Didsbury in Bloom 2018 – Judging Day

On Monday 9th and Tuesday 10th July Didsbury village is being judged by the RHS North West in Bloom judges. Last year Didsbury won both the Urban Community category and a Gold; so there are high expectations for Didsbury in Bloom 2018.

The road I live on, Ford Lane is one of the areas which is judged. We have a green at the top of the road and flower filled planters all the way down the lane. It looks lovely, but it doesn’t happen by magic; a team of hard-working residents lovingly maintain the planters and keep the lane looking good all year round.

Didsbury in Bloom 2018 - Judging Day

In the weeks running up to judging day, more residents do their bit by helping to tidy the green or water the planters outside their homes. I’m slowly trying to make our front garden more attractive, but it’s a slow process, not helped by the lack of rain.

Didsbury in Bloom 2018 had the twin themes of Remembrance and they also celebrated the centenary of women winning the right to vote. There has been a team of wonderful volunteers who have been working with schools to plant and maintain a poppy path running from Didsbury Park to School lane. The verges have been cleared and planted with poppy seeds which were harvested from the fields in France, then scattered by school children. In bloom they are a lovely, arresting sight. It’s well worth taking a detour to wander down the lane to see the poppies and remember them.

Didsbury in Bloom 2018 - Judging Day

2018 has been a challenging year for gardeners, especially over the last few weeks. Manchester has had an unseasonal amount of not rain, or sunshine as it’s sometimes known. We’ve been enjoying/enduring a heatwave and our usually lush green at the top of the road is now a brown.

We’ve been draining our water butts and recycling our bath water to keep the planters looking healthy, but the grass has had to take one for the team. I hope the judges will take the current weather conditions into consideration and not hold our brown lawns against us.

Didsbury in Bloom 2018 - Judging Day

I think despite the challenges, Ford Lane is looking fantastic. It’s a shame the heatwave has taken its toll on the main flower bed on the green; but all of the other planters are beautifully blousy with blooms. I love the Votes for Women bike most of all I think.

Didsbury in Bloom 2018 - Judging Day

All of the Didsbury in Bloom volunteers have worked so hard this year, I take my hat off to them. Thank you for making Didsbury extra beautiful all your round!

The Didsbury in Bloom 2018 team won’t know the results of the judging for a little while yet; but we have high hopes of repeating the success of previous years.

Didsbury in Bloom 2018 - Judging Day

Creating a garden wildlife sanctuary project with the kids

We know that kids who are physically active have better physical and mental health, they are happier and lighter. Kids who spend more time outdoors in the garden have better vision, have reduced ADHD symptoms, are less stressed, develop better social skills and don’t have vitamin D deficiencies.

Outdoor activities and exposure to plants and animals is also an opportunity for our children to discover things they are passionate about and good at. You might be raising the next David Attenborough but if you don’t give your child the opportunity to see and interact with the natural world all that potential will be wasted.

Creating a garden wildlife sanctuary project with your kids

Some Alarming Stats;

British children are among the least active in the world, and fitness levels are plummeting.
¾ of our children spend less time in the great outdoors than prisoners.
70% of mothers recall spending time outdoors every day as children, while only 31% of their children do.

As parents we all know there are lots of good reasons why our kids should be outside but we can’t seem to find the time to make sure it happens. Part of the reason is our own hectic lifestyles which leave little time to go outside. It is much easier for us to plonk our kids in front of the TV or a tablet while we use our tablets to get the shopping done, book a holiday and finish that report. We are also terrified for our kids and most of us won’t consider letting them out of our sight in public which reduces their opportunity for outdoor play and prevents them becoming more independent.

Garden Wildlife Sanctuary Project

A great idea to encourage your kids to get outside is to have a family garden project. A vegetable garden is a wonderful idea but it does take a lot of know-how from the parents and a regular time commitment. For most of us this is too big of an ask. A much easier project is to establish a wild garden. The set-up is easy and low cost and very little regular maintenance is needed. If the project captures your families’ imagination you can develop it as much as you like by adding hedgehog homes, bird boxes & feeders, butterfly gardens and ponds. All you really need to get started is a patch of garden, it only needs to be a few meters wide.

Start With Plants

The starting point for your wild garden project is to put in the right plants. If you are going to be encouraging local wildlife you need to make sure you plant species that are native to the UK and provide food in the form of seeds and nectar bearing flowers as well as thick plants for cover. Sound hard? Not at all just buy a seed mix or two from a specialist supplier online! Look for ‘environmental seeds’ or ‘stewardship seed mixes’. You will also find ‘bee friendly’ mixes which are high in nectar producing flowers. ‘Bird mixes’ or ‘cover crop’ seeds are likely to provide taller and thicker plants to provide somewhere for birds to hide. You can start your kids off on the project by asking them to look online for suitable mixes.

It’s probably a good idea to buy a couple of different mixes for good variety. You can share the seeds between several families because one tin of 250g for £20 can cover as much as 50m of garden. When you plant depends on the seed mix so just read the instructions carefully before you buy. It’s no good buying a seed mix that has to be planted in the spring if you want to get your project started in the Autumn. All you need to do is dig the patch of soil, pull out the weeds and then sprinkle on your seeds. Make sure you water them every three days if there is a dry spell. A better idea is to give the job to the kids who can take it in turns to do the watering.

