08/21/13

7 Ways To Make Your Garden A Paradise For Wildlife

Guest post by Ricky Peterson

One of the joys of having a garden in summer is being able to observe wildlife close up. Whether you’re a bird lover or a fan of butterflies, we can all enjoy watching our feathered, furry and many-legged friends in our own back yard. But how can we attract them to our garden?

bee on flower wikicommons images

The key to making your garden attractive to wildlife is creating a comfortable habitat for them. Here are a few tips to do just that:

Home, tweet home

We all need somewhere to hang our hat, and animals and insects are no different. Set up a bird house in the spring, and you might just be rewarded with a family settling down for the summer. But birds aren’t the only ones who need somewhere to stay – bee houses are also available now, which is great news for our declining bee population.

Also, for an incredibly easy to set up and inexpensive shelter for a range of wildlife, simply lay some logs in a corner of your yard – and don’t bother tidying up fallen leaves. This will provide a home for lots of insects, which could help to eat pests as well as providing a tasty treat for birds. Also, mammals can use the leaf cover to hide food during the winter.

Food, glorious food

Speaking of tasty treats, you can help further on that front. There are lots of mixes of birdseed available, but if you’d like to try to attract a certain type of bird or other animal, try the following.

  • Mealworms – house sparrow and shrews
  • Peanuts – great spotted woodpecker and badgers
  • Fat balls – blue tit and great tit
  • Nyger seed – siskin and goldfinch
  • Sunflower hearts – bullfinch
  • Dog food – hedgehog
  • Root vegetables – deer

 

Think carefully about how suitable your garden is for wildlife before you try to attract animals there – are your neighbours as keen as you? Will there be busy roads that could cause danger?

Scrub up well

Ponds and birdbaths are a lifeline for many animals. As well as the fish who might live in your pond, birds can drink the water and use it to bathe, and of course frogs and toads will love the environment.

Blooming lovely

If you want to help the bee and butterfly population to thrive, it’s vital to have both early- and late-flowering plants so that our winged compatriots have plenty to feed on throughout the season. Try some of the following:

  • Spring: primrose, damson and blueberry
  • Summer: chives, dahlia and hardy geranium
  • Autumn: common ivy, sunflower and strawberry tree
  • Winter: clematis, crocus and honeysuckle

 

Leave the lawn

Fed up of mowing the grass every week? You officially have a valid excuse for not bothering! As well as the wildflowers that may pop up, a long lawn is a great haven for lots of wildlife. Insects will love it in the summer, and it may come in useful over winter for hibernating mammals.

Of course, you don’t need to let nature take over completely
even just a small patch will make a difference

Toxic love

Chemicals are not the friend of wildlife – as well as killing off the pests, they can harm or even kill the predator. If you’ve used chemicals in your garden but want to cut back, have patience. If your garden is varied enough, the predators should keep the pests in check, but you need to allow time for the ladybirds to return before you go spraying those aphids (and killing off the ladybirds, too).

Live and let live

Most importantly, show the wildlife in your garden respect – even though you might not love the beetles, they have a part to play in its ecosystem. Remember, too, to treat the wildlife as wildlife, and try to limit human interaction with animals – becoming dependent on you could be dangerous for them.

Enjoy creating your own wildlife paradise!

 

About Ricky Peterson

Hi there! My name is Ricky, I write for Swallow Aquatics. I am a nature lover and I like to spend as much time as possible in my garden. I don’t grow as much veg as I would like, but I am lucky enough to have a wealth of birds and insects come visit!

You can visit Swallow Aquatics here. We specialise in pond supplies and accessories, which are ideal if you want to build a pond in your garden (another great way to attract more wildlife!).

08/9/10

Creating a wildlife-friendly backyard

As Susan and I are hosting family and friends, we are reposting a couple of our favorite or most popular posts this week. We have edited the posts for the season or to update some material. Enjoy and hope you’re having a great summer!

It’s that time of the summer when we’re spending a lot of time in our backyards tending gardens that by now might have become out of control. Sometimes we spray and clip in a vain attempt to keep nature at bay and to make everything look tidy.

I read an interesting article in The Independent (UK) , “Why Untidy Gardens Make the Best Habitat for Wildlife.” My in-laws live in England and “garden” more or less means the same as “backyard” to Americans, though most English yards have a flower border. British readers, please correct me if I’m wrong!

Anyway, the article points out that town and city gardens provide a vital refuge for birds, insects, and other animals, including amphibians. Small gardens are as good as large gardens, urban gardens as important as suburban ones, and non-native plants are not always harmful to birds and insects.

Both city and suburban backyards can provide what Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson calls “bridges” between protected areas, providing refuges for wildlife. These bridges serve as a vital corridor, for example, for amphibians, migrating songbirds, and other animals.

My city backyard, in a densely populated small city, falls into the category of “untidy.” I have a lax attitude as to what I allow to grow in it, including a Norway maple, which no one in my family likes. They claim it’s taking over the tiny backyard, which is true. Yet the tree also draws lots of birds. I have vines growing up walls that provide places for birds to hide in, and I have a birdbath. I don’t use pesticides or herbicides.

