Say What You Think

Gardening for Wildlife is a book for families on how to create the perfect environment for wildlife without letting the entire garden grow wild! No matter the size of the garden, the book promotes plenty of ways on how you can assist the struggling wildlife population around the UK.

The book begins with an interesting selection of “Myth busting”, dismissing common points that aren’t true such as not all gardens are good for wildlife, or that each garden must have certain features to make it perfect for nature. These are thoughtfully dismissed with clever explanations on why from a basic but clear point of view, and most importantly how they can relate to your own garden.

The next sections describe the different types of wildlife and how you can encourage them. Gardening for Birds, lists all British birds in an extremely clear but detailed way with full colour photos. Their distribution, habitat and what they look for in terms of food and space to live are presented in a concise way. You can also find out about making feeders, nest boxes and encouraging different types of birds to visit. There are also sections on gardening for mammals, amphibians, bees, moths and more, all with detailed instructions on how to look after them.

The next part is probably my most favourite. There are sections on how to recreate your garden in the style of many natural habitats such as woodland, scrublands, healthlands and more with species that may be attracted to the garden. There are even parts on gardening for wildlife in a large or a very small garden. There are such varied amounts to choose from that you are sure to find what’s best for you no matter how large or small your garden may be!

The last section covers the top 400 plants for wildlife, again with detailed photos, descriptions and which insects are attracted to them. This makes for essential reading if you have an unidentified plant in your garden or simply want to find out about the best plants to grow to attract different wildlife. There is also a section on beneficial weeds, and even a brief section on invasive plants to watch out for and avoid!

The book concludes with a calendar of good practise for your garden on a month by month basis. Overall, for anyone wishing to make their garden as eco-friendly as possible by encouraging the local wildlife population it really is highly recommended reading. It contains almost everything you need to know about British plants and animals, and how to care for them inside your big – or small- garden.
For more information about this book please Click here.

The first part in our green classroom article series, “How to make your classroom green”, is not particularly groundbreaking, but hopefully it will be a good point of reference. Use the diagram below to help make sure your classroom incorporates the 8 essential elements of a green classroom. You’ll see the 8 parts explained below. Please add your own ideas and suggestions in the comments.

Click on the image to expand:

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If you haven’t got a specific topic in mind use this page for anything and everything.

If you’ve got a specific topic that you’d like to say something positive about, such as polar bears being listed as endangered or something about the way you live or your philosophy on green living, here’s the place to do it. Suggest a topic using the box below. We’ll make a page for it and then everyone can comment on your topic.

If you have a specific topic that enrages you, you can post it here. For example palm oil; or that see through plastic on envelopes they always use to make the address visible, making it take twice as long to recycle envelopes; or anything else like that. No suggestion is too small, no suggestion is too big.

Post your topic ideas here and we’ll create a page for your topic so everyone else can express their anger in the comments area for that page; kind of like a petition that provides some stress relief.

Remember though, no-ones perfect, so don’t be nasty. We’re free to delete comments where we see fit.