Creating biodiversity in an urban garden.
In a recent survey done by “The Garden” magazine, 95% of its readership saw themselves as “stewards of the environment” but not everyone was sure what practical steps they could take to create biodiversity, especially in small urban gardens.
Tiny urban front garden, Dublin.
Aesthetics and biodiversity don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
Biodiversity simply means all living organisms – plants, animals, insects – and their habitats, and how we co-exist. Biodiversity is disappearing at an alarming rate but the RHS campaign, “Just do one thing”, is trying to stem the tide, by encouraging us to think about how we interact with our environment. Here are some of their suggestions.
Can you do just one of these things :
- If you do have to turn your front garden into a car park, try to retain as much planting as you can, or offset the negative with a positive and install a green roof , plant a hedge, plant up pots and window boxes.
- Improve your soil, and reduce your waste, by making your own compost. You don’t need acres of space.
- Install a pond if you have space – the single most important thing you can do. Or put a birdbath and bird feeders out.
- Plant flowers for pollinating insects with a range of plants that will keep them going through the seasons
- Ditch the chemicals; trust me, the pests may return but so will the predators .. be patient.
- Leave a woodpile in a shady corner, log piles create habitats
- Buy or make an insect “hotel” or put up a bird nesting box
Think as if you live in the countryside, whether you garden on an individual level …
No garden – no problem,
City centre house awash with flowers and vegetables
… or collectively.
Serenity Community garden, Phibsborough, creating biodiversity.
Is there a Community garden you can get involved with?
Even in a tiny space you can live in harmony with nature, it just means commitment and being observant.
Hmm, let me see, what one thing could I do?
Jardin 
Great advice.
LikeLike
Thanks, to gardeners it seems like common sense but there is a great deal of “concrete jungle” that would be delightful to see “greened”.
LikeLike
Great post, interesting and easy to read. Thank you!
LikeLike
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it and found it easy to read – always good to get feedback.
LikeLike
Thank you for your inspirational post! Here in the US there is a lot of interest in planting native plants in gardens and combating imported invasive plant material. A big news item last year was the decline of the Monarch butterfly, people are being encouraged to plant Milkweed in their gardens (considered a ‘weed’), it is a host plants for the butterfly.
LikeLike
Thank you!
I read an article about the plight of the Monarch butterfly – I think they are totally reliant on the Milkweed?
In Britain the 15 million gardens are considered as important to the survival of certain species, like the songthrush, in serious decline in the countryside.
LikeLike
A beautiful and inviting post–thank you so much! And what an interesting addition here–that “just one thing” can improve the chances of a species.
LikeLike
Thanks so much Katie – hope the post inspired. I like the slogan – do just one thing – it seems so much more achievable.
LikeLike
Really interesting, thank you – I hadn’t come across this RHS Campaign; I will mention to my daughter’s school garden/eco club. Toiling away in our own individual gardens, it’s easy to loose site of the bigger picture – the fact that my plot is one of 15 million in the UK is pretty exciting. Even if we all just leave a few weeds and plant some wildflowers, that will begin to create some significant areas of habitat!
LikeLike
Absolutely! As the slogan says, if we all do just one thing, it can make a difference – gardening in tune with nature.
Very best wishes to your daughter’s school .. glad to hear of children getting involved with growing.
LikeLike
Pingback: Biodiversity | Edgeworthstown Tidy Towns