Page 37 - Allotment Gardener Issue 1 2024
P. 37
READERS ARTICLES
BOURN
WILD
At Bourn Allotment Association, we were thrilled to receive an award from the Cambridgeshire Wildlife Trust.
We are a very small allotment association
in a rural setting and we all try to grow our vegetables and fruit in as wildlife friendly way as possible. We maintain areas specifically for wildlife at the allotment site - so this award was a lovely recognition of our endeavours.
To make our site wildlife friendly, we have bug and bee hotels, bird boxes and a bird bath. We also leave areas wild; we have log, stone
and leaf piles, several small ponds, as well as wildlife access to adjoining pieces of land – for hedgehogs for example. We don’t strim the banks surrounding our site during the late spring and summer to allow wildflowers to grow for pollinators and for caterpillars, such as the cinnabar moth. We use very little pesticide
or herbicide and instead strive to protect our crops using physical barriers such as netting or weed suppressant fabric and sheep’s fleece. We
employ companion
planting and beer traps or
spray with soap, garlic water or neem oil against black and whitefly. We use peat-free compost and of course make our own. We also all collect rainwater from our sheds to supplement our watering.
The site also contains mature trees and shrubs, overall lots of habitats to feed, rest,
and nest! As a result, we get wrens, tits, finches, thrushes, blackbirds, and robins singing to us as we garden. We have lots of bees and butterflies during the day, whilst foxes, mice and badgers wander round at dusk and dawn, (we did fence the muntjac out though!) and squirrels bury horse chestnuts all over our allotments, not
to mention frogs and toads feasting on those pesky slugs!
Bourn Allotments
“To make our site wildlife friendly, we have bug and bee hotels, bird boxes and a bird bath.”
To make your own garden as wildlife friendly as possible, take a look at the Wildlife Trust’s website for tips and ideas www.wildlifebcn.org/actions/how-grow- wildlife-friendly-vegetable-garden.
Allotment Gardener | Issue 1 2024 | 37
