Wildlife Friendly Gardening

If you would like to contribute to the wellbeing of wildlife, you’ll need more than just a corner of your garden left to run wild. It is also possible to have a pretty and tidy garden that is welcoming to wildlife.

If you are planning a new garden, look around to see what grows locally. If you have something growing naturally and wish to keep it, leave it where it is instead of trying to move it. Above all, be gentle with the planting and take your time to give wildlife a chance to adapt.

Provide as many habitats as but do focus on what can be done well in the space you have. A hedge is a wonderful shelter and can feed wildife as well as provide a run for safe transportation. You can also create smaller microhabitats in your garden, depending on the creatures you would like to attract.

Long grass provides habitat for egg laying and over wintering of caterpillars and leather jackets. Blackbirds and starlings search for leather jackets (cranefly grubs) in short grass. Different species of tree and shrub and flowering plants provide nectar and other food sources through the year.

Any water feature is great for wildlife. Shallow areas are used by bathing and drinking birds, emerging dragonflies and is somewhere for amphibians to lay eggs. Deeper areas help aquatic insects survive cold spells and are a good place for newts. If you have young children or pets, you may want to forgo having a pond though.

Wildlife requires two fundamental things: somewhere safe to breed and shelter and somewhere to forage throughout the year.

Climbers provide shelter and roosting and breeding sites for birds. A thick, well-developed, thorny shrub bed or hedge provides nest sites and shelter for wildlife. Other great ideas include a bat box, a pile of leaves or hollow log may be used by a hibernating hedgehog and is good for beetles and other specialist beneficial insects, fungi and mosses. In a wildlife garden, you are best leaving the tidying up of hedges, autumn leaves and dead branches until early spring to provide shelter for insects through winter. This also helps retain seeds and fruit for birds and small mammals throughout winter. Many baby birds need insects - a good source of protein - if they are to grow strong and healthy and survive the winter. A variety of garden plants encourages these insects.

Short lengths of drinking straws, hollow canes or plant stems, tied in bundles are excellent nesting sites for beneficial lacewings and ladybirds.
Early and late flowering plants provide nectar for insects at critical times - just after emergence or prior to hibernation.

Ivy is a late source of autumn nectar for insects and late winter fruit for birds.

Fruiting bushes are a good source of food for birds and mammals during the autumn and part of the winter. Annual plants that produce many seeds in late summer are a good source of seed for birds through autumn into winter.

Wildlife and Child friendly Garden Deterrents

Wildlife, including birds and other animals can sometimes be protected, such as bats, and it is illegal to disturb any nest in the wild. However, even the RSPB will acknowledge that it is sometime beyond a gardener or homeowner’s capability to ignore damage caused by wild creatures. The purpose here to attempt to deter said creatures, not to actually harm them.
Do bear in mind that no method is perfect. For example, if you want to attract certain birds like tits or robins, you will have to accept that you may end up with green parakeets and the like as well. Some animals need to be kept out of your garden. For example if you have a pond, you don’t want herons picking out your fish, if you keep rabbits, foxes will not be welcome and so on. Many people loathe sparrowhawks and starlings, usually because they are a nuisance.


Do be aware that there are many visual and audible deterrents for use on farmland and other open space situations away from housing. These are not suitable for domestic use in the most part. They are also not species specific so be wary of using them. It is usually perfectly legal to deter birds but the bird must not be harmed or trapped, nor can they be prevented from attending to an existing nest. If you plan to deter birds, make sure they have elsewhere to go otherwise all you will do is upset and distress them.


Herons can be discouraged form ponds by installing a specialist pond cover which will also protect children and pets from drowning. Foxes can be discouraged by ensuring no food scraps are available, nowhere cosy can be taken over for nesting and sleeping, and a good solid fence is installed with no stepping places for the fox to climb over easily.

Garden Plans: Being organized is a great way to get your garden started.

Having solid garden plans in place is something that needs to be done in order to have a successful garden. You want to make sure that you know what kind of garden you are going to plant and where you are going to plant it before you even get started purchasing your supplies.


