Royston Environmental Group

Working towards a sustainable future

Nature Noticeboard

Community Garden at Royston Tesco

Where to find the garden

The garden can be found just off the Tesco entrance roundabout. Follow the route for deliveries and it’s on the left, near the barriers.

Open days

The Community Garden holds open days on the second Saturday of each month from 2 to 4 pm to which all are welcome .

A well-kept secret

Not many people know this, but there is a special space on the grounds of the Royston’s Tesco supermarket where people from the local community can enjoy some time with nature. This Community Garden was in fact the first Tesco Community Garden in the country.

The garden has raised beds in which crops can be planted and seating where you can take a coffee or have a picnic with family or friends.

As it is locked with a secure fence around it, it would be a good place to introduce the younger members of your family to nature and learn a little about planting and the care of flowers and vegetables as well as watching insects and birds as they use the garden to feed. It can be booked by groups such as charity/support groups and schools by contacting Mandy Jinkerson, the Tesco Community Champion.

A little TLC

The garden has been a bit neglected recently and needs a some tender loving care.

Tesco is willing to supply some materials where possible and the local Scout groups and some National Community Service students have been able to get involved in some tidying up. The Repair Cafe is hoping to make two good picnic tables out of the three which are in poor condition.

We are always on the look out for suggestions of what we could do or add to the garden and for plants or seeds, as well as willing volunteers.

Three planting at the Coombs Community Centre

December 2021

Three volunteers from the Royston Environmental Group, Carol Stanier, Sarah Lewis-Hayes, and Alexandra Cooper, braved the cold on Saturday, 4th December 2021 to plant trees behind the Coombes Community Centre in Burns Road. The trees were donated by North Herts. Council as part of their massive tree giveaway.

The trees, a Cherry, a Hazel, and a Mountain Ash (Rowen), were strongly staked against the wind - a good thing as the last was planted just before Storm Bara descended.

January 2022

Friday, 28th January 2022 saw an opportunity to plant up to 6 further trees at the Coombes Community Centre. This time the weather was a little more benign, with no storm looming, and volunteers managed to get most of them in the ground on the day.

The trees were similar to those planted in December. The ground was fairly hard but, by choosing places away from the chalk banks, it didn’t take long to get them planted.

More information on the North Herts. tree planting schemem can be found here -

North Herts Plant a Free Tree

Help for hedgehogs

There’s no doubt that having hedgehogs in your garden is beneficial to the health of your plants. Their diet is mostly invertibrates including insects, slugs and earthworms but they also enjoy fallen fruit and will eat frogs and small rodents.

They will happily help gardeners maintain their gardens by eating many of the pests that can give problems and ask little in return. Unfortunately, hedgehogs have seen a serious decline in numbers in recent times and they need our help to recover.

Helping hedghogs where you live

You can give them a helping hand by trying some simple things which will make a big difference.

Hibernation

Hedgehogs will spend most of the colder months in hibernation, but can move nests from time to time so you can see them out during October to April. They live off their stored fat reserves built up in summer and autumn, so you can help by feeding them during this time. Please be careful when clearing piles of garden rubbish in spring as there could be a hedgehog still asleep within.

Feeding

Special hedgehog supplimentary food is available from pet stores and you can provide wet meat based dog and cat food to help them. If you don’t want to attact other animals to your garden who may eat this, try putting it into a place they can’t easily reach, like an piece of old piping. Remember that in hot weather all visitors to your garden will benefit from some water left out for them to drink.

Gardens

Don’t clear everything away from your garden during autumn as a pile of old leaves or an open compost heap not only provides a potential shelter for hedgehogs, it can also provide the ideal habitat for some of the creatures they eat.

Hedgehog highways

Did you know that a typical hedgehog can travel up to a mile each night looking for food. Hedgehogs which live in built up areas are finding it more and more difficult to make these journeys as gardens become more enclosed.

The biggest help you can give to them during their active months is to let them move from one place to another.

What you can do to help

Providing a way for them to get into and out of your garden will really help them. Ideally, you should give a way to travel from one side of your garden to the other by connecting with your neighbours.

If a lot of people in an area can connect their gardens it will be much easier for hedgehogs to make their journeys in search of food. Helping them get under or through your fences is the ideal way to give them this freedom to move around. Follow the links on Hedgehog Street to see some suggested ways you can do this.

Hedgehog Street

Hedgehog Street is a UK-based conservation initiative set up by two charitable organisations, the People's Trust for Endangered Species and the British Hedgehog Preservation Society.

It is seeking champions for our local area to help hedgehogs recover from the decline in numbers they’ve suffered in recent years.

They have a website stuffed with ideas and resources which can help you promote the wellbeing of one of this country's iconic wild animals. Here are just some of the ways you can become involved -

Become a Hedgehog Champion Create a hedgehog highway through your garden Getting your neighbours involved Making you garden hedgehog friendly Building a hedgehog home Feeding hedgehogs

There’s even a map where you can report sightings of hedgehogs and help establish a national picture of their population.

Big Hedgehog Map

Website design

Michael Wright