Wildlife needs somewhere to breed, feed and shelter and your garden can provide the perfect environment. Award-winning gardener Rob Hodge gives us a few tips on how to make our gardens the perfect home for fauna as well as flora.

A BUG'S LIFE

It doesn't take much effort to create a wildlife friendly garden. You can use a small corner or consider the whole garden as a nature reserve and promote yourself to warden.

Keep it as natural as possible, look at the surrounding countryside and try to keep the plants as native as you can. Grow plants that will benefit birds and other wildlife throughout the year. Plants such as Buddleja will attract bees and butterflies to its flowers. The berries of Hawthorn, Holly, Cotoneaster and Pyracantha will feed our feathered friends. Honeysuckle and Ivy provide excellent nesting and roosting sites for birds.

All of these plants can provide naturally made hangers for bird feeders which will quickly show you how many different varieties of birds there are around - you'll be pleasantly surprised once word gets around.

Try to create different garden habitats - bog gardens and small ponds can attract useful allies. Frogs, toads, newts, damselflies and dragonflies will make short work of many of our most irritating pests.

Even a large shallow terracotta bowl or pot can provide drinking water for birds and small mammals and a home for insects.

Log piles which occur naturally in woodland provide homes for hundreds of insects and small animals. A pile of logs in your garden can simulate fallen trees and is essential to any wildlife garden. Choose a spot in partial shade and use logs at least four inches thick with the bark still on for the best results. If possible leave dead wood on trees, this is the perfect home for lichens, mosses and fungi which will help to create an excellent habitat for micro-organisms.

A well maintained lawn is like a desert for wildlife. It may look attractive to us but provides little benefit for birds and insects. Let a small part grow wild - even a small corner will do. It will encourage wild flowers to grow, attracting bees and butterflies and will provide a good, nurturing habitat for ground-dwelling insects.

Attracting wildlife into your garden not only benefits the ecology of your local enivironment, but also provides hours of entertainment and education no matter how young or old you are. Children of all ages love bug hunting.



Rob Hodge Horticulture
01633 744075

www.robhodgehorticulture.co.uk
 
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