GREEN UP CLEAN UP IDEAS FOR GARDENS

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1 GREEN UP CLEAN UP The following pages contain ideas for making your gardens more wild life friendly, more adaptable to severe weather conditions, more productive and, hopefully, less work and more pleasure. Urban gardens collectively cover a huge acreage and are increasingly being recognised as important to wildlife and as corridors between habitats. Each garden can be thought of as a vital link in a chain. Compiled by Janet Dunlop Hawker Green Matters Garden Design

2 STEM THE FLOW Flooding has been headlines too much recently and, for some, a horrible reality. Plants help reduce water run-off, house roofs and hard paving increase it. We need houses and we want parking places and patios. But there are ways you can help reduce run-off. Green roofs : absorb rainfall, increase bio-diversity, regulate climate in urban areas and look good New builds can consider one on a house but a garden shed (often a big part of the view from upstairs) can be retro-fitted with a green roof. And you can now buy sheds with green roofs. Parking : Combine planting with permeable surfaces to create parking in front gardens rather than paving the whole area. Gravel is the simplest, cheapest option; or make hard standings just where the tyres will go. If you need to pave the whole area try and use permeable paving and direct run-off into a swale. has a leaflet with ideas for combining parking with planting. Permeable Paving : Rainfall on patios and parking areas usually runs straight off onto adjacent areas or down into storm drains. Permeable paving means some of the rain is absorbed in situ. Paving blocks may let rain run through them or have specially designed spacers so water goes between the blocks. Or standard paving can be laid with sand grouting and without a solid concrete base so water goes between the blocks and is absorbed into the ground. Most paving manufacturers now sell a permeable paving range. Resin bonded gravel is another option. Swales : These are planted shallow depressions designed to take run-off from hard surfaces slowing run-off. Water is then absorbed slowly into the ground. Plants need to be able to cope with inundation as well as dry periods (mesic). They should include an overflow pipe into the storm drain system. Credits : Pictures and diagrams from books mentioned above, freely available internet sites/magazine articles and Green Matters own album 2

3 GO WITH THE FLOW - ENJOY THE RAIN & BEAT THE WATER CHARGES In Ireland we have to accept rain. To make the best of the situation consider adapting your garden to be a rain garden. The idea behind a rain garden is to slow the flow of water to the storm water system to reduce flash flooding. But there are numerous other positives for a householder. Simple storage of rain water from down pipes in water butts provides water for your plants and reduces the need to use (metered) mains water for the garden. Rain water is also better for plants. There are numerous products such as leaky pipes and pumps for water butts that allow you to set up automatic watering systems. It is good from the point of view of reducing flash flooding to be using the water in the butt. And water butts come in all shapes and sizes, including wall mounted, and can look very attractive. More extensive capture of rainwater for use in the house for non-potable uses is a further option but is probably only viable on new builds or extensive renovations. To enjoy the rain as it falls follow the Japanese idea of rain chains or cups that replace a down pipe. Green roofs, permeable paving and swales can all be part of rain gardens too. Storm water planters form a buffer between the down pipe and the storm drain by holding water and releasing it slowly into the ground or into the drain system. The term rain garden also applies to a specific area designed to hold water briefly and then let it infiltrate slowly into the ground. It is a shallow depression with gently sloping sides usually planted with perennials but shrubs and small trees are also appropriate. See Rain Gardens by Nigel Dunnett & Andy Clayden for more details. Credits : Pictures and diagrams from books mentioned above, freely available internet sites/magazine articles and Green Matters own album 3

4 DITCH THE GRASS Short grass has its uses but in most gardens there is a lot more short grass than needed. More short grass means more mowing (work, time, fuel, machines) and it is a bit of a biodiversity desert. If you have a patio and no small people wanting to play ball games maybe you don t need any lawn at all. Think carefully how often you go onto the grass other than to mow it especially for front gardens where you would not normally sit. Flower beds and shrubs are usually considered more work but compare a once or twice a year blitz on a flower bed to the weekly summer mowing chore. In larger gardens leave some areas to grow long grass good habitat for butterflies and other wildlife. Mown paths beside long grass make it look purposeful rather than neglected. A cheap and cheerful option to a traditional flower bed is a pictorial meadow (see Soil is bare in winter but brighten it up with small bird feeders or sculptures. Recent research has developed a grass free lawn mix of low growing flowering plants which needs mowing only a few times a year, improves biodiversity, is drought resistant and can tolerate some foot traffic. To grow your own see plant list on They are developing a commercial product similar to lawn turn. If you want a small area of lawn that will not have heavy foot traffic consider a chamomile lawn. They are expensive to set up compared to grass but need no mowing (so no lawn mower to buy or store) and smell delightful when stepped on. On the theme of flood reduction planted areas can absorb far more rainfall than lawns. Credits : Pictures and diagrams from books mentioned above, freely available internet sites/magazine articles and Green Matters own album 4

