Grow wild in your garden

One of the best things about sitting down in my garden is the chance to catch up with my wildlife visitors. I’m usually surrounded by birdsong, and the hum of bees, and it’s a joy to watch them go about their business.

It adds an extra dimension to my garden and wildlife; watching can provide more drama than any TV soap, often with a touch of comedy thrown in for good measure. It also ensures my garden looks good—I found a very fat frog last year, who must have been gorging on slugs. The years have also taught me not to worry too much when aphids arrive in their thousands—the good guys soon move in to clear them up.

My garden is just one of millions which together form a national network that’s suited to many insects, birds, reptiles and other animals. We like variety in our spaces, which in turn provides more habitats for our wilder friends to thrive. A garden can support thousands of insect species alone.

In my small patch I have a damp area, sunny and shady spots, a hedge and several trees, walls, flower filled borders, a lawn, gravel and a compost heap. I don’t have a pond as we’re on a steep slope, but luckily there’s a stream nearby so there’s access to plenty of water.

What I love in my garden is liked by wildlife too. I grow plants offering flowers—preferably scented—which in turn bare berries, seeds or fruit. I also layer my garden so there are plenty of trees and shrubs that provide shelter and plenty of places for birds to safely whizz in and out of when needed. I have a similar approach on my allotment and I spent some happy time there yesterday watching the bees feasting in my new comfrey patch.

Gardening for wildlife doesn’t have to be hard work; it can make it a lot simpler.

Choose roses that bear hips, or berrying shrubs like pyracantha and elderflowers. Flowers such as alliums, foxgloves, echinacea, hollyhocks, achillea, eryngium and perennial wallflowers provide a nectar and pollen bar for many insects. Grasses with seedheads are a good source of food in winter.

Growing herbs attracts beneficial insects like bees, hoverflies and lacewings to their flowers as well as transforming your cooking. Try thyme, hyssop, borage, savory, oregano, chives or sage.

Even the smallest of spaces can encourage wildlife if you use containers filled with nectar-rich plants like lavender, sedums or honeysuckle all grouped together to provide some shelter.

Michelle Chapman is a gardener, freelance writer and garden blogger from Wiltshire. She writes the award winning blog, Veg Plotting, where her small town garden is a regular feature alongside any topic which springs to mind whilst at her allotment.