help needed

[tugmistress]

I could do with some advice please.
i live on a headland and in winter spring and autumn get hit with sea spray when we get some violent storms. at the moment our garden consists of, grass, nettles, thistles, dock and a couple of willow cuttings lol
i want a nice garden but the soil is virtually non existant, maybe 4" before hitting rubble and bed rock but i have just made contact with someone that is willing to do my garden for me a couple of hours a month so my hatred of gardening is covered, now all i need to know is what can i can have planted up here that will survive and attract more than dirty great crow type things and starlings.
i have seen sparrows by the dozen and the odd green finch when i put seed out but the 'crows' seem to nick it all first so gave up for a while and i hope the garden itself will attract all sorts of nice birdies to watch and photograph :D


Paula

[Dizzy]

Hi Paula,
I suppose it depends on what type of plants you want? Wildflower? Cultivated? A mixture of both...lol. I'm no expert at all, but I did get a book from the library since I'm trying to get a wildflower patch up the back of my garden and have been looking at a lot of native hedging, wildflowers etc for it.
It does have a section on sea-side and coastal gardens...so...here is a list of some of them compiled from the book on what they say are suitable 'wildflower' plants for such a garden....corn marigold, harebell, herb robert milk thistle, thrift, marsh-mallow, maiden pink, birdsfoot trefoil, white clover, hounds tongue, ladys bedstraw, stonecrop, wild thyme.
Of course you may not want wildflowers, in which case I hope someone more experienced in this pops in and can help you...lol.
By the way....I'd hang on the the nettles...butterflies will love you for it..and the thistle...the goldfinches like those. Have you tried getting a couple of seed-feeders to hang somewhere....the crows wont manage to get on those..at least mine dont...lol.
Best of luck

[SueO]

[QUOTE=tugmistress]I could do with some advice please.
i live on a headland and in winter spring and autumn get hit with sea spray when we get some violent storms. at the moment our garden consists of, grass, nettles, thistles, dock and a couple of willow cuttings lol
i want a nice garden but the soil is virtually non existant, maybe 4" before hitting rubble and bed rock but i have just made contact with someone that is willing to do my garden for me a couple of hours a month so my hatred of gardening is covered, now all i need to know is what can i can have planted up here that will survive and attract more than dirty great crow type things and starlings.
i have seen sparrows by the dozen and the odd green finch when i put seed out but the 'crows' seem to nick it all first so gave up for a while and i hope the garden itself will attract all sorts of nice birdies to watch and photograph :D



Paula[/QUOTE
I agree with what Dizzy said, might even try throwing bird seed out to see if it sprouts (it did in my garden). Could be hard with the salt spray though. The first thing I thought might help you was container gardening. A few big pots or wooden planters can hold small trees. Find out from your local garden shop which trees can take wind and spray. Perhaps you can even avoid a bit of the salt spray if you have room to place the planters back from the shore a bit.

[hayfieldgolfer]

Hi

Soill depth can be dealth with by raised beds, use either loose stones or wood to keep soil where you want it (loose stones would also create a habitat for insects)

Look in local gardens to see what will grow, there are many books on what plants will grow next to the sea then cross reference with plants which are beneficial to birds.

Also look at what birds live in and arround your area and plant to their needs.

However you can plant for looks and use feeders and feeding stations to look after the birds.

Good luck and enjoy your garden and the birds that will no doubt visit it.

[tugmistress]

Thanks folks :)
i threw a load of bird seed around a couple of years ago, and all that grew was rape :( will try again though and yes i would rather it wild than prim and proper which is definately not me lol
The crows can dangle on my feeder and nick everything there is within minutes, so i am going to have to think of something else regarding that.

[hayfieldgolfer]

Thanks folks :)
i threw a load of bird seed around a couple of years ago, and all that grew was rape :( will try again though and yes i would rather it wild than prim and proper which is definately not me lol
The crows can dangle on my feeder and nick everything there is within minutes, so i am going to have to think of something else regarding that.
I dont know what good to your throwing wildbird seed arround your garden would do other than feed the birds now and perhaps introduce commercial crops into your garden.

Why not buy a packet of wildflower seeds to sow arround the garden,the flowers will be far more rewrding visually and to the insect life which in turn will benefit the birds. Whilst feeding the birds from feeders or tables appropriate food.

[Stewart J.]

Had a similar discusion with friends this weekend, one of them had been recomended to try one of the wild mixes advertised in some of the shooting magazines and was well pleased with the result.

Stewart

[Cathy H]

You might want to consider growing a few trees (depending on the size of your garden) to create a 'microclimate' - that is, a protected area to keep out the worst of the weather. I saw a countryfile programme once where that had been done on one of the more remote Scottish Islands with great effect. Some trees can even be grown in containers. It would probably be best to talk to your local garden centre as to what would be successful for your area. Once you've reduced the weather effect, you might be better placed to consider planting.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Cheers B (:

[Stewart J.]

Hi Tugmistress, spoke to my pal re-seeding and gave me this link ;-

http://www.kingsgamecover.co.uk/page.cfm?CFNoCache=TRUE&LANGUAGE=eng&pageID=594

Stewart

[Isurus]

You might want to consider growing a few trees (depending on the size of your garden) to create a 'microclimate' - that is, a protected area to keep out the worst of the weather.

Cheers B (:


Sounds like a job for a sea buckthorn hedge/shelterbelt:
http://www.hedging.co.uk/acatalog/product_10162.html

[SueO]

I dont know what good to your throwing wildbird seed arround your garden would do other than feed the birds now and perhaps introduce commercial crops into your garden.

Why not buy a packet of wildflower seeds to sow arround the garden,the flowers will be far more rewrding visually and to the insect life which in turn will benefit the birds. Whilst feeding the birds from feeders or tables appropriate food.

Some birds are more interested in seeds than bugs. Wildbird seed could possibly produce plants with seed. I don't understand why that is not appropriate food when seed from a feeder is. I've never gardened in the UK so maybe the seeds have a danger of taking over and producing 'commercial crops'. Mine never lasted long, something ate them too quickly. At any rate, I agree with native wildflowers also, and the trees in containers (if she needs containers to grow them). A bird garden should offer a variety of plants for a variety of reasons.

[Isurus]

Some birds are more interested in seeds than bugs. Wildbird seed could possibly produce plants with seed. I don't understand why that is not appropriate food when seed from a feeder is. I've never gardened in the UK so maybe the seeds have a danger of taking over and producing 'commercial crops'.

I know of at least one person who found they were unknowingly growing an illegal "commercial crop" as a result of bird seed germinating. Also depending on the mix I believe a good number of the seeds are not of frost hardy species.

[SueO]

I know of at least one person who found they were unknowingly growing an illegal "commercial crop" as a result of bird seed germinating. Also depending on the mix I believe a good number of the seeds are not of frost hardy species.

Have to admit, never thought of that. No wonder the cottontails were doing cartwheels all over the place. 3:-)

[hayfieldgolfer]

Have to admit, never thought of that. No wonder the cottontails were doing cartwheels all over the place. 3:-)

The reason behind my comment was not that the seeds will not grow but wild bird seed contains many seeds (sunflower, sweetcorn, wheat, millet etc) including in some cases hemp, fine for the birds to eat. But who wants to look out on a wheat field in their garden.

Using a wild flower mix in the garden will bring in much needed insect life as well as growing seed for birds to eat.

[tugmistress]

i'll go and get some wild flower seed then and chuck it down in my garden and see what happens :) i can't say i will plant it cos i wont, i hate gardening ! i have got a couple of willow sapplings going though in the one corner that has more soil than rubble and bedrock lol so i'll try there to start with :)