Wildlife-friendly gardening tips

Wildlife-friendly gardening top tips

The Fellfoot Forward wildlife-friendly gardening webinar was packed with useful information from our local volunteer experts on pond creation and maintenance, planting, creating habitats, recycling, and composting, as well as watching and learning from wildlife spotted in the garden. As the weather gets warmer, we’ve complied ten top tips for wildlife-friendly gardening which we will be adding here and on social media.

Top tip no.1: Only dig what you need to

Digging destroys soil structure which isn’t good for healthy soil, plant growth, or helping wildlife. Save yourself the time and effort and dig areas as little as possible.

Top tip no.2: Go for native and nectar rich plants

Try to provide nectar sources for as long as possible from the beginning of the year to the end. You don’t need loads of space to help our pollinators. Lots of native wildflower seed can thrive in pots, providing they are well-drained and watered. Cornflowers, wild pansies, poppies, corn marigolds, corn buttercups and scabious will all put on a colourful display and provide nectar for butterflies, bees and other pollinators.

Image credit: Osmia bicornis, red mason bee (c) www.northeastwildlife.co.uk

Top tip no.3: Recycle your garden waste

Recycle as much of your garden and kitchen waste as you can in your garden. Your green waste is a valuable resource so, rather than throwing it away, turn it into compost to help plant growth and to use as a mulch to suppress weeds (which complements the no dig approach).

Top tip no.4: Create a wild area

Leave an area in your garden wild to encourage insects and other invertebrates who will help pollinate plants and improve the quality of your soil by breaking down vegetation.

Top tip no.5: Don’t buy peat-enriched compost

One metre of peat takes over one thousand years to form. Peat is a significant store of carbon, has a role in flood control and maintaining water quality, and provides vital habitats for rare and unique wildlife. Extracting peat for garden compost has already destroyed thousands of hectares of pristine habitat, in this country and elsewhere in Europe. Peat-free compost alternatives will work just as well in your garden, and mean that we can protect the remaining peat bogs and their unique habitats.

Top tip no.6: Have some nettles

Nettles are an important habitat for lots of bugs and a food plant for a range of caterpillars that will turn into beautiful butterflies like the Peacock and Comma. Relocate nettles to pots and planters to prevent them spreading if you prefer.

Top tip no.7: Create insect havens with piles of sticks and stones

Piles of sticks, logs and stones are a haven for many insects and spiders who provide prey for an array of garden birds. Create a habitat pile with your brown woody waste material or build a ‘bug hotel’ with the family to help insects, breeding birds, frogs, and perhaps a hedgehog too.
You can use a simple pile of pine cones, where ladybirds can lay eggs to help keep greenfly numbers down, or create a ‘Buggingham Palace’ with lots of layers and levels using recycled materials like old bricks, carpet and bark. Make sure you include hollow stems – old bamboo canes, dry hogweed stems, or drill holes in logs or fence posts – which are vital for solitary bees to lay their eggs in, and put them in a south facing position for the best chance of inviting these attractive and important pollinators to your garden.

Top tip no.8: Plant shrubs and bushes

As well as nectar-rich flowering plants, think about planting shrubs and bushes which provide food and year-round shelter for insects, birds and small mammals. Guelder rose, hazel and elder are beautiful native shrubs, and traditional garden favourites such as forsythia, sweet box and buddleia will all add value to your wildlife-friendly garden.

Top tip no.9: Provide water

A pond or small water reservoirs around your garden are important to offer insects, like bumblebees, a drink as well as the birds.

Top tip no.10: Relax and enjoy

Remember to relax and enjoy your garden. Don’t worry if everything doesn’t get done – it’s good to have an excuse to get into the garden again on another day. Less digging means you’ll have more free time to enjoy the flowers, bird song and buzzing insects. Don’t forget to make a note and take a picture of what you see and when for your own and the county’s records.

Wildlife-friendly gardening webinar

Our thanks to our local volunteer experts – Kirkoswald Environmental group and Howard Quinn, Linda Robinson, John Miles, Peter Clarke, and Stuart Colgate – who contributed to the webinar on 29 January 2021, as well as everyone who attended. Watch the video below: