Gardens and wildlife
Tidy lawns, wooden fences and paved front gardens may be easy to maintain but are of little value for wildlife. Leave areas of grass to go wild, plant hedges and if you have to park a vehicle in your front garden, lay strips of stone leaving soil and plants in between. Birds need shelter; hedges, thorny shrubs, holly and ivy help give them protection. Try leaving a corner of the garden to become overgrown with shrubs and plants that wildlife will enjoy. Small ponds will attract a wonderful array of wildlife.
Many garden chemicals cause damage. Slug pellets spell disaster for hedgehogs and birds. Pesticides may appear to have an immediate impact, but since they generally kill the insects that feed on the pests, in the long term do more harm than good. Roundup (which comes with an assortment of names) will not harm wildlife as it becomes inactive on touching the soil.
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Useful links
RHS Grow your own veg
ClimateX Tips for adapting gardens to cope with climate change
BBC Vegetable gardening for beginners
Gardeners World Tips and useful blogs
UK Gardening Easy to navigate site to find answers to queries
Garden Organic National centre for research into organic growing
The Organic Gardening Catalogue Seeds, fruit bushes and trees and equipment