Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT)
 

National WWT News

The end of Gardening Month

Posted on 25 March 2011 by WWT Martin Mere

This weekend is the last weekend that we are doing gardening activities as Gardening month comes to an end.

We have had a really great March, especially in the last couple of weeks as the sun has been shining.

I have had a few queries regarding how my vegetable garden is progressing. The sun has made a lot happen recently: the leeks have started to germinate and the broad beans have started pushing through the soil producing leaves – so in a few weeks I can get them potted up. I planted some garlic cloves earlier in the week and I will be planting two types of onion tomorrow. So yes it is progressing well and I have enjoyed sharing my gardening knowledge with our visitors.

I hope you had a nopportunity to visit over gardening month but we are now officially in duckling season as the first of the Nene goslings were spotted this week – I will aim to put some pictures of them on my diary early next week.

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Sustainable planting

Posted on 16 March 2011 by Jamie Wyver @ London

Guest blog by London Wetland Centre’s gardening expert Alwyn Craven

Choosing plants for your garden can be a bewildering experience at the best of times with the huge range of plants on offer. But rather than making things even more complicated, sustainable planting actually simplifies the choice. All you need to do is think about a few basic tenets.

The first of these simply involves putting the right plant in the right place. Let the conditions of the site influence your planting and your garden is guaranteed to thrive, needing less effort and resources to look after it for more beauty and enjoyment in return.

Take the planting in our new RBC Rain Garden; each area has been carefully planted with plants that are ideally suited to the conditions. The green roof on the converted shipping container dries out quickly in summer so it is planted with tough, drought tolerant plants like thymes and sedums which will survive the harsh conditions.

Whereas the seasonally wet rain gardens, which hold the water collected from the green roof need plants which can tolerate wet conditions with the occasional dry spell. Here we have planted a beautiful array of herbaceous perennials including Purple loosestrife, Primulas and Ornamental rhubarb.

The second tenet is to choose plants that are great for wildlife. Firstly choose your trees and shrubs which will provide essential structure, utilising all that vertical space to create a habitat for wildlife. Look for those with more than one feature, such as blossom for insects followed by berries for birds and mammals. Rowan trees and Hawthorns are good examples of native trees which fit the bill perfectly. When choosing your herbaceous perennials and annuals think about providing nectar for insects or seeds for birds like goldfinches. Coneflowers, which we have growing in our sustainable gardens provide both, and the stems look great if left over winter.

The third and last tenet is to look for plants which have been produced sustainably. Nurseries which care about the environment probably care more about their plants too. Try to cut down on the miles your plants have travelled by buying British grown plants and look out for nurseries that use peat free or peat reduced composts. We don’t use any peat in our nursery, where we grow herbs and wildflowers for the shop on site.

By taking into account just these few issues, you will not only simplify your plant choice, but you will create a thriving, low maintenance garden that is great for wildlife and for you.

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Top five tips for wildlife gardening

Posted on 9 March 2011 by Jamie Wyver @ London

The primroses pushing their heads above ground are a sign that it’s time to start planning your gardening calendar for the year. As well as considering the plants and shrubs that need your attention before they blossom into life, spare a thought too for the amphibians, insects and small mammals that inhabit your garden.

WWT London Wetland Centre is holding a Festival of Gardening on the weekends of March 26 & 27 and April 2 & 3. TV gardening presenters and authors Gay Search and Matthew Wilson will be attending the Festival, together with local gardening experts.

Follow their top five gardening tips to create a haven for wildlife in your own urban oasis, however small it may be. Even a window box can be planted with nectar rich flowers for insects to feed on.

(1) Leave seed heads for the birds
Leave seed heads of grasses and perennials such as Phlomis and Verbena bonariensis on during the winter. Small birds such as blue tits love the seeds and the plants are just strong enough to bear their weight.

Gay Search: garden expert, TV presenter and author

(2) Find out which habitats are missing, and fill the gapDon’t try to replicate every possible wildlife habitat in your garden. For one thing it’s impossible and for another will leave your garden looking a terrible mess. Instead look to the area around where you live and try and put in your garden something that is absent from your surroundings. So if there are no ponds in the area – make a pond, no old log piles – create a stack of logs, and so on.

Matthew Wilson: Channel 4’s The Landscape Man.

(3) Make the most of rain water
Think about capturing and using rainwater in your garden rather than letting it run off into our struggling drainage system. Install water butts to store water ready for use or utilise water directly in the garden by creating a rain garden. For ideas and inspiration come and see our new RBC Rain Garden here at WWT London.

Alwyn Craven: London Wetland Centre’s gardening warden.

(4) Green your roof
If you have shed, garage or small extension – put a green roof on it. Make sure it has native wildflowers on it.

Dusty Gedge: Green roof specialist, naturalist and campaigner.

(5) Bring the streets to life
Think of our pavements and transport arteries as corridors for wildlife, particularly bumblebees. So plant what they love. My favourite is lavender, because it’s great for us and for bees and surprisingly well suited to London’s streets.

Richard Reynolds: Guerrilla gardener.

As part of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) Festival of Gardening, London Wetland Centre is holding a full programme of events and activities, including:

• Sunday 3 April The Healing Garden: a talk by author Gay Search

• Sunday 27 March ‘Ask the Gardeners’ celebrity garden panel, including Matthew Wilson and Dr Nigel Dunnett

• Saturday 2 April Guerrilla Gardening and green roof planting talks

• Pond planting, compost, willow and ‘Support your vegetables’ demonstrations. Find out more: Festival of gardening

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Festival of Gardening – my vegetable patch at home

Posted on 4 March 2011 by WWT Martin Mere

March is WWT’s official gardening month and we have started with displays in the concourse and this weekend we will be doing pond dipping and making mini-gardens as well as specialist tours.

To add to this event, every Friday I will put on my diary what I am up to in my vegetable garden at home as I have a greenhouse and an outside area where I grow all my own vegetables.

At the moment I am busy tidying out the greenhouse as there was a lot of damage from the high winds the other week, getting the trays ready, digging over and rotivating the garden ready for planting at the end of the month and planting some seeds. I have sown broad beans inside in pots, put my new potatoes in darkness undercover for them to spritt and I haev sown the first lot of radishes in the greenhouse.

I do enjoy gardening and I would be happy to answer any questions you may have related to gardening over the month.

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