Mourning Dove in Mary Jo's Backyard

What I’ve noticed is that every year I am getting more and more animal visitors, and a greater variety, too. This year in addition to sparrows and mourning doves, I’ve seen cardinals, robins, and other songbirds. In the fall, I have bird visitors that eat the grapes on my grape vine, swooping down almost the same week each year.

You don’t have to do much to make your backyard a wildlife habitat. Just don’t be too neat—don’t hurry to clear up everything when the garden stops flowering. Some of this “debris” is important for wildlife to hide in or to eat.

Of course, I realize that some animals are pests and steps have to be taken to keep them out. When we’re in New Hampshire, we need to use special bear-resistant garbage cans. Some parts of the country have real problems with deer.

But I think we should try to give a helping hand to those animals and insects that need these wildlife bridges—amphibians, birds, honey bees, and so on.

Here are some more tips for fall planting from the Independent article:

  • plant large shrubs—shrubs and trees produce more vegetation where wildlife can live and eat
  • allow at least some flowers to turn to seed and let the lawn grow tall.
  • create a pond for insects and frogs, or buy or make a toad abode
  • don’t illuminate your garden/backyard at night with bright lights. This will disturb many nocturnal creatures
  • create a compost heap—they are miniature nature reserves in themselves.

See also the National Wildlife Foundation‘s site about gardening for wildlife and about what you need to do to get your yard recognized as a Certified Wildlife Habitat.

Other tips:

  • Put out a bird bath. I enjoy watching birds splash in it every morning.
  • Put out bird feeders. Yes, the squirrels eat the seed, but mostly birds eat it. I buy a big bag of wild bird seed at the supermarket.

Update: After this post ran (10/09), we got lots of interesting comments, so we asked people to send in pictures of their wild backyards. These photos are still up (see gallery). We’d love to receive pictures of your wild backyard and are looking for guest posts about how to create a wild backyard.

10/6/09

Turn Your Backyard into a Wildlife Habitat

It’s that time of year (at least in the Northern Hemisphere) when we’re raking up leaves, cleaning up our backyards, and preparing for winter. But as we prepare for the first frost, we’re spending more time inside than outside and our backyards may be a bit of a mess.

I read an interesting article in The Independent (UK) the other day, “Why Untidy Gardens Make the Best Habitat for Wildlife.” My in-laws live in England and “garden” more or less means the same as “backyard” to Americans, though most English yards have a flower border. British readers, please correct me if I’m wrong!

Anyway, the article points out that town and city gardens provide a vital refuge for birds, insects, and other animals, including amphibians. Small gardens are as good as large gardens, urban gardens as important as suburban ones, and non-native plants are not always harmful to birds and insects.

Both city and suburban backyards can provide what Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson called “bridges” between protected areas, providing refuges for wildlife. These bridges serve as a vital corridor, for example, for amphibians, migrating songbirds, and other animals.*

My backyard falls into the category of “untidy.” I have a lax attitude as to what I allow to grow in it, including a Norway maple, which no one in my family likes. They claim it’s taking over the tiny backyard, which is true. Yet the tree also draws lots of birds. I have vines growing up walls that provide places for birds to hide in, and I have two birdbaths. I don’t use pesticides or herbicides.

What I’ve noticed is that this time of year I get lots of animal visitors. I have a robin couple living in the yard (not common the rest of the year). An amazing bird that I can’t even find in the bird book stopped by the other day. Birds come this time of year to eat the grapes on my grape vine, swooping down almost the same week each year.

You don’t have to do much to make your backyard a wildlife habitat. Just don’t be too neat—don’t hurry to clear up everything when the garden stops flowering. Some of this “debris” is important for wildlife to hide in or to eat.

Of course, I realize that some animals are pests and steps have to be taken to keep them out. When we’re in New Hampshire, we need to use special bear-resistant garbage cans. Some parts of the country have real problems with deer.

But I think we should try to give a helping hand to those animals and insects that need these wildlife bridges–amphibians, birds, honey bees, and so on.

Here are some more tips for fall planting from the Independent article:

  • plant large shrubs—shrubs and trees produce more vegetation where wildlife can live and eat
  • allow at least some flowers to turn to seed and let the lawn grow tall.
  • create a pond for insects and frogs, or buy or make a toad abode
  • don’t illuminate your garden/backyard at night with bright lights. This will disturb many nocturnal creatures
  • create a compost heap—they are miniature nature reserves in themselves.

See also the National Wildlife Foundation‘s site about attracting wildlife and getting your yard recognized as a Certified Wildlife Habitat.

This time of year we gardeners get a bit depressed as winter approaches. What are we going to do with ourselves until the first seed catalogs arrive in the mail in late winter? This fall I am looking at ways I can make my backyard more amenable to wildlife. I just received my Gardeners Supply catalog that has all kinds of birdbaths, birdfeeders, birdhouses, and other products to create an animal-friendly garden/yard.

Please add your suggestions for ways to attract backyard wildlife.

courtesy of Loudoun (VA) Wildlife ConservatoryCreating a frog pond, courtesy of Loudoun (VA) Wildlife Conservatory

*I got this from Earthtalk: Expert Answers to Everyday Questions about the Environment (Plume, 2009), an excellent book, by the way.