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The Neat and Tidy Wildlife Garden A wildlife friendly garden does not have to mean an unplanned, wild and unkempt garden - If it is it is likely to end up totally out of control, impossible to maintain, and no longer a garden, nor will it be particularly wildlife friendly. Some (Many people who have obtained their status as gurus through working for Parks Departments and Estates but who obviously never regularly looked after an ordinary suburban garden& give false impressions about wildlife gardening. Giving examples that if followed will lead unwary or inexperienced gardeners into finding that what may work in a huge garden with a team of gardeners, does not work in a small suburban garden looked after my Mr & more likely Mrs Gardner with lots of other interests if not work and family, and often getting on in life. People who can and do encourage wildlife –certainly more successfully than many horticulturalists and commercial growers. Let’s define our terms –Wildlife friendly – ‘Wild’ as in attractive to birds, bees, other insects & amphibians. Not ‘wild’ meaning uncared for and out of control.
Biodiversity - managing a balanced environment growing with as wide as possible a wide variety of plants and creatures. A Beautiful Garden – Personal choice as to colours, style. straight lines, geometric shapes, asymmetrical, jumble, colours, sunny or shady etc. You may like informal or formal planting styles. Neat and Tidy – Another
variable and personal
choice. For me, it
is a well planned and well laid out garden, with well chosen, well
cultivated
plants, good garden hygiene. That is regularly but not meticulously
tended in
an informal style.
Good Garden Hygene This is somewhere between mess and manicure. It does not exclude allowing room for natural processes such as composting and rotting wood. But does not encourage leaving diseased material where it can spread to other plants. Leaving a few rotting apples for the birds and butterflies, but not barrow loads of rotting plums etc. Part of good management Easy
Maintenance – Like the previous
two definitions, a matter of personal choice or
necessity, and generally speaking Gardeners
like
gardening. But it
does mean eliminating as far as possible unnecessary
work - jobs you don’t like doing,
cannot do or get done, & leaves more time to do the things you do
like
doing & enjoy the garden.
Healthy plants will be more beautiful than unhealthy ones. They will require less work. Abundant and diverse wildlife is an aid to a healthy, satisfying gardening. Birds
eat insects, soil pests, aphids, and
caterpillars –
But don’t
over-feed them Such
a garden will be easier to maintain, No
pests, no predators, no wildlife - a whole dimension gone. This includes most bacteria and fungi - only not pathogenic but necessary. It
is all in the planning, choice
of plants, management and maintenance. Planning involves considering the needs of the wildlife we want to attract. Birds need food, shelter & protection. These can best be provided through your Choice of plants – Which to include and which to exclude Plants that need excessive vigorous regular pruning suffer in terms of performance (e.g. flower, berry production) and will involve unnecessary work. Intelligent choice of plants, or varieties of plants can make a huge difference to every aspect of gardening – health, looks, performance work etc. Weeds There are wild and cultivated garden plants that a good gardener would want to exclude from her garden for a variety of reasons: - excessively vigorous, lax or spreading habit.
Weeds cause unnecessary work relative to their aesthetic or wildlife value.Planning can also affect how easy it is to maintain the garden, get around, reach your plants - make it easy or difficult to manage. The
more effectively you manage the garden the more pleasurable it will be, and the more
time you will have to enjoy doing what you do like
doing,
and above all observing the wildlife. One of the
most important things you should have in any garden but
especially a wildlife garden is seats
If you use chemicals particularly pesticides, use them very selectively, only when absolutely necessary and only as part of a well thought out strategy with side effects taken into consideration. There are almost always better simple techniques than using them. Garden Compost start in spring distribute in late autumn on top of leaves for the worms to take down over the winter. Think ‘control’ not ‘kill’ E.g. Slug and snail control Put down black plastic or carpet square, examine occasionally and remove – also find other harbour sites. |