Wildlife Gardening Basics: This all you need to do!
Below are some wildlife gardening 'must do's'. Well partly 'must not do's' actually, because the wildlife-friendly approach to gardening requires a lighter touch.
1. Use no pesticides whatsoever. Zilch. Not even so-called organic ones. In time, a natural balance between pest and predator develops, and plagues of pest species will no longer be a problem. Just be patient.
2. Don't cut everything down in autumn. Just cut away dead stems that block paths, and remove slippery piles of leaves from lawns and paths. Leave everything else until mid-March, by which time half of it will have merged with the soil anyway.
This is because many beneficial insects overwinter in dead stems or seedheads, or among leaf litter on the ground, and wild birds find food there.
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3. Concentrate on 'single' flowers (i.e. those where stamens are visible). 'Double' flowers (i.e. those where stamens are replaced by rows of petals) tend to have little value as sources of pollen or nectar. Highly-hybridised bedding plants and other ornamental strains of garden flowers (i.e. most of what is sold in DIY stores and garden centres) often have modified flowers that don't produce much in the way of pollen or nectar. Pretty to the human eye, but useless for insects. An easy rule-of-thumb is to select those which you see actually being visited by bees or butterflies in the nursery or garden centre.
4. Choose plants purposefully, rather than on impulse. Ask yourself: 'will this plant provide pollen or nectar for insects, or ground cover for amphibians and beetles, or berries or dense cover for birds?' If the answer is 'no', choose something else. There are thousands of other plants to choose from. See my fact sheets for some simple lists of wildlife-friendly plants.
5. Find room for some native hedgerow shrubs. If you live in Britain or Ireland these are Hawthorn, Spindle Tree, Sloe, Goat Willow, Wild Dogwood, Alder Buckthorn, Wild Honeysuckle, Wild Privet, Holly, Guelder Rose (Viburnum opulus), Gorse, Broom, Hazel, Wild Roses (Rosa canina, R. rubiginosa, R. mollis and R. arvensis) and Field Maple. They provide cover, berries, and nest sites for birds, food for moth and butterfly larvae, nectar for adult insects, and all can be pruned or coppiced (cut to the ground) if they get too big. You can't say that about Leylandii...
6. Cut down on digging. That's good news for your back! Apart from your vegetable patch, the soil does not benefit from constantly being turned, because it is an underground world of millions of micro-organisms of many kinds all inter-relating with each other, cycling nutrients and forming a natural balance. In particular, mycorrhiza (beneficial underground fungi that connect the roots of different plants and help them to take up nutrients) may be damaged by digging. If your soil is properly furnished with ground cover plants it's impossible to dig it anyway.
7. Feeding is largely unnecessary. We don't feed our garden, yet it grows luxuriantly and looks magnificent in summer. Flower beds in natural gardens do not need feeding - everything settles down and in time forms a self-sustaining community. Newly-planted shrubs and young trees will benefit from your home-made compost forked into the soil when you plant them, but that is all the feeding that is needed. Use the rest of your compost on your fruit bushes and trees as a mulch, or on your vegetables.
Above all: enjoy your garden!
© Marc Carlton 2007. You are welcome to print this page, but for personal use or for non-commercial educational purposes only. Re-publication in any medium without permission is prohibited.