, it’s the right time to take down and clean nest boxes; nesting material can host critters which bother chicks. Check that the nest is inactive – tampering with active nests is illegal – and take the material out; birds will then take in new wadding the following spring.
Make the most of the autumn rain
Butting in
Set up a water butt to collect that autumn rain and fill it up for next spring and summer. Rain water is best for plants and to fill up ponds, as well as being a useful additional supply in our increasingly dry summers.
Rosey TLC
It is now the right time to dehead roses and get them ready for some pruning in late winter.