A nice big package has arrived from the lovely people at Seedball. As I mentioned previously I am hoping to wild two patches of our front and back gardens to provide a couple of localised ecosystems for invertebrates, such as bees, butterflies, and moths and also to invest in those for the sake of the bats and birds.
Indeed, the various mixes that have arrived after discussions with Seedball are their bee mix, butterfly mix, shade mix, and a bat mix. Each has a wonderful mix wildflower seeds in their clay seed ball system that one simply spreads over the surface of a roughly prepared patch of soil (or in tubs). The balls have added nutrients and even some chilli powder to keep pests of them until the seeds have germinated.
I will be taking up turves from the lawns over the next couple of weeks (some of it will be used to make some dividing footways for #AllotmentLife. The remainder will be used to create some mounds behind at least one wilded area of the garden to add a bit of three-dimensionality to an otherwise flat and featureless garden. However, as with last year’s parallel project to the allotment we have #Pondlife and those plans were all a bit ad hoc and improvised when I pulled on my wellies and started doing the work. Thankfully, it seems to have worked, plants in the pond are growing, there are lots of snails, and we definitely have frogs using it as well as birds drinking from it.
The Bee Mix contains Seedballs to grow: Foxglove, Viper’s Bugloss, Birdsfoot Trefoil, Wild Marjoram, and Red Clover
The Butterfly Mix contains: Forget-me-not, Red Campion, Yarrow, Purple Loosestrife, and Musk Mallow
The Shade Mix has: Forget-me-not, Red Campion, Meadowsweet, Bellflower, Oxeye Daisy, Ragged Robin, and Meadow Buttercup
The Bat Mix contains: Evening Primrose, Cornflower, Corn Marigold, Borage, Wallflower, and Night-scented Stock.