Gardening Advice
- Thread starter cguil_uk
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Argh cguil_uk come and sit in my cyber office & we can talk it over.
I can assure you I’m highly qualified at helping you as I studied Countryside Management a while ago.
If you want birds in the garden then fruit bearing trees will come in handy, low cover can be provided by small shrubs, which will provide insects & bee’s etc to come and marvel at our/your creation.
A small bird box may help?
What sought of budget are we looking at?
Now lets talk about my consultation fee for helping you.
As this is cyberspace just photocopy any note that will do as payment.
I can assure you I’m highly qualified at helping you as I studied Countryside Management a while ago.
If you want birds in the garden then fruit bearing trees will come in handy, low cover can be provided by small shrubs, which will provide insects & bee’s etc to come and marvel at our/your creation.
A small bird box may help?
What sought of budget are we looking at?
Now lets talk about my consultation fee for helping you.
As this is cyberspace just photocopy any note that will do as payment.
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Me thinks someones been watching to many reality tv shows or big jungle safari.bodhi said:
Anyone knows that the UK climate will not sustain bamboo.
Now come on bodhi as a well travelled person like you, you should know this.
Tigers would be nice though!
Taffycat
Crunchy Cat
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Hi Cguil, here are some websites which might help, they have some good ideas for container planting to attract birds and wildlife. This one HERE is good because you can insert your postcode and it will then tell you which plants are particularly suited to your area. There will also be categories to choose from, such as annual, climber, and so on.
HERE is another and also HERE They may help too.
If possible, a bird table would be good, also some drinking/bathing water - you don't need anything elaborate, (unless you particularly want something ornamental, of course) birds will be quite happy with one of those plastic "saucers" which are used beneath large flowerpots.
You could also try a window feeder. HERE We had one a while ago, and had the most wonderful close-up views of the small birds as they fed ... although sometimes, WE were the ones who appeared to be getting watched!!
(The only reason we don't have it now, is because the squirrels loved it too, only being heavier than the average chaffinch, the feeder eventually broke )
A while ago, purely out of curiosity, we totted-up the number of different bird species who visit our garden, and the number was in excess of 30, ranging from goldfinches to "Colin" the seagull!! We spend a lot of time watching them here.
Hope you find something helpful there
HERE is another and also HERE They may help too.
If possible, a bird table would be good, also some drinking/bathing water - you don't need anything elaborate, (unless you particularly want something ornamental, of course) birds will be quite happy with one of those plastic "saucers" which are used beneath large flowerpots.
You could also try a window feeder. HERE We had one a while ago, and had the most wonderful close-up views of the small birds as they fed ... although sometimes, WE were the ones who appeared to be getting watched!!
(The only reason we don't have it now, is because the squirrels loved it too, only being heavier than the average chaffinch, the feeder eventually broke )A while ago, purely out of curiosity, we totted-up the number of different bird species who visit our garden, and the number was in excess of 30, ranging from goldfinches to "Colin" the seagull!! We spend a lot of time watching them here.
Hope you find something helpful there
Abarbarian
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murdoch said:
They may not be native but they certainly grow here .
http://www.floraselect.co.uk/?page=shopping&shop_cat_id=401
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Colin the Seagull 
Related to Norman the hedgehog perchance?
Nice post, Taffycat, very helpful
Related to Norman the hedgehog perchance?
Nice post, Taffycat, very helpful
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Taffycat said:Hi Cguil, here are some websites which might help, they have some good ideas for container planting to attract birds and wildlife. This one HERE is good because you can insert your postcode and it will then tell you which plants are particularly suited to your area. There will also be categories to choose from, such as annual, climber, and so on.
HERE is another and also HERE They may help too.
If possible, a bird table would be good, also some drinking/bathing water - you don't need anything elaborate, (unless you particularly want something ornamental, of course) birds will be quite happy with one of those plastic "saucers" which are used beneath large flowerpots.
You could also try a window feeder. HERE We had one a while ago, and had the most wonderful close-up views of the small birds as they fed ... although sometimes, WE were the ones who appeared to be getting watched!!
A while ago, purely out of curiosity, we totted-up the number of different bird species who visit our garden, and the number was in excess of 30, ranging from goldfinches to "Colin" the seagull!! We spend a lot of time watching them here.
Hope you find something helpful there
Cool thanks! Just what I was looking for.
