Keeping wildlife in mind

With spring in the air, more people are getting out into the garden and keeping wildlife in mind by opting for eco-friendly and organic products

More and more people are growing their own vegetables. As well as traditional onion sets, early spuds, and cabbage plants, there’s an ever-growing choice of potatoes, like Starette and Athena.

With spring at last in the air, it seems more people are keeping wildlife in mind by opting for eco-friendly and organic products, where possible, rather than having just ornamental plants in their gardens.

A visit to a garden centre on a fine day last week revealed a noticeable step-up in activity.

Post-winter, tidying-up work, which has been delayed by prolonged wet weather, is underway. People are, for instance, out mowing their lawns and pulling weeds for the first time this year.

Bedding plants are being snapped up, pansies, primroses and the like creating much-needed colour. It seems everyone wants their places looking good around St Patrick’s Day, a traditional calendar mark.

Renewed interest

The covid epidemic sparked renewed interest in gardening and some people have been happily at it ever since. The All-Ireland Pollinator Plan urges us to keep butterflies and bees in mind by planting the likes of lavender, foxglove, sunflower and buddleia (the butterfly favourite).

With the large-scale disappearance of wildflower meadows - once speckled with the likes of dandelion, clover, daisies, and cowslips all providing food for pollinators - we’re also urged to consider using native plants.

And more people are growing their own vegetables. As well as traditional onion sets, early spuds, and cabbage plants, there’s an ever-growing choice of potatoes.

For someone reared on Kerr’s pinks and golden wonders, it’s interesting to see organic and exotic-sounding seed potatoes like Starette, Athena and Mai-wen on sale.

There’s now an ever-growing number of schemes for people keen to get involved in biodiversity action. The popular Hare’s Corner project, started by the Burrenbeo Trust, in County Clare, has been extended to nine other counties since January.

There’s a number of schemes for people keen to get involved in biodiversity action. The popular Hare’s Corner project, started by the Burrenbeo Trust, in Co Clare, has been extended to nine other counties since January.

The idea is to use parcels of land - often regarded as non-productive - for planting and developing for the benefit of nature.

Landowners, farmers, schools and community groups in Kerry, Limerick, Offaly, Donegal, Sligo, Monaghan, Louth, Wexford and Kilkenny, are now being offered a ‘menu’ of supports and professional advice through Burrenbeo.

Supports includes 100 native trees for a mini-woodland and a wildlife hedge; a heritage orchard of five apple trees; a wildlife pond, with advice from a hydrologist and some expenses towards machinery costs, and a plan for nature involving a visit and advice from a Hare’s Corner representative.

The Burrenbeo team, meanwhile, has been travelling around the country delivering 80,000 native trees to participants who are creating over 1,500 new woodland and hedgerow habitats.

The English poet, John Clare, dubbed March ‘a month of many weathers’ with hail, snow and rain. Hope he’s got it wrong for the remaining two weeks. And let the work continue!