Gardens: Biodiversity

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh has drawn up an inspiring programme of events celebrating the United Nations International Year of Biodiversity, many of which are particularly relevant to gardeners. The importance of potatoes, planting for butterflies and traditional medicines using Highland plants are just some of the attractions.

Maybe it is a slightly unfortunate choice of title given recent research showing that the word "biodiversity" is jargon to many gardeners. We are far more likely to talk about gardening for wildlife and nature, which means the same thing, and is what many of us have been doing all along.

Allotments, gardens and orchards are wonderful habitats for wildlife. Even some of the neatest of them contribute just because of what is being grown and how it is managed. A few seed heads and a pile of fallen leaves provide winter food and places to hibernate. Boundary walls and hedges give welcome shelter not only to crops but all the creepy crawlies inhabiting them. A small pond or boggy area can be a boon for wildlife.

It is obvious from the range of bird food and nest boxes on sale in garden centres that wildlife gardening is big business. However, it includes much more than birds. Invertebrates such as millipedes, woodlice and ground beetles are all part of biodiversity. It's a natural life support system, with each part depending on another. Tiny fungi, bacteria, worms and insects work away converting our waste into compost to say nothing of providing food for species higher up the food chain. The complex web of interactions is so important. Like a cake recipe, all the ingredients are essential for a successful finished product.

It can be hard to see the bigger picture when aphids attack broad beans or sawfly strip off gooseberry leaves. A fellow allotment plotholder asked me if I thought one of the benefits of the very cold winter might be fewer slugs next summer. Craig Macadam of Buglife assured me that although slugs die in cold weather, their eggs survive to hatch in the spring.

The International Year of Biodiversity website is asking us to share our successes by letting them know what we are doing for wildlife. While I am sure they'll be expecting some headline-grabbing news, I hope they will receive plenty more modest stories from our own allotments and gardens.

For more information visit www.biodiversityislife.net

This article was originally published in The Scotsman on 27 February 2010