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The Garden in January

Birds at feeder from Four Hedges, JanuaryThe words of one of my favourite Christmas carols sum up the first few weeks of 2010 pretty well. To be honest, it's not the time of year you want to be out gardening - nor is it the time of year when you can do much of it. It's cold, the ground is hard as iron and really it's a time for hibernation, winter walks and snowball fights.

In the bleak mid winter,

Frosty wind made moan.

Earth stood hard as iron

Water like a stone.......

Feed the birds! In the midst of our own hardship we should remember others even less well off than ourselves: I am thinking of garden birds. In this weather many of the food sources to which they are accustomed are inaccessible: the ground is hard, so worms and other grubs are out. And this late into the winter berries are running low. The best sources of berries are our native hedgerow plants such as Holly, Guelder rose, Rowan, Whitethorn and Dog roses. It's a good idea to make space for these in your garden as they will encourage wildlife in the best possible way. If you want to feed the birds right away with bird food, including seeds and peanuts, we have these products, as well as the feeders needed to disperse them in an orderly fashion. Make sure that you site your bird feeder in a location which has plenty of surrounding branches where birds may perch - bird feeding areas make good hunting-gtounds for cats. Also, try to have some standing water in your garden, whether in a bin lid or a shallow saucer. Top it up every day with warm water - birds need to wash their feathers to keep warm, and when everything is frozen they need our help . see our range of wild bird feeders, nesting boxes and bird feeds.

Dyg's native hedgerow mix. We have made a handy package of native hedgerow plants suitable for attracting wild birds and providing food and habitats for them. It is economical and practical, and a hedgerow like this should be planted in the winter. It comprises a balanced mix of Hawthorn, Holly, Spindle, Guelder rose and Dog rose. We recommend planting it every 8-10 metres with some larger trees that suit your locality. Common species would be Ash, Oak, Scots' pine and Beech. This hedge is resilient to wind and cold, can be trimmed on an occasional basis and has a balance of evergreen and deciduous plants. At a spacing of 6 plants per metre in two rows, 30 cms between plants and 30 cms between rows, it will fill in very quickly. It is important not to strim the plants when keeping down weeds in the first couple of years of its life. Idealy, pull out any engulfing long grass by hand - preferabaly, do not spray. The hedge shown here is our own native hedgerow which has never been sprayed and wast started from very young plants. Many people recommend laying a plastic or nylon weed barrier  and planting the hedge through this. This will of course keep down weeds and stabilise soil temperatures, thus speeding up the growth of the hedge. However, we don't recommend this as you will be left with a messy legacy of nylon or plastic  which will be thoroughly tangled up with your plants - defeating to some degree the environmental benefits of your hedge. Buy our hedgrow mix here in 10 m sections...

Two views of our hedgerow in Ballycullen, Co Wicklow. It is a great source of food and shelter for birds.