An Introduction To Wildlife Gardens
An Introduction To Wildlife Gardens. A wildlife garden is easy to achieve and requires little upkeep. This is the perfect way to support your local environment and to create a habitat for wildlife to live peacefully.
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An ideal area for a wildlife garden is a coppiced hazel enclave. The theory behind a good wildlife garden is to keep it as wild as possible in order to form natural habitats for insects, birds, and mammals. There should be a thicket of growth at the plant and tree bases, that can be cut in the summer.
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Include plants that bear plenty of nuts and berries to attract as much wildlife as possible. The likes of holly, cherry, crab apple, and hazel trees are ideal. These are great for hibernators.
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An area such as this need not take up the whole of your garden. If you have enough land, leave an area at the end of the garden that is particularly wild and relatively unkept. This informal and low maintenance area is great for kids to play in, and also for them to develop an interest in the wildlife that surrounds them.
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A pond is a great way of attracting a different variety of animals. It will quickly attract frogs, toads, and newts, and can also be a landing sight for mayflies and dragonflies.
A small excavated pond of about 3 feet deep with a butile liner will be just fine. Ensure it has shallow, sloped sides for animals to enter and exit.
Use native plants such as rushes and stinking iris which are wildlife havens. These plants tend to invade an area, so dig up, and split and divide every 3 years or so. You can also scoop out excessive algal bloom every now and again, but it is not a huge problem as it provides good shelter for the pond life.