The GLiN Award and digging up my roots.
You will have seen information popping up on our website and social media pages about our new Grow & Learn in Nature (GLiN) Award. Our Grow & Learn Development Officer, Jean Gavin, who designed the award has decided to work through it using her new garden as inspiration. You can follow her progress here.
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I’m moving house. Yes a stressful time for anyone but, without a doubt, the best antidote to the move is the sheer joy of having a new garden in my life. Actually, if truth be told, I’ve been paying far more attention to the garden than the renovation works to the house itself.
My Wildlife Pond
The previous tenants had done an amazing job of creating a wildlife friendly garden – full of plants for pollinators, bird boxes, bug hotels, even a hibernacula. But without doubt, best of all, are the two small but beautifully formed naturalistic wildlife ponds. The ponds are simply captivating, brimming with life such as toads, newts, frogs, water boatman, snails and an array of other forms of life yet to be discovered. Visits to the garden to ‘do things to the house’ often end up with me searching for frogs, peering into the pond in the hope of identifying some of the aquatic plants or more often than not sitting on the bench watching the blackbirds and wood pigeons stop by for a drink. Interestingly, and probably with a lot of thanks to my amphibian friends and nesting birds, so far there is very little evidence of slugs and snails in the garden. Pretty well unheard of for a garden in the West of Scotland, but lets wait and see over the months ahead!
Marginal plants including Marsh Marigold
When I finally move in June, I want to learn and discover so much more about the ponds as well as introducing more wildlife friendly plants and increasing habitats as time goes by. So with this in mind I have set myself a challenge and, like so many other people working from home, I’m going to work towards a GLiN Award. I’ll use the award as a motivator to keep the learning ongoing as well as recording my successes and failures in the garden over the months ahead. I’m planning to share this with you, detailing some practical tasks that will make my garden (and hopefully your garden) more nature friendly. I can’t wait to get started, to make that connection with the ground beneath my feet and discover on a daily basis the plants and wildlife that already call it home.
Bumble bee exploring the nooks and crannies.
Tasks for May
- Identify more aquatic plants in the ponds.
- Find a suitable piece of wood and install a ‘dragonfly perch’ on the pond (as well as appealing to dragonflies, it will also attract birds).
- Photograph and identify more wildlife in the garden.
- Start planning, new planting plans.
Interested in working towards a GLiN award? Contact: caleygrowandlearn@gmail.com
Jean Gavin, The Caley’s Grow & Learn Development Officer
caleygrowandlearn@gmail.com @caleygrowlearn
