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Tree
Planting
You can plant a tree or two in your own
garden or in any odd corner of the urban jungle. Choose native
species where possible becuase they have a higher wildlife value.
They can be obtained from any good nursery or you could try growing
them from seed.
Native Species
Ash
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Copes with pollution
but does not like very windy or salty conditions.
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Beech
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Requires reasonably
fertile soil and not in exposed locations - will grow huge but is very
slow growing. Can be kept as a hedge. Very high wildlife and landscape
value.
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Blackthorn
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A small scrubby
species. Will cope with exposed locations and poor soils.
Valuable for birds.
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| Cherry
(wild) |
A small tree.
Needs some protection from high winds but is a good urban survivor
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Crab
apple
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Difficult to
establish at first but once away this tree will survive in windy
locations on impoverished soil.
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Field
Maple
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A tough, hardy
little tree. Will survive anywhere except right on the coast
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Hawthorn
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Brilliant local
scrubby tree. Fantastic for wildlife. Needs care for the
first two or three years and then will take care of itself.
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Hazel
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A great little tree,
which requires good light to get started but wil cope with semi-shade
as it matures. Does not like the coast very much.
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Horse
Chestnut
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Surprisingly
resilient, but need care to get it started. Wil cope with exposed
locations. Not strictly native but valuable in urban areas.
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Rowan
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Extremely pollution
tolerant, and will grow anywhere, except extremely exposed conditions,
so long as the soil is not too chalky.
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Sycamore
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Not native but has a
value as it will grow to a full tree in very exposed or polluted
locations where no other tree can survive.
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Yew
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A chalk-tolerant
evergreen, useful as hedging.
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Planting
- Plant trees during the dormant
period from the end of November to early March.
- Dig a good sized hole and fill it
with mulch or sieved topsoil. (Peat-based
composts are manufactured by destroying the peat-bogs of Ireland or
Scotland - definitely a no-no for wildlife friendly gardening!)
- Plant the tree and gently firm down
the soil around it.
- If the tree is taller than about four feet, then it
will require a stake to help it establish.
- Water well, and continue to water during dry spells
for the first two years. About one watering-can full of water per
day is sufficient.
When your tree is
growing strongly and has reached about fifteen feet, why not enhance
the habitat and put a nest-box in it?
Hedges
If you are
really pushed for space then a hedge is an excellent way of creating
wildlife habitat. A hedge takes no more than about two feet of
garden and can be planted in front of an existing wall or fence.
Hedges can be mixed or single species and the following species are
good.
Beech
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Slow to get started
- takes about five years, but well worth the effort
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Blackthorn/Hawthorn
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Best mixed together
as this extends the flowering from early March to late May.
Excellent bird nesting site, especially for sparrows
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Field
Maple
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A lovely looking
thick hedge, but not in very exposed locations
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Holly
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Difficult to get
started but really impenetrable once established. An excellent
species to include in a mixed hedge.
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Yew
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Makes a good, dense
formal hedge, but not in exposed locations
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Planting
- Plant hedge trees from late November to early March
during mild weather.
- Dig a trench about a foot deep along the length of
ground, where you want the hedge to be, and fill it with a mixture of
sieved earth and good compost (avoid
peat-based compost - too much wildlife is destroyed in its
production!)
- Plant each hedging tree about eighteen inches apart,
and firm the soil down gently around them.
- Water well, and continue to water during dry spells
for the first two years - about one watering-can per tree per day.
- Trip or clip to the required height and width, but if
you can let the hedge reach six feet in height then you will probably
find song-birds taking up residence there.
Why
not make the area under your hedge into forest floor habitat? Cover the
ground with small piles of logs or bark to provide homes for insects,
spiders, bugs and little creatures.
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