“We need to work with nature not against it” – Sir David Attenborough

Have you started watching David Attenborough’s Secret Garden yet – it’s to commemorate his 100th year on this planet? I’ve watched the first couple of episodes and I’m finding the series both fascinating and delightful – well mostly, apart from the gory clips, like dragon flies eating tadpoles and the tension when the neighbourhood cat, Mr Fluffy, is eyeing up the bird feeder, or Mrs Tiggy-Winkle ventures out onto the highway at night. I was a bit shocked to learn how promiscuous female hedgehogs are – apparently they seek out their mates and often will have it away with several males in one night, meaning the resultant litter can have a number of different fathers! I feel sure Mrs Tiggy-Winkle is an exception. Little Bud visited the Lake District recently and although he didn’t find her in his holiday home garden, he did find Squirrel Nutkin.

A sad fact highlighted in the series, is that garden birds in urban settings often struggle to find enough food to feed their chicks. Episode 2 of Secret Garden featured a pair of Blue Tits who lost all but one of their brood due to starvation. I wrote here about how baby Blue Tits need around 100 caterpillars each a day for the first 3 weeks. If there aren’t enough native plants nearby for butterflies and moths to lay their eggs on, it stands to reason there won’t be enough caterpillars to go round. I am thrilled to announce that I have Blue Tits making a nest in my tit box again this year. I use Tits plural but, the British Trust for Ornithology has a Blue Tit diary on its web site, which tells us that the female Blue Tit builds the nest alone in April, with little or no help from the male – perhaps not much of a surprise there! She takes materials like moss from garden lawns and forms them into a cup. The nest is complete when it is lined with soft feathers, fur or wool. If you like, you can see the nest my 2025 Blue Tit pair built here.

Talking of moss, I’ve been a bit glum over the years about the amount of moss in my lawn. Some of you may recall that 5 years ago I tried to rake it out and sow new grass seed. I haven’t bothered since because the moss always returned to the shadier side of my garden and has now set up home in most of the rest of it. I feel this is an example of when you may as well work with nature rather than against it, and it saves a shed load of work! So, I was really pleased to read an RHS article, which extols the virtues of embracing moss growing in our lawns. Apparently it’s widely used in Japanese gardens to create lawns that look like beautiful velvety green carpets. I have to say it feels lovely to walk on and it looks very pretty close up. More importantly, it creates a great playground for beetles and woodlice and, even more exciting, it’s a food source for the caterpillars of many moths. Blue Tits are particularly partial to moth caterpillars, especially in the breeding season, so hopefully this year’s Mr & Mrs BT will find plenty in my garden when their brood comes along next month.

My bottom border is starting to fill out – I’ve left the netting I put in place last year for support, as it worked really well. From a distance, I thought one section of the border was looking particularly lush. Closer inspection revealed I have been invaded by what I now know goes by the name of Jack-by-the-hedge or garlic mustard. Jack must have crept under the fence from the woodland at the back – so this is what he’s doing when he’s not making frost! Anyway, I decided to keep just one plant because the rest were swamping all my perennials that are trying to make an entrance. It’s pretty hard to remove – the roots go on forever! I’m told it has small white flowers in early summer, so I’ll see whether it’s impressive enough to allow a few more to occupy the bed next year. It’s a native plant in the cabbage family, so it should be great for caterpillars. I don’t feel too bad about removing some though, because I can see there are loads behind our fence – maybe the caterpillars will leave my broccoli alone this year? 🤞