Gardening for wildlife in early spring
The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul.
Alfred Austin
I’m not the greatest of gardeners but I don’t know, maybe the fact I’ve been cooked up in doors forever, perhaps it’s because we’ve had some lovely weather, maybe it’s because the days are now getting noticeably longer but, I’ve had the urge to get out in the garden in both worlds this past week or two.
One of the things I love to see in my urban garden is the wildlife and I read a lovely article this week on Gardener’s world on jobs you can do in the garden in March to encourage wildlife. In todays blog, I’m going to share some of the ideas I picked up from the article, ideas that I’ve had a go at!
Temperatures in March can still fall well below zero at night, so creepy crawlies such as earthworms, beetles and caterpillars may still be taking shelter. Garden birds will have eaten all but the last of the berries, and with less invertebrate food available, they can often go hungry, just at a time when they need to be in tip top condition for breeding.
March, apparently is the key month for breeding amphibians, who knew! Frogs start breeding first, laying clumps of jelly-like spawn at the pond edge, joined by toads a couple of weeks later. Toads tend to breed in larger ponds than frogs, and are more likely to return to ‘ancestral’ pond sites. They lay ‘ribbons’ of spawn around the stems of submerged plant such as marsh marigold. Finally, newts return to ponds – shine a light into the water at night to see males performing a courtship dance to woo females, (none in my pond yet but I’m dying to see this!!). Female newts wrap eggs individually in leaves of marginal plants such as water forget-me-not and brooklime. Brooklime is a pant often found near water with broad leaves and pretty blue flowers, I know because Google told me 😊
Leave out food for hedgehogs
I don’t know what it is but I LOVE hedgehogs! Leave out water and meat-based cat or dog food for hedgehogs (apparently chicken flavour is best, in jelly not gravy). Hedgehogs are emerging from hibernation in March, and need to build up their fat reserves for breeding. Put out the food from dusk and discard any that’s left first thing in the morning.
Feed the birds
Continue to feed birds calorie-rich food such as sunflower heart, fat balls and suet nibbles, to help them prepare for breeding. Avoid peanuts as there’s a small chance adult birds will feed them to their young, which can choke them.
Add nectar- and pollen-rich plants
Make a note of the plants in flower in your garden and visit your local garden centre to see what’s in flower there, to increase your stock of nectar- and pollen-rich plants for pollinators. There’s a lovely article on helping bees from winter through to spring here. https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/10-plants-to-help-bees-through-winter-into-spring/
Add pond plants
If you have a pond, you can improve it for breeding amphibians, by adding plants such as brooklime and water forget-me-not, which newts lay their eggs on, and submerged plants such as hornwort and curled pondweed, which will oxygenate the water and shelter tadpoles from predators.
So, clearly gardening for wildlife in March is all about breeding so, to give me extra smiles whilst I was gardening, I put together a playlist on my phone which included je t'aime by Serge Gainsbourg, Nothing's Gonna Hurt You Baby by Cigarettes After Sex, Hotter than Hell by Dua Lipa and I Want Your Sex by George Michael, it worked and I had a couple of fab afternoons in the garden
What’s on this week?
Head & Eyes – LeLUTKA Head Fleur 2.5
Hair – DOUX - Venezia Hairstyle
Face Skin – Not Found - Misty Skin Toffee Normal
Body, Hands & Feet – Maitreya Mesh Body - Lara V5.2 + [the Skinnery] Skin Toffee + Addons
Nails – alme. Mesh Stiletto Nails - Maitreya
AO – BodyLanguage SLC BENTO AO Cadence
Tattoo – Gaia TaTToo Color 50% [CAROL G]
Rings & Bracelets – Eudora3D Lilac (Maitreya)
Face Piercings – ^^Swallow^^ Indira
Necklace & Earrings – Cae :: Mirha ::
Lip Piercing – *PKC* Caroline Lip Piercing - Lelutka Fleur
Dress – Kaithleen's Chou Chou Dress - Bubblegum Maitreya Lara @ this round of Fameshed
Shoes & Stockings – Eudora3D Nimueh Heels & Stockings @ this round of Fameshed X
One of my dearest friends, Shazzy opened a new girls club a few weeks ago and being the dutiful friend reluctantly I went to express my “ooooos” and “ahhhhs”, very unfairly thinking it would be like every other cloned girl club in SL complete with the ubiquitous gesturebators and rows of Dom/Sub furniture, well that will teach me, I should have known better as Shazzy has got a brilliant aesthetic eye, (check out her Flickr!). As you'll see, (hopefilly!) from the pictures aboveThe club is tastefully decorated with fabulous artwork through the lobby and into the main dance area. There are a few side rooms to just chill out and chat of of which demonstrates fantastic attention to detail down to the fixtures, fittings and furniture, there is a constant colour scheme throughout and it has an unassuming but fabulous atmosphere even when I've been there when there have been no events or DJ. Shazzy has evidently put a great deal of thought and hard work into the build and for that reason alone it deserves to do well! It’s called GirlGirl Club - Lesbian Lounge and you can find it HERE
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