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PART
1 - Introduction - your garden and how to help bring back wildlife
PART 2 - Pond life
& how to make a wildlife pond
PART 3 - Mammals,
birds, plants and insects - environment and care
FURTHER
READING - A great selection of wildlife gardening books
Further
information for Schools
The most enriching garden
on earth is the one that costs almost nothing to create.
As you may have
read in the Wildlife Files here at VeggieGlobal, over 60% of the
wild bird population has disappeared in the last 25 years.
The reason?
Farming pesticides are the most commonly known cause, but closer
to home the way you may over-manage your own garden can be
just as much of a contributory factor. In fact, everything you do
in your garden can make a difference to the local environment in
ways you may never have imagined. It's like the "butterfly
effect" - When a butterfly flaps its wings in an English garden
it can can be the eventual trigger of a hurricane in the Gulf of
Mexico! In other words, every small change you make to your garden
will have a chain effect on the flora and fauna which depend on
it.
Unfortunately, in most cases, people take great strides to "makeover"
a garden as to how they want it to look... rather than what is a
suitable, enviromentally friendly green habitat for your locality.
Cosmetic appearances like a garden layed out like a garden centre
play no effective part in conservation.
This is not to say that a garden can't look beautiful if it's tailored
to support local wildlife. All you need to do is first look at what
kind flora and fauna are native to your local area, source native
plants and build habitats to help encourage wildlife. This can all
be done to look and feel inviting to the human eye as well as being
a perfect haven for a huge variety of flora and fauna. Every plant
and creature found in your garden can be considered a friend - even
those hardly seen ... species so small in fact that the benefits
they bring to maintaining the balance of your garden can be seriously
overlooked. A balanced garden, which can also include a sustainable
fruit and veg patch, is all to do with how you set it out to accommodate
all creatures, because from the tiniest insect to the biggest tree
there is a delicate chain that connects all these things ... Read
on to find out why.
How do you
see your garden?
Neat and tidy
gardens are often environmentally unfriendly places. Some of us
treat them like an extension of the inside of our home - the flowers
in sterile beds are like ornaments on dusted shelves, while the
manicured lawn or paved features represent neat vacuumed carpets.
On one hand, regimented arrangements of one colour co-ordinated
plants won't attract a natural mix of insect species. And on the
other hand, ill-chosen, expensive shrubs bought from the garden
centre for nothing but appearance adds to the hideous imbalance
and lack of integration with native species. To top it all, fads
and fashions of slabs, shingle and decking are bleak, unapproachable
terrain for garden wildlife - from animals to the insects which,
almost without exception, should be considered nature's gardeners,
and not your enemy.
An unnatural
uniformity in "designer" gardens can lead to flora infestations
such as aphids (greenfly etc.) Aphids are part of the diet of ladybirds,
hover flies, lacewings and many other garden insects - Pesticides
will also kill these welcome inhabitants leading to a spiralling
imbalance of the natural environment. A suburban back yard, ending
up like the contents of a garden center or the latest "home
and garden" magazine, is nature's worst enemy ... Besides,
such a garden shows lack of soul and originality - which in turn
highlights a disposable income society void of any respect for the
planet. Furnishing a garden with exotic shrubs and tasteless facades
can be a very costly exercise - not just for the pocket but for
the environment too. The growing, transportation and pesticide treatment
of just one plant from a garden centre and subsequent clearing of
the natural growth in your garden to plant it can increase your
carbon footprint substantially. Nine times out of ten, there is
no positive environmental gain in ornamental-based gardening. To
make things even worse, in the UK in particular, more people are
fencing themselves in - literally, by surrounding themselves with
impenetrable wooden or brick walls - cutting off ground-moving wildlife
from the outside. For example, if slugs are already inside such
a garden, they will flourish since their natural predators, like
hedgehogs, frogs and toads can't enter to feed on them. Slugs, in
fact play an important role in the process of decomposting - adding
important nutrients back into the soil.
Meanwhile, nesting birds have next to no chance of finding a home
in an ornamental Acer tree or other exotic floral eye-candy. The
concept of a wildlife friendly garden doesn't mean that you simply
can't have an Acer tree to admire, it just means that it should
be considered contributory rather than an alternative to native
growth. Native growth often harbours and harvests life suitable
to your local environment. In other words, what grows naturally
in your garden should always take priority - providing it is not
invasive weeds introduced by humans in the first-place.
