Every garden, no matter how big or small, has the potential to help our wildlife. They are in fact vital as we continue to decimate habitats through building and expansion.
In this blog post, I will give some tips for how to make your garden as beneficial as possible for wildlife so that we can try to lessen the damage we do as a species.
1) Insect-friendly flowers:
When deciding what to plant in your garden, why not plant species which are beneficial to bees and other insects? It is usually mentioned on the label/seed packet if plants are particularly insect friendly.
Alternatively, the easiest and laziest of ways to help wildlife is to allow your garden to go a bit wild. Just don't mow your lawn! Or, if you prefer, leave a section of your lawn unmown. You will be surprised at how quickly nature takes over. This simple action will create a habitat for many plant and insect species. Before you know it, a number of interesting wild flowers will grow by themselves.
If you want to go a little bit further, why not plant some wildflowers which are particularly beneficial to bees, butterflies and other insects? You can actually buy packs of ready-chosen 'wild meadow seeds' or 'plug plants'.
You will see benefits very quickly - have a read of this article:
https://sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/news/my-front-lawn-plant-it-and-they-will-come?utm_source=Sussex+Wildlife+Trust+Newsletter&utm_campaign=a60f073b83-Aug2019_Mem&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9f7e3b5ad3-a60f073b83-293334637
2) Give birds a helping hand:
Give the birds somewhere safe and easy to nest by putting up bird boxes in your garden. There are many places to buy bird boxes, but you could save money by making your own (this is what we did):
We decided to make a blue tit nesting box using the RSPB nest box guide. With a little modification this can be used for other bird species. For example, great tits require a 28mm diameter entrance hole.
Be sure to put them in places that are sheltered and safe. Some birds will like to nest high up and others near the ground.
Feed the birds. Put up bird feeders - you can put seeds, nuts or suet balls in these, helping birds get through the winter and to feed their young in spring. Again, make sure you put them somewhere safe near a tree or bush so that birds don't become easy targets for cats!
3) Make a pond:
Not everyone has room for a pond, but even a small trough or bucket of water is better than nothing.
As well as potentially attracting frogs, dragonflies and other aquatic life, a pond will also be of great help to birds and other animals who will drink from and bathe in the pond.
Here is the pond we have created in our garden. I may do another blog post about how we made the pond.
Notice, we have a particularly shallow end on the right to allow birds and small mammals, such as hedgehogs and mice, to drink safely.
You will want a large variety of plants for your pond. They are divided into zones 1 - 4 depending on how deep in the water they can grow.
This page has a useful guide for how to build a pond, and recommends which species to plant: https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/actions/how-build-pond
4) Make hedgehog passageways:
Hedgehogs have declined rapidly in recent years. 50 years ago there were more than 30 million hedgehogs in the UK. Now we are down to just over 1 million.
Fragmentation of habitat is one of the major causes of this decline. If hedgehogs could travel more easily between gardens, their habitat would be less reduced.
Solution? Simply make a small hole in the bottom of your garden fence, just big enough for a hedgehog to squeeze through.
Fantastically, it is now law that hedgehog holes be included in fences of new housing developments. This will be a huge help to the hedgehog population. This article explains more:
https://www.discoverwildlife.com/news/hedgehog-highways-to-be-included-in-new-housing-developments/?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=BBCW&utm_campaign=Newsletter%2025%2F07%2F19_189475_BBC%20Wildlife%20Magazine_Newsletters
5) Insect hotels/log piles:
Although we may not all like insects, they are an important part of the ecosystem.
You will all have seen bug hotels that you can buy in various shops, but, if you want to save money, all you need to do is to leave a small area of your garden aside for rocks, logs and leaves. This creates the perfect shelter for spiders and insects.
There are also tonnes of ideas online for how to make your own bug hotels. Why not have a look?
https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/give-nature-a-home-in-your-garden/garden-activities/build-a-bug-hotel/
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/actions/how-build-bug-mansion
6) Avoid pesticides and weed killers:
Try to avoid using pesticides or slug pellets. When a bird or hedgehog eats a slug or snail poisoned by pellets, they too become poisoned, and so it continues up the food chain.
There are all sorts of other negative side-effects from using pesticides. They can be harmful to important pollinators such as bees. It is also worth mentioning that they could pose a threat to us if they find their way into the water-supply or our food.
There are many environmentally-friendly suggestions for keeping pests away from your plants:
Plant species such as garlic or chives to deter slugs. Slugs are repelled by these, so if planted around those you want to protect, will make a great barrier.
Cultivate sacrificial plants. Plant something slugs love in one corner of the garden away from plants you are trying to protect. When you see them crowding around this plant, pop them in a jar and take them out of your garden.
Try spreading coffee grounds around the base of plants you want to protect. This deters slugs and snails.
Many of us use weed killers to get rid of unwanted plants, but do we stop to think about what they actually do? Some of these chemicals can linger in the ground for months and could leach into the roots of nearby plants and even enter the water table.
This site has some great tips for getting rid of weeds without harming the environment: https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/weed-management
Whatever pest you are trying to deter, there is usually an alternative suggestion. Just Google search ideas before you go spraying any nasty chemicals in the garden!
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