Herald - Issue 455

Page 54 • The HERALD • 28th March 2024 v THE HERALD - INDEPENDENT AND PROUD OF IT v ✿ DOWN THE GARDEN PATH ✿ Fred Hurst 023 8084 2191 or 07761 467217 • Grass Cutting • Garden Clearance • Hedge Cutting • Fallen Trees Cleared • Mini Digger Hire with Operator • Property Clearance • Small Demolition • Tractor Flail Cutting FULLY INSURED v FREE QUOTATIONS SPADEWORK Family Landscaping & Fencing Team ] Decking & Natural Sandstone Paving ] Patios ] Driveways ] Block Paving ] Turfing ] All Types of Domestic & Commercial Fencing ] Security Fencing Supplied & Fitted Tel: (023) 8089 4909 Mobile: 07703 566814 u Free Estimates u Fully Insured FIRST HALF HOUR FREE for gardening on production of this advertisment (Valid to 30th April 2024) • Patios • Decking • Turfing/Astro • Fencing/Gates • Outbuildings • All aspects of Gardening • Pergolas and all timber frame work • Sheds 07593 423276 • www.heronslandscaping.co.uk cameron@heronslandscaping.co.uk ✁ ✁ Springtime Gardening to Attract Wildlife to Your Garden Advice from Fairweather’s Garden Centre Spring usually arrives by mid-March and the frequent sunny days provide the opportunity for an increasing range of gardening tasks. It’s time to get busy preparing seed beds, sowing seed, cutting back winter shrubs and generally tidying up around the garden. ere are other jobs you could think of, like turning your garden into a wildlife haven. You can do this in many ways like including a bug hotel this could be just piles of rocks and twigs with leaves and other dry matter. Growing owers to encourage bees and butter ies is so important for pollinating. Why not add some water to your garden this can be as small as adding a plastic tub to the garden lled with water and watching to see what types of wildlife visit your water haven. Try leaving a small gap in the fence you may get visited by a hedgehog! Have a break from weeding… who doesn’t want to do that! Di erent weeds will attract other wildlife visitors to the garden. en sit back and enjoy your garden feed the birds and report sightings of wildlife, sightings help build a better picture of these particular species which are under-threat and help provide vital information so you can target conservation e orts to help protect them. Totton & District Gardeners Society’s next meeting will be on Wednesday 10th April for a talk by Gillian Taylor titled ‘Great British Gardens’. e meeting is held in the ree Score Club Hall, o Salisbury Road, Totton at 7.30pm. ey welcome visitors and new members. For more information contact them via their new website: tottongardeners.weebly. com or email: totton.gardeners@ btinternet.com GREAT BRITISH GARDENS Woodlands Gardening Club meets on the second Tuesday of the month. Meetings start at 7.30pm at Netley Marsh Community Hall, Woodlands Road, Netley Marsh. eir next meeting takes place on Tuesday 9th April for a talk by Stef Brad eld, Lainston House titled ‘Successful Vegetable and Herb Gardening’. Visitors are very welcome at £2.50; for more information about the club, call Susanna on: 023 8029 2953. Successful Vegetable and Herb Gardening Composting is an inexpensive, natural process that transforms your kitchen and garden waste into a valuable and nutrient rich food for your garden. It’s easy to make and use, and is not only good for the environment, it means that you are also doing your bit to reduce the amount of waste sent to land ll. Even for households that are already composting, research shows that almost half of the food waste in their rubbish bins could have been composted. Composting at home for just one year can save global warming gases equivalent to all the CO2 your kettle produces annually or your washing machine produces in three months. People o en wonder why they should compost when food waste is taken away by the local council. When waste is sent to land ll, air cannot get to the organic waste, so as it breaks down a harmful greenhouse gas, methane is produced which is not good for the Earth’s atmosphere. However, composting this same waste above ground at home, oxygen helps the waste to decompose aerobically which means hardly any methane is produced, which is good for the environment and what’s more, a er nine to twelve months, you get a free fertiliser for your garden and plant pots. Your compost is a nutrient-rich food product for your garden and will help improve soil structure, maintain moisture levels, and keep your soil’s pH balance in check while helping to suppress plant disease. It will have everything your plants need including nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and it will help bu er soils that are very acidic or alkaline. Compost improves your soil’s condition and your plants and owers will love it! ere are plenty of materials around the kitchen and garden that can go into your compost bin, and some you should keep out: Put it in Fruit and vegetable peelings • Dead owers and plants • Grass cuttings and nettles • Small branches and twigs • Tea bags, co ee grounds and lter paper • Shredded and scrunched paper and cardboard • Egg shells • Saw dust Keep it out Meat and sh • Dairy products • Processed foods such as pasta and bread • Pet faeces or litter • Large branches • Nappies • Invasive plants (e.g. Japanese Knotweed) • Cooked vegetables WHAT TO COMPOST

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