Some fundamental wildlife gardening activities
I’ll start with an admission: I’ve never built a pond!
This might seem like a terrible thing for a wildlife gardener to own up to, as ponds are undoubtedly valuable assets to a wildlife garden, but they may not be suitable for everyone.
There are, however, many other opportunities to improve gardens for the benefit of wildlife. Plenty of these require little skill or time, whereas others can be really satisfying and challenging creative efforts. Some are specific projects, while some apply to how the whole garden is managed.
Picking out individual measures like those described below can be an accessible way to start or enhance a nature-friendly garden, and soon build up to creating a valuable habitat for a wide variety of species. Those described below are some of the more obvious, but always valuable, interventions I prioritise when working in a garden.
- Creating leaf piles in less prominent areas.
At this time of year dealing with leaves can seem never-ending, and they can take up a lot of space in the green waste bin. I find some secluded areas at the back of flower beds and borders and transfer leaves to these spots as much as possible. This has a number of benefits such as providing invertebrate habitat, for example ladybird species often hibernate in leaf litter over the winter. It also contributes to soil improvement as leaves mulch in: creating leaf mould in situ.
2. Construction of compost/leaf mould bays.
If there’s room in the garden then creating a space for making my own compost or leaf mould is another important action. These collections are valuable invertebrate habitat in themselves and, in turn, prime real estate for the robins. They provide a further reduction in green waste leaving the site and can help with future reduction of bought-in compost or fertiliser, and all the associated plastic and travel emissions.
3. Buy/build a wormery.
At the moment, in my very small home garden, this is the option I go for as I don’t have the room, and consequently don’t generate enough garden waste, for a compost bin. The worms will take quite a bit of raw food waste, plus eggshells and shredded newspaper, and after a few months provide me with a rich vermicompost and liquid feed. If I had room, I’d have compost and leaf mould bays as well, for a wide range of home-made fertiliser and organic matter options.
4. Using on-site compost as mulch.
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The natural result of the above two points, but it’s surprising how many people I’ve met who dutifully top up their compost bays but then don’t know what to do with it. Which is surely the most satisfying part!
Spreading organic matter on to appropriate beds adds to the soil microbiome, protects topsoil and improves soil water retention. In a large garden that I look after, there isn’t enough compost to go on all the beds every year, so rather than spread it around too thinly I focus on improving only some of the beds, leaving others to be drier and poorer in nutrients. This gives me a greater range of planting habitat, therefore the garden can support a wider variety of species.
5. Only watering plants that are in pots/baskets or which have been recently planted.
The threat of water scarcity has become a reality for much of England and Wales this year. Even here in the north of Scotland, after 3 unusually dry summers out of the last 4, I can’t justify any reasons other than those above for applying water to the garden. In addition to helping to conserve a vital resource, not watering flower beds minimises topsoil runoff and prompts plants to search for their own water thereby encouraging strong root growth.
Sprinkler use, in particular, can be actively harmful to plants in the long run by fostering shallow root growth, making the plant more vulnerable to drought and extremes of heat and cold, rather than the more stable environment deeper in the soil. As an ecologist, I have always intuitively worked by the mantra ‘right plant, right place’: if a plant in a border in the north of Scotland needs watering, then I think it’s definitely in the wrong place.
6. No weedkiller and synthetic pesticide use.
Again, my ecology background has made this a big red line. I just don’t like messing around with the ecosystem that is trying to exist. Weedkillers don’t only kill ‘weeds’ but can also have a damaging impact on wildlife that passes through the spray, or which uses the plant that has just been doused. I have made limited, targetted use of organic products including nematodes for vine weevil in pots and a soap-based spray for a significant powdery mildew problem. Other than that the gardens I look after are managed to support the natural predator-prey balance.
7. Leaving a wide range of plants standing over winter.
I like plants that die gracefully, leaving us with the ghost of their summer presence, looking particularly ethereal with a light dusting of frost. Many of the plants I grow are selected for their winter robustness, either left entire or chopped back to different heights, as they also provide hibernation habitat, bird food from seedheads, and they help to minimise the amount of bare earth exposed over the winter.
The ladybird pictured below hibernating in a lupin stem was part of a group which only used the cluster that I had cut back to about 1–1.2m. Clusters that I cut back to a lower level (around 30cm) had a different winter resident, hidden in its clod of protective mud so I couldn’t be sure what it was. This has now informed my winter preparation by making sure there are habitats at varying heights and of varying textures.
8. Planting up bare earth.
Generally, exposed soil is at risk of erosion and drying out, whereas ground cover plants help to protect the soil. There are some species which like bare earth, so leaving some areas can be beneficial such as for solitary bee species. Where I am planting up, my priority is to choose plants known to be useful to wildlife.
That’s probably enough for now, and I haven’t even touched on opportunities to integrate animals into a sustainable, wildlife-friendly garden system.
Or ponds!
