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HOW TO BUILD a pollinator wall Tayshan Hayden-Smith offers a compact design for attracting minibeasts into even the smallest garden All photos © Sebastian Barros Imagine if someone offered you not only a five-star hotel in which to stay but also told you that you’ll be well fed, with three-course meals provided at breakfast, lunch and dinner. While this pollinator wall project doesn’t quite include all those luxuries, it is still the equivalent to what you’ll be offering the minibeasts and insects that might require that kind of looking after – especially in really built-up areas, where safety, shelter and food might be hard to come by. This small space solution helps extend the pollinator corridor anywhere and everywhere you might be based. It is invaluable for all wildlife. For example, sometimes bees might need a place to pause for a second before buzzing off to their next destination. By building a pollinator wall using simple upcycled materials, such as the glass bottle rack here, and fixing it against some vertical wall space, you can make all the difference to the lives of so many minibeasts – and at little to no financial cost. First, locate a flat wall on which you would like to fix your glass bottle rack. Then ensure you have permission to do this, and only drill into a wall once you know it’s clear of electrical services and plumbing. For this project we chose an outside brick wall, but a wooden fence would work too. We upcycled a 3x3 bottle rack, which required two fixings on the wall at the highest joints to ensure it was safely secured and ready to hold the weight of the tin cans. You will need Repurposed tin cans, thoroughly washed Combi drill driver with a hammer function 7mm (¼in) drill bit, suitable for masonry Plastic-coated garden wire Reclaimed glass bottle rack, not too heavy! Ours is 3×3 and made from timber. Wall fixings such as hooks with screw ends – the number will depend on the size of your bottle rack Pencil for marking wall Spirit level Wall plugs to fit 7mm (¼in) holes Hammer Multipurpose, peat-free potting compost Pollinator-friendly plants Angelonia (Angelonia) Bellflower (Campanula) Ivy (Hedera) Tayshan is on a mission to turn grey, concrete jungles into green sanctuaries – planting seeds not only in the ground but also in minds to bring joy to people, places, and planet r i g h t   These beautiful plants add colour to the garden, as well as refuge for many insects Step One On each tin can, drill two small holes just below the rim, 1cm (½in) apart and large enough for the garden wire to thread through (see step 2). This place will now be the back edge of the can and is where it will be fitted to the bottle rack. On the bottom of the tin can, drill a few holes 1cm (½in) apart on the front edge, to allow drainage. Step Two Loop the garden wire through the holes below the rim in each tin can, and fasten each one to the bottle rack wherever you’d like to place them. 32  | www.permaculture.co.uk
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Step Three Using a pencil, mark the wall where you would like to place the first hook, and then, aided by a spirit level, mark the second hole position. Use the hammer setting on the drill to make a hole in the brick wall; this should be deep enough for the wall plug. Then tap in a wall plug using the hammer. Screw a hook into the wall plug by hand until its hook is upright. Then drill and insert a second hook in the same way. Step Four Position your rack directly onto the hooks (as here), or else use garden wire to secure the rack to the hooks. Plant up your tins or fill them with bamboo cut to size for the bug hotel. This is an extract from Small Space Revolution by Tayshan HaydenSmith (published by DK). Tayshan is an activist, broadcaster, artist, and community advocate. www.instagram.com/manliketaysh More on pollinator gardens: ‘Learning to see the Bees’ PM119 ‘Irresistible Plants for Health and Wildlife’ PM116

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HOW TO BUILD a pollinator wall

Tayshan Hayden-Smith offers a compact design for attracting minibeasts into even the smallest garden

All photos © Sebastian Barros

Imagine if someone offered you not only a five-star hotel in which to stay but also told you that you’ll be well fed, with three-course meals provided at breakfast, lunch and dinner. While this pollinator wall project doesn’t quite include all those luxuries, it is still the equivalent to what you’ll be offering the minibeasts and insects that might require that kind of looking after – especially in really built-up areas, where safety, shelter and food might be hard to come by.

This small space solution helps extend the pollinator corridor anywhere and everywhere you might be based. It is invaluable for all wildlife. For example, sometimes bees might need a place to pause for a second before buzzing off to their next destination. By building a pollinator wall using simple upcycled materials, such as the glass bottle rack here, and fixing it against some vertical wall space, you can make all the difference to the lives of so many minibeasts – and at little to no financial cost.

First, locate a flat wall on which you would like to fix your glass bottle rack. Then ensure you have permission to do this, and only drill into a wall once you know it’s clear of electrical services and plumbing. For this project we chose an outside brick wall, but a wooden fence would work too. We upcycled a 3x3 bottle rack, which required two fixings on the wall at the highest joints to ensure it was safely secured and ready to hold the weight of the tin cans.

You will need Repurposed tin cans, thoroughly washed Combi drill driver with a hammer function 7mm (¼in) drill bit, suitable for masonry Plastic-coated garden wire Reclaimed glass bottle rack, not too heavy! Ours is 3×3 and made from timber. Wall fixings such as hooks with screw ends – the number will depend on the size of your bottle rack Pencil for marking wall Spirit level Wall plugs to fit 7mm (¼in) holes Hammer Multipurpose, peat-free potting compost

Pollinator-friendly plants Angelonia (Angelonia) Bellflower (Campanula) Ivy (Hedera)

Tayshan is on a mission to turn grey, concrete jungles into green sanctuaries – planting seeds not only in the ground but also in minds to bring joy to people, places, and planet r i g h t   These beautiful plants add colour to the garden, as well as refuge for many insects

Step One On each tin can, drill two small holes just below the rim, 1cm (½in) apart and large enough for the garden wire to thread through (see step 2). This place will now be the back edge of the can and is where it will be fitted to the bottle rack. On the bottom of the tin can, drill a few holes 1cm (½in) apart on the front edge, to allow drainage.

Step Two Loop the garden wire through the holes below the rim in each tin can, and fasten each one to the bottle rack wherever you’d like to place them.

32  |

www.permaculture.co.uk

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