MCV: Gardening for Wildlife

There are many keen and knowledgeable gardeners in Milford, and Milford Conservation Volunteers would like your help in conserving and improving our wildlife.

One easy step that gardeners can take to support wildlife is to have a compost heap. Composting vegetable peelings, garden waste and cardboard gives you a ready source of growing compost for your garden and reduces the amount in your dustbin to be taken away.

If you don’t have a compost heap or a bin they are easy to set up. There is brilliant and detailed advice on every aspect of composting on the Garden Organic website (click here). On the website there are video guides, advice on how to build bins, running cool heaps and hot heaps, open and closed bins and a Q and A section. Hampshire residents can buy low-cost compost bins and other useful items for the garden by visiting www.hants.getcomposting.com

One of the Milford Conservation Volunteers has open compost heaps and also three closed bins. They told us; "The bins are tastefully hidden behind some evergreen shrubs, so if, unlike me, you are a very tidy gardener, or space is an issue, you may prefer to use this system for compost. I put in all vegetable matter, bits of cut up cardboard, soft green garden cuttings and the occasional box of grass cuttings. As any book will tell you, it’s good to have a mixture. I don’t turn the compost in our “Daleks”, just pay attention to what I put in and rotate the bins on a three-year cycle. It’s a joy when the worms and bugs start doing their thing. Your compost may become a home to toads, slow worms, bees – all of which will help your garden to flourish."

If you would like help or advice on setting up a compost heap please contact the MCV on info@milfordcv.org . Also, do have a look at their website www.milfordcv.org which tells you about what’s going on locally.  They would love to see you at one of their activities.

Happy Gardening – more tips next month

Milford Conservation Voluteers: Would you like to get involved? To find out more, please visit: www.milfordcv.org