Nature Blog

“We can think of nothing better to help make the world a better place, than cultivating your garden. Someone who grows a garden to help nature is personally doing the important work of improving the world. Never underestimate the power of such a seemingly simple act” Ana & Emily Seedball

We love May! It’s such a beautiful month for seeing wildflowers – they really do start to come into their own. And, it’s also not too late to plant wildflowers too! In fact, so many are beginning to flower, listing them all is quite a challenge. Most flowers blooming in

This week is Hedgehog Awareness Week (2nd-8th May), so we are focussed here at Seedball HQ on how we can make our gardens a little more hedgehog friendly. Did you know that research has shown In the UK our beloved Hedgehogs are in decline and are now listed as “Vulnerable” on Britain’s red list

It’s amazing how few people know the truth about peat. Speak to avid gardeners, ardent environmentalists, devoted wildlife lovers, and shockingly few will know that peat, when left in the ground, provides a precious home to many rare species, and is a rich store of carbon. Globally, peatlands store half

Annuals have beautiful blooms to attract pollinators, like this lovely mix of poppy and cornflower. Know Your Plant Types – Annual, Biennial, Perennial Plants have three main growth types – annual, biennial and perennial. In a simplified way one could look at it like this: Annual = 1 year Biennial

In this blog our wonderful stockist Cecily of shop PomPom shares her top eco friendly Easter ideas to do with kids…. Spring! The word alone brings joy or indeed, springs joy! It is a wonderful time of the year, just as it begins to feel like winter would never end,

We love to get outside on a clear, cold, crisp winters day and see what nature we can spot. You don’t need to be in the countryside, a daily walk around your local area will work just as well, even front and back gardens might be hiding some natural treasures.

Wildflowers are a stunning addition to any area, be it garden, balcony, windowsill or pots, not only do they look gorgeous, they are great for wildlife too. Spring – Sow, sow, sowAfter the last frost you can sow your Seedballs in Spring (usually February to May, but the earlier the

Hedgehogs are in threat of extinction, and are now classed as vulnerable in the UK. Numbers of these once common creatures have fallen due to habitat loss, injury and free passage; we can help by providing a friendly environment, easy access to our gardens, food and places to nest. Hedgehogs

GO NATIVE Our wild plants are under threat … do your bit by planting some native plants. MAKE A HOTEL Using sticks and tying them in a bundle with string makes a cheap and effective insect habitat. TIN CAN ALLEY A tin can filled with soil and fixed to a

Life is getting difficult for our insects. A recent study published in the journal Biological Conservation found that more than 40% of insect species are declining and a third are endangered. It’s a rate of extinction eight times faster than for mammals, birds and reptiles. With a decrease of 2.5%

NOT ALL SUPERHEROES WEAR CAPES And some of them live in the most unlikely of places. Take earthworms for instance. They populate healthy soil, are rarely seen by human eyes unless you’re digging and do all kinds of incredible deeds that benefit not only themselves but virtually all life on

Wildflowers are a great way to invite pollinator species into your outdoor space, but no matter how small the space is there is always room to do something else to keep mini-beasts happy.  While we might like an area to look neat and tidy many insect species thrive in those

The so-called ‘perfect lawn’ is difficult to achieve and super unhelpful to the wildlife who live in our garden!. But the good news is, letting your garden become a meadow or creating a wildflower patch is actually quite simple. Merely by deciding not to cut your lawn you will eventually

We are so so delighted and proud to be a partner of Backyard Nature, a campaign to get all children to spend more time enjoying and protecting nature where they live. Run by the brilliant Semble (previously known as ‘Project Dirt’), the project will be launched this Saturday with over

In an isolated, little known corner of Cornwall not far from the border with Devon is a pretty special place. Greena Moor is a unique reserve owned and managed by Plantlife, a conservation charity that does brilliant work to save threatened wild flowers, plants and fungi. Greena Moor is ‘culm

In episode 4 we talk about insect week and make a bee saver kit – Thanks to Alice from Aberdeen for your question x In episode 5 we talk about Wildlife Trusts 30 days wild and discuss what ‘Random Acts of Wildness’ the Seedball team have been up to!  In

In the first episode Ana and Emily answer a question from Sarah in Brighton ‘what is the dream?’… Got any questions for us?? Just Ask!  In episode two Ana and Emily talk a bit about founding Seedball, their academic beginnings, give a shout out to the University of Nottingham’s environmentYES

Guest blog from Charlotte at A Focus on Nature Over the Summer, insects have been busily foraging on flowers on which they depend for nectar and pollen. Flying from flower to flower, whether that’s by the zipping flight of a bee-fly or by the bumbling about of a bumblebee, these

With guest contributor Keith Arnold from Bees Wales We’re concerned about bees! In fact, it was our concern for bee and pollinator populations that led us to set up Seedball in the first place, and it seems we are not the only ones. Interest in the plight of bees has

  Magnifying glasses and nets at the ready, it’s time to take a look at the miniature marvels in your green space! The 18th June marks the beginning of National Insect Week, a big biannual celebration of all things small, run by the Royal Entomological Society. And, there is a

This year the Great British Bee Count is five!! Five years of enthusiastic volunteers submitting bee sightings across the country through May and June! So far, it’s been a great year for bees, with the fantastic news that the use of bee harming neonicotinoids are to be banned in countries

For centuries, children have made daisy chains, held buttercups under their chin and told the time with dandelion clocks but for many, these simple pleasures are no longer part of their lives. Even the word ‘buttercup’ isn’t included in the current Oxford Junior Dictionary reflecting that common wild flowers are

Meteorological spring may be upon us, but it has made quite a dramatic entrance with the accompanying storms and snow! We’ve still got a few weeks until the Spring equinox on 21st March, so we’ve downloaded some of our favourite podcasts, popped the kettle on and settled in until the

By Annabelle from Life at No. 27 Encouraging wildlife into your garden never used to be the ‘done’ thing. Until the 1970’s, when Chris Baines arrived on the gardening scene and created a wildlife garden in front of thousands of viewers on TV. This one episode changed the future of

Coventry is maybe not the first city that springs to mind when you think of beauty. Bombed heavily during the Second World War, it suffered a questionable number of architectural decisions during its regeneration. However, it is a city that is currently undergoing a second reformation – and with it

By James Robbins What do you do if you want to create a nature reserve, but don’t have the land for one? This is exactly the problem that faced the residents of Felixstowe last year. The solution they came up with was to crowdsource it from the community. The project

There would be an outcry if a company started excavating top-soil from your local park and selling it to gardeners. And yet most of us are silent about the excavation of peat from habitats that are just as valuable to us. Like most of us, I’m a weekend gardener (when