Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire wildlife trust launch 'Coronation Gardens' scheme
The initiative will be kick-started by a grant of £247,834 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
A new initiative is launched today which pays tribute to His Majesty King Charles III’s long-standing commitment to the natural world and the environment – Coronation Gardens for Food and Nature.
Organised by The Wildlife Trusts in partnership with Incredible Edible, Garden Organic and The National Federation of Women’s Institutes, the scheme will encourage people and communities across the United Kingdom to live sustainably and help wildlife recover by growing food and creating space for nature in gardens, on balconies and in shared green spaces.
Coronation Gardens for Food and Nature is a three-year program which aims to enthuse millions of people to grow their own food in wildlife-friendly gardens by providing advice and an opportunity to pledge their garden on a map. Its legacy is expected to last far into the future. The initiative will be kick-started by a grant of £247,834 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Locally, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) recently completed a new demonstration wildlife garden at its Sutton Courtenay Environmental Education Centre which shows how food plants such as radishes, raspberries and rhubarb can be grown alongside pollinator-friendly flowers and nest boxes. The Trust’s Nature Discovery Centre in Thatcham opened a new community garden in 2021 where members of public are invited to grow, and BBOWT’s College Lake nature reserve near Aylesbury also has a demonstration wildlife garden maintained by volunteers.
In pledging to take part in Coronation Gardens for Food and Nature, people would be encouraged to:
· Grow healthy food to eat – this could range from herbs and salads to vegetables and fruit trees depending on the space available
· Plant pollinator-friendly blooms – butterflies, moths, bees and hoverflies all need sources of nectar and pollen to thrive. As they travel from flower to flower, they also pollinate them, enabling plants to bear fruit and set seed
· Create a water feature, which could be as simple as a submerged dish or as involved as digging a pond, lining it and oxygenating it using native plants such as hornwort
· Leave a patch of long grass or pile of logs to create shelter for wildlife and natural predators such as hedgehogs and frogs
· Go chemical and peat-free – avoid using pesticides, weed killers and peat
The scheme will evolve as it grows, but the Wildlife Trusts have provided ideas, inspiration and help for communities and individuals to get started on a new dedicate website – mycoronationgarden.org.
Gardens can play a big role in giving nature a boost while also enabling people to enjoy seeing wildlife and grow their own food
. Coronation Gardens for Food and Nature aims to encourage people to use existing gardens, rooftops and shared greenspace, as well as to create new ones.