Make your small garden more nature friendly
Welcome wildlife to your garden with these simple organic steps, writes Chris Collins, Garden Organic’s head of organic horticulture
Wildlife doesn’t care if your garden is big or small. If you provide food/water and shelter – it will come, and if you live in an urban area, your garden can knit together with other gardens to create one giant wildlife-wellness corridor.
Attracting nature to your garden also helps you grow better, because many insects and birds are great for natural pest control.
Gardening for wildlife organically doesn’t mean spending lots of money on gadgets or bird food because there’s plenty of low-cost ways you can tempt them in.
Sow pollinator-friendly plants such as herbs and wildflowers, which will attract butterflies, bees, lacewings and hoverflies. Or green-up walls with native flowering shrubs and climbers such as holly, hawthorn or honeysuckle which are a fantastic source of berries and nectar. Add some habitat piles of logs or leaves, and insect houses such as a tin can stuffed with stems or a ‘hoverfly lagoon’ container filled with upright bamboo - and you have your own tiny wilderness.
Believe it or not, a compost heap can support 2,000 life forms, from birds and slow worms to fungus and nematodes. Why not build a small container from pallets. Don’t feel you have to hide it away - be proud of your bin and its huge organic benefits.
If you’ve got a bit more time, add some water. A trug pond can attract birds and frogs, but a bog garden is even better as there’s no algal build up and it requires less maintenance. Simply dig a hole in the ground to a depth of 12 in (30cm). Line it with thick plastic and puncture it with a few holes. Back fill wit