5 GO NATIVE Native plants are much better for biodiversity than nonnative. Having adapted over thousands of years to the Irish climate they provide habitat to hundreds of insects as well as birds, bats, mosses, lichens and fungi. The oak is host to 450 insects. Oaks are rather large for most suburban gardens but the following trees and shrubs are possibilities Crab Apple blossom followed by fruit for humans or birds Silver Birch graceful tree with silver bark in winter. Birds & red squirrels eat seed Broom yellow flowers, nitrogen fixing plant. Main food plant of green hairstreak butterfly Wild Cherry Masses of white blossom in spring. Good autumn colour and fruit for birds and insects Hawthorn flower and fruit Dog Rose Pink or white single flower followed by red hips in autumn (for human, bird or small mammals). Elder White flowers in May (for cordial) followed by black berries (for wine or birds) Guelder Rose - Showy white flowers followed by bright red berries and good autumn colour. Hawthorn White or pink tinged blossom followed by dark red berries loved by birds. Hazel Delicate yellow catkins as early as February followed by nuts. Holly Evergreen with red berries loved by birds. Main food of holly blue butterfly. Honeysuckle - Climber with beautiful flowers, scent as night to attract moths. Berries in autumn are a good bird food. Ivy - flowers in autumn and is an important late food for bees as well as providing a good habitat. Rowan Creamy white flowers in spring followed by clusters of red berries in late summer. Spindle Main season on interest autumn with good autumn colour and bright pink fruits. Whitebeam Silver backed leaves and clusters of bright red/orange berries in autumn highly prized by birds. Yew Red fruits are good bird food (but are toxic to humans). The tree for Terenure. (NB: Make sure plants are Irish bred and preferably as local as possible). For more details on native planting and Latin names see below. Choosing non-native plants for wildlife : Go for single rather than double flowered varieties as these are better for bees. Choose ornamental shrubs that flower AND have berries/fruit. Even if a plant is not native birds have found out the fruit is tasty. Choose plants that flower very early in spring or late / summer to autumn to extend the season for bees and other insects. Berberis darwinii bright orange flowers in Feb, black fruit loved by birds and small glossy evergreen holly like leaves. See also Enhancing Biodiversity in Terenure by George Smith on the Terenure 2030 website/facebook. Also there is masses of information on the internet and in books on wild life gardening. Seed companies and nurseries are selling mixes of plants for bees or birds or wildlife in general. Credits : Pictures and diagrams from books mentioned above, freely available internet sites/magazine articles and Green Matters own album 5

6 TURN FOOD MILES INTO FOOD FOOTSTEPS TERENURE 2030 CLEAN UP GREEN UP One of the best ways to green up your lifestyle is to produce some of your own food. This does not necessarily mean turning your garden into a utilitarian vegetable patch. If you think high value / big taste / best picked fresh / not readily available in shops you can turn food miles into food footsteps and benefit your wallet and palate. Herbs are one of the easiest things to start with. Usually easy to grow but expensive to buy they add punch to your cooking. Most of them are suitable for pots. Apart from a few like mint or chives they prefer sun but otherwise are fairly adaptable. Vegetables : With limited space go for high value salads that are best picked fresh and can easily be tucked in around existing plants. Fresh peas and sweetcorn taste completely different picked and cooked straight away as the sugars start turning to starch the minute they are picked. Runner beans were originally brought to this part of the world for their flowers and are not readily available in shops. Some kale varieties have very ornamental leaves; a few plants will provide a family with super healthy greens throughout the winter. If left to go to flower the bees love their yellow flowers and they selfseed readily so you get little seedlings popping up with tender leaves that can be added to salads. Carrots, onions and potatoes are best left for bigger gardens and local organic produce is usually quite readily available and affordable. Fruit traditional. Most gardens have room for at least one tree so you could consider a fruit tree. They all have beautiful blossom followed by attractive fruit. There are many self-fertile varieties now so you do not need more than one tree to pollinate. Garden centres and on-line fruit specialists have numerous varieties which are on a small or dwarf rootstock so they will not get too big. Wall trained fruit means you can have several different types of fruit including some tender fruits like peaches or figs that would benefit from the warmth and shelter of a wall. Neighbourhood orchards : If a group of houses in a road got together and each chose a fruit tree that would cross-pollinate with their neighbours you could have a neighbourhood orchard. Fruit could be shared amongst the participating houses so that storage is not needed and gluts coped with. Try Irish Seed Savers for traditional Irish fruit varieties. Fruit unusual. There are many trees and shrubs that are traditionally grown for ornamental value that also have edible fruit or spices. Readily available are Juneberries (Amelanchier spp black berries in summer), Barberries (Berberis vulgaris or Berberis thunbergii berries popular in Persian cuisine) or Quince (Cydonia oblonga apple like fruit currently popular with chefs). See James Wong s Home Grown Revolution, Mark Diacono s A Taste of the Unexpected or Martin Crawford s Creating a Forest Garden. Credits : Pictures and diagrams from books mentioned above, freely available internet sites/magazine articles and Green Matters own album 6