Page 12 - ALG Issue 3 2024

ORGANIC
WAYS TO BOOST BIODIVERSITY ONYOUR PLOT
Alice Whitehead from Garden Organic shares ways to stem biodiversity loss at your allotment with some simple organic steps.
Green corridors begin in gardens and allotments. It can be easy to overlook
the positive contribution allotment plots can have on biodiversity loss – but with around 250,000 allotments in the UK, they form a vital link to the wider world of nature, especially in urban settings.
As rural habitats fragment, our veg plots, backyards and balconies bind together to act as dispersal highways for wildlife to find food, shelter and breeding grounds.
Figures show global wildlife populations have plummeted by 69% on average since 1970, with the main drivers being human use of land and climate change. But Garden Organic’s new research paper Every Garden Matters shows small actions in gardens and allotment plots can make an enormous difference.
If each plot was managed sustainably and organically, imagine how this could change our landscape and benefit our wildlife. As
a plotholder, you can be at the heart of positive environmental action.
Here’s four ways to support a biodiverse ecosystem on your allotment...
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12 | Issue 3 2024 | Allotment and Leisure Gardener
SAVOUR YOUR SOIL
An organic allotment is built from the ground up, and is teeming with life. Nurturing fertile, biologically active soil takes time but the results can mean
greater wildlife - and healthier vegetables. Our Every Garden Matters report shows well-managed vegetable gardens have a similar soil biological quality to a forest, with soil quality and carbon content better than in surrounding farmland.
The easiest way to nurture soil health
is to regularly layer mulches of well-rotted compost or peat-free soil conditioner to retain moisture and add nutrients.This also has the added benefit of keeping down unwanted ‘weeds’.
Making your own compost is a fantastic way to reuse materials you’re producing on your plot.You can start a heap at any time of year, but decomposition will be slower in winter. Simply add greens (young weeds, kitchen peelings, tea leaves and soft prunings) and brown waste (egg boxes, toilet tubes, small twigs) to a bin or heap
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DIVERSIFY YOUR PLANTING
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A cocktail of colourful flowers and vegetables will provide food, shelter and habitats for wildlife. Every time you plant
a row of vegetables, consider a row of flowers too – and choose those that bloom across the year so there’s an abundant supply of nectar and pollen.
The leaves of flowers and veg can also support caterpillars and beetles.Autumn stems are used for insects to hibernate in and seedheads are a source of food for birds during winter.Throw in some night-scented flowers and you’ll also attract moths – an often overlooked but important pollinator.
Sunflowers, echinacea, rudbeckia and poached egg plants are all good non-native blooms but for greater biodiversity combine with native or near-native plants such as
fennel, cornflower and corncockle. Our report shows above ground invertebrates are more abundant under native or near-native plants, and indigenous birds are more successful breeding in gardens with higher levels of native plants.
A wide range of flower shapes is also worth considering. Single, open flowers such as cosmos offer up pollen on a platter, with a dish-shaped centre that’s easily accessible to most insects. Plants such as comfrey, bluebells and foxgloves have evolved to a much deeper, tubular flower structure that’s only accessible by long-tongued insects such as the garden bumblebee.
Double flowers, by contrast, are jam-packed with petals but offer less pollen,