And where should you be getting most of your plants and shrubs from
when creating a garden? Simply by communicating with neighbours
who may have also learnt to garden organically and in harmony with
the locally-grown environment - This means that you can all share
cuttings, seeds and home-grown trees, shrubs and vegetables etc.
... even all-important wildlife pond water, insects and tadpoles!
Nature needs every bit of help it can get to help regenerate your
local ecosystem. And neighbourhood by neighbourhood, the positive
changes this could bring to the planet, and even your own health
could become one the main factors in helping to reduce global degradation.
And what if you have just a patio? You can still play an important
role by ensuring that your patio's plants and shrubs harmonize with
each other and of course with the flora and fauna native to your
area. Airborne insects like bees, which play a life-sustaining role
in nature - for the entire planet in fact - will be thankful for
the friendly pollen and nectar filled flowers on your patio or roof
garden. The bee population is at a critical low. These are one of
nature's most important gardeners, but because of the trend towards
inappropriate non-native shrubs in gardens and patios, instead of
flower-rich variants suitable for bees, means this can only contribute
to their dramatic decline. Even Einstein calculated that without
bees all life on earth would die out in five years.
But before VeggieGlobal
guides you on your way to creating a wildlife garden, you must first
unravel any preconceived ideas of what makes a garden look "nice"
and to understand that a wildlife garden creates its own vistas.
It certainly should not be about contriving views of the garden
that you want to see from the windows of your house. If your garden
is already an overgrown "forest" then the first thing
to do is certainly NOT grab a saw and a fork and begin to cut it
all down or smother it with "weed killer" or rolls of
black material to kill off everything in sight. All the plants,
trees and shrubbery have grown in your "neglected" garden
in a complex, natural manner of self-selection, and often partnered
themselves with corresponding plants that reciprocally help in maintaining
a disease and infestation-free existence.
Have you ever seen an insect or disease infected tree or shrub in
a natural wild area? Probably never. If you have next-door neighbours
who treat their garden like an an extension of their neat and tidy
living room, then you'll probably hear a constant stream of moaning
from the other side of your fence about shrubs and trees dying from
disease and aphids or slugs devouring their plants. In which case,
your neighbours are the kind of ignorant or stubborn gardeners who
will never listen to or face the facts; by constantly blasting their
garden full of pesticides and digging up anything that looks "foreign"
amongst their manicured flower beds, they will always suffer
from sick plants and trees. These types of people will often even
sterilize their soil with antiseptic after a shrub has died ...
a wretched smell that lingers across neighbourhoods for days.
A Brief Introduction to Natural
Convergence.
VeggieGlobal's
term,"Natural Convergence", means tuning into the pulse
or heartbeat of your garden. Spend some time - days or weeks just
learning about the atmosphere of the garden - the comings and goings,
the way light (and dappled light through trees) generates little
ecosystems in different areas - and see which areas seem to self
manage themselves most effectively.
As you begin to explore the growth of your wild garden, the first
thing to do is to establish natural path areas. Imagine yourself
as just another animal who has entered the wild garden ... like
a fox or badger who will often create a pathway that they use each
time they visit. You, the human animal, can do the same; so walk
through the garden in a natural manner ... which will mean carefully
navigating around trees, shrubs and long grasses. Do this a few
times and your natural labyrinth should begin to reveal itself.
Those paths become your interaction with the wild area. They indicate
human presence but also enable both you and the flora and fauna
to coexist without one intruding on the other in any negative way.
Once this relationship establishes, you and the nature surrounding
you in your garden will slowly become reciprocal partners. From
this point on, all the work you do in maintaining your partnership
with your wildlife garden becomes an unobtrusive and most importantly,
an environmentally positive exercise.
Of course, Natural Convergance doesn't just mean how we humans have
to tread carefully within nature, because it also describes what
we can bring into that environment to help not just it, but to sustain
ourselves as well. So this may include the planting of an organic
fruit and vegetable patch, and determining how this can be achieved
without disruption of the surrounding nature of your garden.
