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Nature

Why you should install a water butt in your garden

January 3, 2023 by beautifybalham

Have you ever considered all the rainwater that falls on your roof and gets funnelled away to the drains? No, I hadn’t either, until this summer. After last year’s heat wave it’s perhaps time to think about saving rainwater ready for potential more soaring temperatures during the summer months.

Here are several reasons why I think installing a water butt should be standard practice in our gardens:

Fresh water is a precious resource

Here in Britain we take our rainy days for granted, often wishing them away. Yet compare our green and fertile hills with those arid areas of the world where rain isn’t as plentiful, and we start to understand how this amazing supply of fresh water is actually one of our most precious resources.

A sprinkle of rainwater is similar to a light dose of fertiliser

Rainwater contains nitrates and organic matter, so it feeds and nourishes the plants as you’re watering them. Get ready for lush foliage!

Rainwater is 100% soft on plants

If you feel like you’ve always struggled to keep house plants happy, try watering them with rainwater! Rainwater is soft: free from the salts, minerals and chemicals found in treated tap water, natural ground water and surface water. The residues from these can be harsh on plants and will build up in the soil over time if you’re not careful. Rainwater is also slightly acidic, which helps create the soil conditions that the majority of plants prefer. 

Water butt harvesting saves money if you’re on a water meter

Outdoor water use accounts for around 7% of our total household water use on average, but on a hot summer day this can rise to over 50%! Don’t waste high quality metered drinking water on plants – use a watering can and saved rainwater to keep plants hydrated through the summer.

It mitigates flooding

If we all collected rainwater less water would run off the paved surfaces and flood the street drains. Unfortunately more and more front and back gardens get paved over, and water can no longer seep back into the ground. This precipitates flooding of streets and homes. Collecting water in water butts can be a wonderful way to mitigate this.

Councils now subsidise water butts by 60% or more

To encourage more residents to save rainwater, many councils have schemes providing subsidised water butts that can cut start-up costs to around £30 or less for a standard 200-litre water butt. Take a look at the council’s website to order yours. www.getcomposting.com

Water butts are quick and easy to install, and last for many years

Most water butts come with attachments that fit to your gutter’s down pipe. These divert the rainwater into the butt until it fills, allowing any excess water to flow away as normal. The instructions are clear and you need no great DIY skill. Even if there’s no access or room to attach a water butt to the main down pipe from your roof, you could still harvest nearly 640 litres of water a year from a 7ft by 5ft shed roof. That’s more than enough water to keep 50 tomato plants healthy for up to three months!

Water butts support the recycling industry

Most water butts are made from hardwearing recycled plastic, so your purchase helps to support Britain’s green industry and keep a chunk of useful material out of landfill.

– Justine McNeil and The Beautify Balham Team
Information sourced from https://blog.greenredeem.co.uk/

Filed Under: Gardening, Nature Tagged With: water

The Bees Knees

December 1, 2022 by beautifybalham

When thinking about the word pollinator we tend to think of the fuzzy bumblebee, so it is amazing to realise that there are 1,500 species of insect pollinator in the UK including, not only the much loved bumblebee, but butterflies, moths, flies and beetles. Excitingly birds, bats and even monkeys are important pollinators in the rest of the world! But back to the streets of Balham…

We are lucky to live in a city that is almost 50% green space – nevertheless we can and should do more to support our threatened pollinators. Urban environments can even be seen as a refuge for biodiversity from intensively farmed agricultural landscapes.

If you want to make a difference, here are three easy steps to supporting local pollinators:

  1. Don’t use any pesticides;
  2. Grow plants with simple flower shapes;
  3. Aim for flowers all through the year.

Don’t use any pesticides

Insect populations have declined massively, and many put the blame on pollution through pesticide use. The best tactic is to not use them at all and garden organically.

Grow plants with simple flower shapes

Flower shapes evolved naturally to help encourage visits by pollinators. After all, the plants need pollinators to help them set seed. However, plant breeding by people has created more complex flower shapes, which are beautiful to the human eye but poorly adapted to pollinators. Avoid double and semi-double flowers to keep your pollinators happy.

Aim for flowers all through the year

The climate crisis is making our weather more unpredictable. We need to make sure that there is food available for pollinators at all times of the year in case unseasonable warmth brings hibernating insects out super early in the year, so we need to do a bit more planning for our planting schemes. Spring and summer are relatively easy seasons to keep the nectar flowing through lots of flowers, although there are some extra pollinator friendly plants I have listed below.

The plants listed here are great for nectar and pollen – but don’t forget that pollinators, just like humans, also need somewhere to live and raise their offspring.

Winter:

  • Hellebores
  • Snowdrops
  • Sweet box
  • Mahonia
  • Winter honeysuckle

Spring:

  • Catmint
  • Lungwort
  • Geranium species
  • Any of the flowering fruit trees like apple, plum and pear
  • Dandelion
  • Forget-me-not
  • Rosemary

Summer:
Oh my goodness – so many to choose from!
Just remember to keep flower shapes simple and avoid double and semi double. Some of the best are:

  • Lavender
  • Echium
  • Verbena bonariensis
  • Thyme
  • Oregano
  • Night scented stock (especially good for moths)

Autumn:

  • Asters
  • Japanese anemone
  • Simple (not double) dahlias
  • Common Ivy (also a great habitat provider)
  • Autumn flowering salvias
  • Ice plant (Sedum)

Following the three steps should bring a wealth of pollinators to your patch of space, no matter how small, and you will have made a difference. Happy pollinator spotting!

