Wartime gardening 1940 style, Plant Conservation Day 2010 and International Year of Biodiversity in the World War Zoo gardens at Newquay Zoo

Get involved and ‘Do One Thing’ for wildlife this year

Sunflowers for wild bird seed (and feeding wartime chickens) World War Zoo garden, Newquay Zoo, 2009 (now the site of a new walkthrough Madagascan aviary)

We can all do something positive for biodiversity this year. At the World War Zoo gardens project here at Newquay Zoo, we   like many groups such as BIAZA, Wildfowl and Wetland Trust, RHS and Wildlife Trusts are supporting the UK’s 2010 International Year of Biodiversity campaign to Do One Thing.  Find out more at www.biodiversityislife.net 

Resolve to do one thing this year  for biodiversity.  If you’re not sure what to do, we have some suggestions below. And when you do it, tell your friends and family about it to encourage them to do something too. If you have a twitter account, don’t forget to follow @iybuk too and tell others what you’re doing. 

We will be promoting 2010 International Year of Biodiversity and also Plant Conservation Day (on May 18th 2010)  our second World War Zoo wartime garden weekend at Newquay Zoo 1 to 3 May 2010. This weekend also launches our Plant Hunters trail celebrating  plant hunters like the Lobb brothers, wartime secret agent and ageing plant hunter Frank Kingdon-Ward and the exotic plants they brought back from daring exploits around the world. Our vegetable and flower gardens are a strange mixture of plants and varieties from the local area and from all over the world. 

Heirloom varieties and 'Vera Lynn' commemorative varieties of Sweet peas are one of the flowers brightening up the World War Zoo wartime garden that will be sown this year.

Plant Conservation Day (on May 18th 2010) www.plantconservationday.org  has lots more information about ways of getting involved  http://bgci.org/plantconservationday. We’ll be planting some wartime varieties, heirloom or heritage varieties of vegetables and flowers in the wartime garden and try to save the seeds. 

You can find out more about heirloom varieties and local varieties of plants and seeds for your area at: 

•  the Postcode Plants Database (produced by Flora for Fauna) www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/life/plants-fungi/postcode-plants
• Heritage Seed Library (HDRA) run by Garden Organic http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk
• http://www.squidoo.com/heritageseeds  for Seed Savers exchnage, The Real Seed Catalogue etc, Emma Cooper’s  Alternative Kitchen Garden blog http://coopette.com/akg . and other lists for the UK and around the world

There are many suggestions of things we can all do for International Year of Biodiversity at http://www.biodiversityislife.net/?q=do-one-thing and from the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust website www.wwt.org.uk and Wild about gardens website www.wildaboutgardens.org.uk  : 

1. plant some wildlife friendly mixtures of flowers
2. save your seeds or plant heirloom varieties
3. build a wildlife pond in the garden 
4. install a water butt and connect the down pipe from the gutter to a water butt and connect the overflow of the water butt to the pond or garden
5. become a member of conservation organisation
6. volunteer at a conservation organisation
7. adopt an animal (or vegetable  – see www.gardenorganic.org.uk)
8. remember wildlife or conservation organisations in your will
9. Don’t mow your lawn – an untidy garden encourages wildlife (we like this one a lot)
10. Dig up your lawn (like we did with one at Newquay Zoo) and plant veg or apply for an allotment from your local council, or turn over some of your garden to growing your own.

Tags: 1940s, 2010 International Year of Biodiversity, BGCI, BGEN, botanic gardens, dig for victory garden, food waste, gardening, gardens, heirloom plants, heritage seeds, Plant Conservation Day, primary history teaching, reenactment, salad, squander bug, sustainability, wartime gardening, world war 2, world war two, WRAP, zoos