Here are just
a few aspects of how we can naturally converge into our garden or
even "allotment" space and the mindset in which you need
to familiarize yourself with:
Bee hives, (for all-important pollination) wildlife ponds, natural
style greenhouses, natural pest control, harmonizing with wildlife,
acceptance of sustainable losses, native species research, organic
protocols, bird feeds, bird houses, bird roosting areas (i.e. birds
will eat the aphids), small mammal habitats (i.e. hedgehogs will
eat the slugs). Natural Convergence also means encouragement of
fungi growth - (including edible). Garden tools must only be manual,
or if powered only via renewable energy. Watering should become
almost unnecessary, since a natural garden retains almost all the
moisture it needs, or else adapts during dry periods.
NOTE:
If you use a garden hose for the purpose of regularly watering an
average size "terraced house" garden, then you are seriously
doing all the wrong things to your garden - and wasting a precious
resource at the same time.
If your current
back yard / garden is nothing more than a lifeless pile of flat
earth, concrete, or short patchy grass, then you will need to create
... or at least kick-start your wildlife garden into action. You
will in effect be helping to reintroduce the growth of plants, grasses
and trees which would most likely have originally resided there
before humans destroyed it. The following pages should now help
you begin to reintroduce natural life back into your neighbourhood.
Building up the Partnership
with your garden.
As we've mentioned,
as a wildlife gardener you should consider yourself in partnership
with your garden, rather than its controller. As a partner, and
as you naturally converge with it, you will begin to learn and appreciate
the subtle balance between your actions and the growth and survival
of the plant and animal life surrounding you.
For example,
various species of plants (usually yellow) will attract aphid eating
insects, so plant these adjacent to shrubs which are at risk of
infestation. Aphids are also important food for birds such as blue
tits and great tits and most importantly their young, which will
feed on tens of thousands of aphids as the baby birds grow. But
one of the most important things to remember when planting a garden
from scratch is that if some shrubs and trees die after a while
- even from disease or pests - do not consider this as a failure
of either your gardening ability - and don't blame it on pests.
This is all part of natural selection and while some plants will
thrive, others may not. Leave nature to take its course as it eventually
determines what kind of flora and fauna your garden can naturally
accommodate. Once you add a wildlife pond to your garden it will
also take on a whole extra dimension - but more on that later.
Natural ground
coverage is important in your garden so leave plants to decay and
rot down after flowering. Without decaying foliage such as fallen
leaves and long grassy areas, the ground cannot regenerate its nutrients
or sustain important insect life. If left, the seeds of dead flowers,
also provide food for birds. But since humans have destroyed so
much of their natural food source, wild birds are now more dependent
on us for food (and nesting boxes) than ever before. So whenever
possible, leave out bird seed and grain, crushed peanuts etc. (not
bread as this can choke and kill baby birds).
To attract woodpeckers set up a wire mesh nut tube which doesn't
swing around but is solidly attached to a tree or bracket. Also
set up a wire mesh nut tube which doesn't swing around but is solidly
attached to a tree or bracket. And don't forget the all-important
nesting boxes to help encourage all your local bird species.
Long grassy areas will help to regenerate the disappearing world
of small animals, which although unpleasant to dwell on are the
food source of a now sparse owl population and other native birds
of prey. Without a healthy population of rodents such as mice or
voles etc., owls have to spend more time searching for food rather
than breed or feed their young... hence the dramatic reduction of
their species.
But once you
begin feeding your local bird life, keep it up. They will depend
on your offerings to rear their young... helping to expand the interdependent
circle of life, which over a couple of years will help increase
your local bird population. Every bit helps.
As mentioned,
gardens without natural wildlife areas are most likely to have problems
with disease. In time, a naturally balanced garden will sort out
its own problems. Wild areas, and particularly ponds will attract
and bring to life an abundance of creatures and wild flowers capable
of restoring some ecological balance to your garden.