At the back of your wild patch put in 1 or 2 shrubs/trees. They provide shelter and nesting sites. Choose something that produces berries, they look great and provide Winter food for birds – Rowan, Elderberry, Holly and Crab Apple are all good choices.

Creating a garden wildlife sanctuary project with your kids

Other things to include

Litter – I don’t mean crisp packets – we are talking twigs and dead leaves. Decomposing vegetation is vital for lots of insects who provide food for larger animals like hedgehogs. Just collect up this garden rubbish from the rest of your plot and sprinkle it on your wild garden. Don’t do this if you have just planted seeds as the litter will block the sunlight from reaching the seeds and they will not germinate.

Water – fresh clean water is important. You can simply sink a plant pot or plastic bottle (with the top cut off) into the ground. The kids can take it in turns to top up or replace the water.

Maintenance

Very little! If your plants are a bit thin sprinkle some more seeds down in the spring or Autumn. Usually these wild mixes self-seed so you could find this is not necessary every year. In early spring you might need to trim away the dead dry grass from the previous year to allow the sunlight to reach the soil.

Development

Once your seed mixes are working well you can think about adding a couple of specific plants. Snowdrops and daffodils don’t do much for wildlife but they are some of the first plants and flowers to appear in the Spring so they can be important for keeping the kids interest high. They also grow from bulbs which fascinate kids.

Sunflowers are fantastic for birds, butterflies and bees and you can have a who can grow the tallest competition. Pumpkins or other squash are also easy to grow and great fun. For both sunflowers and squash start the seeds off indoors in a windowsill and then plant them out when they are a about 20 cm tall. You can label them so every family member knows who’s is who’s!

Once the plants are in place you can think about adding some specific homes for birds and animals. You can buy bird nesting boxes and feeders, homes for bees and hedgehogs online. If you are all loving your garden you can consider a bigger addition like a pond.

Education

The wild garden offers a fantastic opportunity for you to educate your kids about plants and animals. You can also give them some fun projects and treasure hunts which will keep them occupied while you do other things. There are loads of treasure hunt style lists online and wildlife spotter lists. These work well in your wild garden but you can also use them to make walks and day trips more interesting. The Woodland Trust has a nice set too.

Of course, you can just come up with a DIY activity for kids if you need to get them out from under your feet. Just ask them the following. They can take pictures of what they find on their phones and then use the computer to identify them.

How many plants can you identify
How many different yellow flowers are there
Find 5 different grass seeds
Look for 6 different sorts of insects
Find 10 different types of leaves
Identify 5 different birds

Creating a garden wildlife sanctuary project with your kids

This is a guest post.

Don’t Let The Cold Ruin Your Garden

The colder months are an absolute nightmare for everyone. It generally puts things on a bit of a downer, including your garden. The once blossoming flowers will now be shedding their leaves, being left looking to a broken stick or nothing at all. Yet your garden should be your prettiest asset of your home. Even in the cold winter months, it’s possible to keep it nearly as bright and as flourishing as it was during the summer. Check out these little tips, and see if you can incorporate them into your garden.

Don't Let The Cold Ruin Your Garden

Winter Flowers

They exist, and they are fabulous. But you’re running out of time to get them into your garden. The soil at the minute will be starting to harden, meaning it’ll be pretty much impossible to get the flowers nicely into the bed. So, you need to quickly go down to your local gardening center and pick out some flowers such as Cyclamen or Japanese quince. These will blossom all winter long and bring some lovely colours into your garden. Then you need to quickly turn up the soil to bring up the fresh moist layer underneath. Plant them, and tend to them over the cold weather as necessary. Nothing makes a garden look prettier than some colourful flowers.

Grass

The grass can be a nightmare to cut in the summer, let alone as it goes colder. It rains or is damp most of the time, leaving the grass pretty much impossible to cut nicely. But have you ever considered artificial grass? It’ll take away all the worry of keeping the lawn neat, and will have no issues such as weeds or just general scruffiness that you need to worry about. The cost of artificial grass isn’t even that expensive either. It looks pretty much the same as well, just less hassle!

For The Kids

There’s nothing worse than being cooped up all autumn and winter as a kid due to the cold weather. They should still be able to learn and play in the garden rather than being sat in front of the TV. There are some really good activity sets available from different stores that’ll keep the kids entertained all the time. They aren’t bothered by the cold as we are, so it’s so much better for them to be out enjoying themselves and using their imagination.

For The Adults

The garden during the summer is usually a place of socialisation and relaxation for you and your friends. This shouldn’t change just because the climate does. Get yourself a large outdoor heater, a smaller table, and some sofa styled outdoor furniture to keep things warm and cosy. There’s something so relaxing about sitting in the garden, looking up at the stars, and having a drink and a laugh with friends. Again, it’s better than being cooped up inside when the garden can still be enjoyed.

No one should let the cold ruin their time in the garden, or ruin the way the garden looks. There’s so much more than could be done accessory and decorative wise when it comes to gardening. Have a Google to explore some more ideas!

This is a contributed post.

Blooming beautiful – Didsbury in Bloom 2017

Didsbury village always puts on a fine display for Didsbury in Bloom judging day. We have a small army of volunteers who plant up tubs and flowerbeds throughout the village all over the year, but as judging day for Didsbury in Bloom 2017 approached, more volunteers and residents rolled up their sleeves to make sure Didsbury showed off how blooming beautiful she is.