If flowers are in your garden plans there is one thing you need to do first. You need to first of all do the research needed in order to see what flowers are going to be able to successfully grow in the area of the world in which you live. If you decide you like a flower but is will not thrive in your area you are going to have to figure out what flowers will grow well that are going to make suitable replacements. The garden plans that you have in mind for your garden need to include what types of flower gardens that you will be planting and how many gardens that you are planning on planting. For example wil you be planting flowers outside or inside in pots and hanging baskets or will you be doing a combination of bot.


So the next item that should be addressed is do your garden plans include a vegetable garden? You are going to need to decide which vegetables that your family is going to eat and what vegetables that you want to try. Be sure that you are picking out vegetables that are going to grow successfully in your part of the world. Then you are going to have to decide what kind of vegetable gardens are going to fit into your garden plans. Will you go with the traditional outside garden or will you be planning to try to grow vegetables in a raised bed or a container garden? How large a garden that you will have will also play a part in whatever your garden plans happen to be, will you grow enough to enjoy picking out of the garden this summer or are you planning on preserving your harvest to enjoy for as long as possible.

You will find that the internet is going to offer you a great number of good ideas of different types of gardens. All you should have to do is develop a solid plan and follow through with it and you are going to have garden plans that are going to develop into a fantastic garden.

What type of garden will you grow ?

There are a great many garden ideas to consider when you decide to begin the wonderful pastime of flower or vegetable garden. You will get a real feeling of accomplishment when you plant seeds into the ground and tending them into healthy plants. As soon as you make the choice to begin a garden you will be able to go through many different garden ideas before you find the one that you would like to try. You will find that there are actually quite a few different choices for you to consider.
A butterfly garden can be a beautiful choice to add to your lawn. Many people might be wondering what a butterfly garden is. A butterfly garden is a garden that is created for attracting butterflies for your viewing pleasure. Before you begin your butterfly garden you are going to need to find out what types of flowers are going to attract butterflies that are native to your particular region. If you happen to own cats you might want to consider a different type of garden as cats are fond of trying to catch butterflies.
You can choose to grow a butterfly garden. What is a butterfly garden you might be

Container gardens are another good choice when it comes to garden ideas. A container garden is a fantastic choice when it comes to garden ideas. A container garden is perfect if you live in an apartment building or if you are simply unable to tend over a large outdoor garden. You have lots of choices when it comes to container gardening as you can plant anything from coffee to herbs to oranges.

Next on the list of gardening ideas are vegetable gardens. You can grow all types of vegetables in your vegetable garden. You will need to take into account what types of vegetables are going to grow the best in your area. You can choose to grow enough to preserve for the winter months or just enough to enjoy during the summer.

You can use the internet and gardening magazines and you are bound to find many more appealing gardening ideas.

Herbs in a Container Garden

Herbs are really the perfect choice for a container garden. Container gardens are perfect for those that do not have the time to spend tending a large garden outside or maybe disabled and simply not be able to take care of a large garden but would still like to grow a garden. Now who would not enjoy the smell of freshly grown herbs?

You are going to need to figure out what kind of container that you are going to grow your container garden in. Are you going to grow your herbs in a window box outside your kitchen? Are you going to find some decorative planters to plant your container garden in. Make sure you select something that will go with the décor of your home.
Another thing that you will need to take into consideration is what types of herbs will you be growing in your container garden. Many herbs are quite pretty to look at and they can serve a variety of different purposes. You can use herbs for crafting, medicinal purposes and as cooking aids.

Be sure to make sure that the soil in your container garden is properly fertilized w                                                                                                                    hen you are working on getting ready to plant your herbs. Doing this will make sure that you will be growing the best possible herbs, you will also want to make sure that your herbs will be getting the sunlight and water that they need to perform at their very best.

You are going to find that there are many herbs that look very similar. It is for this reason that you are going to want to take measures so that you will be able to tell them apart as they are growing. You should make some type of markers so that you will be able to tell your herbs apart.

Now, when you are looking into container gardening, look into the benefits that you can get from growing herbs. For one they smell delightful, there are a wide variety of uses for them and they can be easily harvested out of a container garden.