Birds, hedgehogs,
frogs toads, newts and insects alike all play host at keeping everything
in order. They are nature's gardeners and do a far better job preserving
your flora than any chemicals or over-tidy human gardener. And most
importantly our suburban wildlife will begin to have enough native
food for themselves and their young. Also remember that slug pellets
WILL kill hedgehogs and other animals who feed on slugs. Let the
hedgehogs survive and they will dispose of slugs, since they are
part of our prickly friends diet. If you need to remove slugs then
the most effective method is to occasionally go around at night
removing them with a gloved hand or spade.
Note:
If you've seen the articles in the Looking-Glass Global News section
you may have read that the world amphibian population is rapidly
declining - close to mass extinction. This is through both destruction
of their habitats (like garden ponds and wetlands), but also through
a fungal disease (not dangerous to humans). If you have frogs or
toads, do everything possible to help with their survival (see part
2)
Pesticides are
just not necessary. Even if you loose a few of your plants in the
first year or two, your garden will settle into a
balanced and healthier environment in the future, whereby you will
never need to use any damaging pesticides.
So, the number one rule is never use pesticides or weed-killer.
That is the worst thing you can do to your garden and its wildlife.
For example if you treat your lawn with chemical based "greening"
products etc. the poisons and chemicals soak straight into the soil
and are absorbed by worms. Birds feed on the worms who pass them
onto the babies and they will die. In fact, your garden soil becomes
a death trap for wildlife for many years until the poisons disperse.
Research has also found that garden pesticides can seriously effect
children's health. Studies have shown that children suffer symptoms
like loss of bowel and bladder control for weeks after being in
contact with lawns covered with pesticides. Pesticide products can
contain chemicals linked to non-Hodgkins lymphoma and soft-tissue
cancers.
Hedges and hedgerows
are home to a huge diversity of animals, birds and insects. If you
have to trim hedges then only do so outside of the nesting season
(UK nesting season is between beginning of March and end of September).
Don't trim the flowers or berries from hedges either as this is
vital food for hedge-dwellers. Never tidy up underneath hedges.
The ground coverage provides habitats for small creatures and insects
- and decaying vegetation nourishes the soil to enable healthy shrub
regeneration. Some of our rarest wildlife has its home in our hedgerows
and feed from its fruits, like the increasingly rare dormouse for
example. Rare butterflies also lay their eggs in hedges. So always
treat hedges with respect.
Although cats
are wonderful companion pets, cats and garden wildlife simply don't
mix. Their natural instinct drives them to catch birds and small
mammals, regardless of whether they are hungry or not. If you have
recently moved to a house where there is an abundance of garden
wildlife, you are strongly advised to refrain from aquiring a cat
and introducing it into the environment. In
fact, it is estimated that in the UK 300 million wild birds and
mammals are killed by cats every year. If you already own a cat
it is very important that you keep them indoors at night as this
simple action will help to protect your garden wildlife somewhat
from prowling cats late at night and at dawn.
So, to summarize:
- Re-educate
yourself to recognize the meandering natural elements of your
garden as a thing of beauty instead of your enemy.
- When your
new wildlife garden establishes itself, take a reflective look
at how beautiful it now is; free of soulless garden centre shrubs
and pointless manicured stoneways and "weedless" flowerbeds
- and instead be consumed by the profusion of colour, the scents
of all seasons, the blooming and the decay, the regeneration of
wildlife - with nature and you harmoniously entwined ... self-maintaining
- life-giving - replenishing.
Continued
in PART 2 - Pond life & how to make a wildlife pond
Copyright
John O'Donnell (VeggieGlobal.com and Looking-Glass.co.uk)
Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents
of these websites in any form is prohibited.
UK and Ireland Menu
you
are here>
PART
1 - Introduction - your garden and how to help bring back wildlife
PART 2 - Pond life
& how to make a wildlife pond
PART 3 - Mammals,
birds, plants and insects - environment and care
FURTHER
READING - A great selection of wildlife gardening books
Further
information for Schools
More Related Areas
Sharing
This Planet With The Animals - a useful guide to
help you live side by side with your animal friends.
UK and Ireland
may also wish to visit the Wildlife
Files section here at VeggieGlobal for more advice
about wildlife friendly gardens.
The
dotCOMpassionZone here
at VeggieGlobal provides you with a selection of books, DVDs and
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reference. There is also a childrens section.
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