With the UK’s gearing up for one of the busiest gardening weekends of the year, six million consumers will be spending more than £2bn over the next few days helping the gardeners stock up with plants, pots and patio accessories.
UK has around 15 million gardens, which cover two million acres – the amount of space more than all the national nature reserves put together. The Easter weekend and the forecast of a warm and sunny weather, makes it perfect to kick off this year’s gardening season.
The Wildlife Trusts, representing the 47 local trusts of UK are running a joint project with the Royal Horticultural Society to help gardeners protect the country’s native wildlife species.
The project — called Wild About Gardens — offers advice in the form of five simple steps, which interestingly don’t cost much but could make a crucial difference.
As Morag Shuaib, gardening for wildlife project officer at The Wildlife Trusts, explained,
Domestic gardens are increasingly important for native wildlife as natural habitats in the open countryside diminish and weather conditions change. All gardeners can help protect species such as hedgehogs and robins by taking a few simple steps to create conditions in which they can thrive. Even a small piece of lawn is teeming with wildlife if you look beneath the surface. That in turn will draw in birds which are attracted by the mini-beasts, so one tiny patch can count for a lot.