Thursday, March 28, 2024
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How I revitalised my garden

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Readers may recall my letter in January 2019 asking Where are the small birds?  I have only been in Alvechurch a short while, but I have turned my garden into a natural habitat to attract wildlife.

When I arrived the garden was dead – the lawn was full of moss, the back was a mound of buried rubbish, and bracken, vines and weeds had taken over the area. It took many months to clear everything and get ready to rebuild, with two aims: to encourage wildlife and grow fruit.

We built a small pond, then planted wild flower seeds and spring bulbs. As I’m a wheelchair user, we set out paving to run in between the growing fruit. One of the things we dug up was an old-style recycling box, which gave me an idea.

I contacted the local recycling centre to see what had happened to the rest of these bins. It turned out that many had been kept, and they let me have about 20.

I removed the bottoms for drainage, then filled them with compost and they are now looking good with radishes, lettuce, strawberries and rhubarb (pictured left).

I planted several native shrubs to become a hedgerow that will hopefully attract a lot more wildlife, and made a hedgehog den that now has two residents! A young fox also visits, and I’d like to know if I should encourage him with food or not.

As for the birds… I built a large bird table and keep this stocked with food and water. I now have a few robins, bluetits and blackbirds regularly visiting.

The garden is just full of life and hope. I know it will get even better as this habitat develops. Can’t wait to see what happens next!

Richard Page, Alvechurch