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Charlie Dimmock in call to city and town gardeners
Mar 20 2010
GARDENERS in towns and cities are being urged to introduce eco measures to help reduce the carbon footprint and encourage wildlife. HANNAH STEPHENSON reports.
by Hannah Stephenson
PEOPLE with urban gardens can make a real contribution to helping the environment, but many of them don’t realise it, according to a new survey.
Some 46% of the 1,000 people questioned claimed that urban pollution in their immediate environment – including noise problems, traffic fumes and carbon footprint – are among the most important issues they face as city dwellers, yet 21% said they don’t know where to start when tackling the problem.
With this in mind, garden designer Charlie Dimmock has joined a campaign to encourage "urbanites" to introduce eco measures into their gardens to help reduce the carbon footprint.
City dwellers are craving environmentally sound lives, but don’t have the knowledge to change things for the better, the Ronseal survey found.
Dimmock says: "People with small urban gardens think they can’t make a difference to the wildlife, but they can because they can create corridors to larger areas such as parks, greens and railway cuttings.
"Building a wooden compost area, establishing a recycling space or growing your own herbs in a window box, are all simple steps that can make a real difference."
If you have a spring clean of your garden, leave an area overgrown, to act as a shelter for hedgehogs and beneficial insects, says Dimmock, who is supporting Urban Gardens Week which begins on Monday.
"A lot of people hate ivy, but many urban gardens benefit from having fences covered with ivy, which is a really good wildlife plant because it flowers late in the season, has a high nectar content and helps to keep down noise pollution. It also makes a good nesting site for birds."
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