Hazel Norman – Chief Executive of the British Ecological Society – written in a personal capacity

Filed Under: Gardening, Nature Tagged With: bees, pollinators

The Triangle Garden at Chestnut Grove

October 7, 2022 by beautifybalham

Armed with forks and trowels and wearing Beautify Balham hi-vis vests, together we are going to continue the wonderful work started by local residents Richard, Charlie and Brendan. This garden is on land that no one seems to own, but has been adopted for many years and admired by passers by.

Sadly Richard died, and Charlie and Brendan have hung up their gardening gloves, but they generously asked Beautify Balham to continue their good work.

Justine and Jean from Beautify Balham decided it would be a good idea for children to be involved so asked the local schools. Mark Peters, Deputy Head from Hornsby House School responded.

Each Thursday from 3.45-4.30pm until daylight diminishes, we are going to tidy up and replant this mature garden that just needs a little TLC and some more plants to fill the gaps.

If anyone has bulbs or plants to give to this worthy cause, or could support with a donation to make towards the upkeep, please contact us at hello@beautifybalham.org or donate via PayPal using the form here.

Watch this space & enjoy the cleaning up and greening up of another corner of Balham!

– Jean Millar and The Beautify Balham Team

Filed Under: Beautify Balham, Gardening, Nature Tagged With: Planting

Birdsong in Balham

April 15, 2022 by beautifybalham

As International Dawn Chorus Day approaches, on Sunday May 1st, this article reflects on some of the birds that may enliven our environment in Balham.

Sparrow

Spring is the time when birdsong reaches its peak, though some of our resident species have already been singing for months – Song Thrushes started to sing in December, and Robins sing all year round – particularly if they have a street light in their territory. Light is one of the key factors that triggers birds to sing, and Robins are especially susceptible to the effect of artificial light sources.

Song Thrush
Robin

I lead occasional walks for the Friends of Wandsworth Common, looking at and listening to, the birds on the Common. One of the questions that I am asked most frequently is how to identify birds by their songs and calls. There’s no easy answer to this, as an individual’s experience of birdsong is very subjective: one person’s tuneful melody is another person’s raucous squawking. And different individual birds do sing differently – some species will try to impress their prospective partners by incorporating copies of other birds’ songs, or noises that they hear from their environment. Starlings are extremely good at imitating other sounds, and can successfully copy ringtones, car alarms and other noises in their chattering songs. The buildings on the corners opposite Waitrose are a good place to hear them!

Starling

Other birds that can be heard locally include the Wren – a little bird with a big voice, that fires off like a machine gun–and the outwardly unassuming Dunnock (whose private lives are extremely racy), with a song sounding like a shopping trolley with a squeaky wheel. To me, a Robin’s song does tend to validate Michael Jackson’s ornithological masterwork, Rockin’ Robin (does anyone remember the original version by Bobby Day?), in singing “Twiddley dee, twiddley diddley dee”, while the Song Thrush does indeed tend to sing each song twice (or, indeed, three times) over, as Robert Browning noted while thinking abroad. Interestingly, urban Blackbirds are now tending to follow Paul McCartney’s observation in singing in the dead of night – a relatively recent development, possibly reflecting the need to find a quiet time to sing when they are more likely to be heard, rather than compete with daytime traffic noise. Typically, birdsong reaches its peak in the hour or so before and after dawn, and keen birders may be up at 4 a.m. on Dawn Chorus day to appreciate the volume of birdsong as it develops to its peak. But an alternative is just to open a window and hear what’s going on.

Wren
Dunnock
Blackbird

In order to enjoy birdsong, one doesn’t need to identify which bird is making the sound. Birdsong has been around, it’s thought, for about fifty million years! Birdsong has been here for much longer than humans, and it is believed to have originated in Australia. Birdsong has been shown by various studies to have relaxing properties for the human listener and to have potential benefits for our mental health. Various theories have been put forward to explain this – one is that, if birds were singing it meant that they didn’t perceive a threat, and this enabled our ancestors to feel a bit more relaxed! Who knows whether that’s right, but in any case it is worth taking a moment or two to listen and enjoy.

Article by Nick Rutter, Wandsworth Common Bird Walk Guide and a Friend of Wandsworth Common

Filed Under: Birds, Nature Tagged With: Birds, Birdsong, Robins, Sparrows, Starlings

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  • Why you should install a water butt in your garden
    Why you should install a water butt in your garden
    Have you ever considered all the rainwat...
  • The Bees Knees
    The Bees Knees
    When thinking about the word pollinator ...
  • The Triangle Garden at Chestnut Grove
    The Triangle Garden at Chestnut Grove
    Armed with forks and trowels and wearing...
  • Balham in Bloom 2022
    Balham in Bloom 2022
    Beautify Balham held the presentation of...
  • Balham in Bloom 2022 Prizes
    Balham in Bloom 2022 Prizes
    We are incredibly excited for the culmin...
  • Pollution Busting Plants for Front Gardens
    Pollution Busting Plants for Front Gardens
    No matter how small your front garden is...
  • Beautify Balham Nominated for a Tooting Heroes Award
    Beautify Balham Nominated for a Tooting Heroes Award
    We are thrilled to announce that Jean Mi...
  • No Dig Vegetable Beds
    No Dig Vegetable Beds
    Not many of us relish the idea of diggin...
  • Birdsong in Balham
    Birdsong in Balham
    As International Dawn Chorus Day approac...

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