I am trying my best to improve my mum's quality of life. She is not very mobile and all she dose all day is read, watch TV and look out of the window across a small patio, over a patch of lawn to a car park and bin shed. She already has a bird feeding station, but I am now looking for ways to encorage more birds, and possible other forms of wild live, to give her a bit mor interesting things to look at.
Thanks again
Taffycat
Crunchy Cat
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You are very welcome Cguil, that is a lovely idea for your Mum, wildlife can be very entertaining as well as interesting 
It sounds as if you are already off to a good start with the feeding station
We have found that it is really helpful to be able to supply a variety of foods, if you can. Here, we have the aforementioned bird-table, plus hanging feeders and also a ground-feeder (which is raised a few inches from the ground and has a mesh surface to allow drainage and air to circulate.)
If it is possible, high energy foods such as sunflower hearts are very attractive to our feathered friends (they are a bit more expensive than the ordinary sunflower seeds, but are good value because there is no wastage or messy husks to clear-up.) We also provide Nyjer seeds for the goldfinches, or sometimes thistle-seed if Nyjer are not available (special feeders needed for both of these, because they are terribly small.) Apples are always popular with blackbirds, thrushes, starlings, etc., however, we normally peel them first, (I know many people don't) but here, the birds tend to peck at them more readily and we find that they don't last for more than a day or two at most. (Or maybe Welsh birds are just plain fussy )
Plant-wise, we mainly have shrubs here, which provide a bit of cover for the birds, squirrels, hedgehogs as well as the local moggie population to enjoy. (We get surprisingly few "fatalities" surprisingly, despite the mixture of furred and feathered visitors.) Wiegella, pyracantha (Firethorn) this provides berries in the autumn. We have both the red and orange berried varieties, but find that the orange ones always get eaten first cottoneaster, forscythia (bullfinches sometimes love to peck at the sweet young buds.) Buddleia is good if you want to attract butterflies. Many of the shrubby, berry producing plants are now available to grow in containers if space is a problem. If you have a garden centre anywhere it is good to have a browse, because a lot of the plant-tags will tell you whether they are attractive to birds/butterflies, etc.
Are there any trees in the area where your Mum is situated? There is an old natural hedge running along one side of our garden with oak, holly, willow, hazel and bird-cherry, so it provides a habitat for quite a lot of things, even though we live on the outskirts of a town.
Best of luck to you
Cguil, that is a lovely idea for your Mum, wildlife can be very entertaining as well as interesting It sounds as if you are already off to a good start with the feeding station We have found that it is really helpful to be able to supply a variety of foods, if you can. Here, we have the aforementioned bird-table, plus hanging feeders and also a ground-feeder (which is raised a few inches from the ground and has a mesh surface to allow drainage and air to circulate.)
If it is possible, high energy foods such as sunflower hearts are very attractive to our feathered friends (they are a bit more expensive than the ordinary sunflower seeds, but are good value because there is no wastage or messy husks to clear-up.) We also provide Nyjer seeds for the goldfinches, or sometimes thistle-seed if Nyjer are not available (special feeders needed for both of these, because they are terribly small.) Apples are always popular with blackbirds, thrushes, starlings, etc., however, we normally peel them first, (I know many people don't) but here, the birds tend to peck at them more readily and we find that they don't last for more than a day or two at most. (Or maybe Welsh birds are just plain fussy
) Plant-wise, we mainly have shrubs here, which provide a bit of cover for the birds, squirrels, hedgehogs as well as the local moggie population to enjoy. (We get surprisingly few "fatalities" surprisingly, despite the mixture of furred and feathered visitors.) Wiegella, pyracantha (Firethorn) this provides berries in the autumn. We have both the red and orange berried varieties, but find that the orange ones always get eaten first
cottoneaster, forscythia (bullfinches sometimes love to peck at the sweet young buds.) Buddleia is good if you want to attract butterflies. Many of the shrubby, berry producing plants are now available to grow in containers if space is a problem. If you have a garden centre anywhere it is good to have a browse, because a lot of the plant-tags will tell you whether they are attractive to birds/butterflies, etc.Are there any trees in the area where your Mum is situated? There is an old natural hedge running along one side of our garden with oak, holly, willow, hazel and bird-cherry, so it provides a habitat for quite a lot of things, even though we live on the outskirts of a town.
Best of luck to you