This week is National Gardening Week, an event organised by the Royal Horticultural Society to celebrate and raise awareness of gardens, gardening and the benefits they can bring. According to the latest census, 87% of UK households have a garden. This all adds up to a huge amount of space, in fact the Wildlife Trusts state that together, the UK's gardens are larger than all of our National Nature Reserves combined! So the ways in which we look after our gardens can make a huge difference to the country's biodiversity and the wildlife around us.
RSPB Flatford Wildlife Garden has been designed as a showcase to benefit and protect wildlife. Here we try through our gardening to encourage and help the widest variety of species as possible throughout the year. We have a team of volunteer gardeners dedicated to gardening for wildlife, and our welcome team love to share ideas for our visitors to take back to their own gardens. We constantly see that the benefits of this wildlife-friendly approach are immense, both to the wildlife and to the wellbeing of our visitors as they watch and engage with the plants and animals. So why not use this National Gardening Week to consider the positive impact that your garden can have on your local wildlife through these three important areas:
1) Provide food and drink for wildlife
Many of us feed the birds in our gardens, which is a brilliant place to start. But have you considered some of the other ways in which your gardening can provide food sources for a variety of wildlife? At this time of year, many of us are thinking about growing or buying flowers for our gardens. By choosing carefully (look for the special RHS Plants for Pollinators logo!), we can help a range of pollinators, such as bees and butterflies, with flowers that are particularly rich in nectar and pollen. It's really important to provide for these insects across the year, so look out for a range of spring, autumn and even winter flowering plants.
Lavender planted at Flatford Wildlife Garden attracts many Bees. The People's Wall For Wildlife cob house behind is a favourite habitat of Solitary Bees. It was created for Flatford Wildlife Garden by Cobnuts.
Sam Turley (rspb-images.com)
Water is also vital to all wildlife, especially during a hot summer or freezing periods in winter. At Flatford Wildlife Garden, our pond provides food, water and a home to Great Crested Newts, Smooth Newts and Dragonflies, to name but a few. But even if you don't have space to build a wildlife pond, a mini pond created from an old container will attract a lot of grateful wildlife. Even a small birdbath, with a constant supply of fresh, clean water can provide a lifeline during extreme weather.
2) Provide a home for wildlife
There are many homes we can create in our gardens. These might be manmade, such as a bird box, hedgehog house or insect hotel. But equally, homes can be encouraged and developed through entirely natural means. At Flatford Wildlife Garden, we leave areas of dead wood in quiet areas of the garden. This damp, rotting wood provides a wonderful home for Stag Beetles, Woodlice and other minibeasts.
A wooden sculpture of a Stag Beetle amongst logs, RSPB Flatford Wildlife Garden
Piles of rocks and stones can be a massive help to Frogs and Toads, giving them spaces to shelter during winter, opportunities to escape from predators and a source of shade in hot summers. Planting a tree is a wonderful way to attract wildlife into your garden, giving many animals, birds and insects space to breed, shelter and hibernate. Trees also provide a vital food source for many animals: their spring blossom offers a huge amount of nectar, while their autumnal bounty of nuts, fruits or berries gives a feast to hoard over winter. But if you don't have space for a tree, even a climber can provide a wonderful home. Growing up a fence in my own garden, a slightly scruffy Honeysuckle (with a few unintended Brambles tangled amongst it!) is a regular nesting site for Blackbirds, as well as attracting many pollinating insects, such as night pollinating Moths. And of course we all - humans and animals alike - enjoy eating the blackberries in autumn! On my other fence, an old Ivy gives long-lasting evergreen cover. Ivy provides shelter for nesting birds and hibernating invertebrates (such as the Holly Blue butterfly, whose chrysalises overwinter under Ivy leaves), as well as fat-rich berries for Thrushes, Woodpigeons and Blackbirds and much-needed nectar for pollinators late into the season, when there's not much other nectar available.
3) Embrace the untidy!
One of the many benefits of gardening for wildlife is that it can save us gardeners a bit of work! At Flatford Wildlife Garden, we leave a large area of grass unmown during No Mow May. Longer grass is a good spot for insects, including some species of Butterflies, to lay their eggs. Longer grass also provides shelter, creating a microclimate under the stalks. Last year, myself and my young son were very excited to spot a Slow Worm basking on a sunny May morning in a patch of grass we were leaving long. Not mowing also allows flowers to bloom, which of course helps bees and butterflies. Some wild plants can take over - what are often referred to as weeds - but these are an important part of the ecosystem. Dandelions and Dead Nettle for example are excellent sources of nectar for insects. Some caterpillars will only feed on plants such as Stinging Nettles and Thistles, so it's a good idea to keep some a small area of these in a corner of your garden.
At the end of the season, it's tempting to clear away all the dead foliage, stems and leaves. But the wildlife in your garden will thank you for a little bit of untidiness over autumn and winter! Leaving the dead stems of perennials and grasses in place helps wildlife – hollow stems provide homes for hibernating insects, such as Lacewings and Ladybirds, and birds love to feed on seed heads like Teasel, Sunflowers and Thistles.
Ladybirds in a dead stem at Flatford Wildlife Garden
Emily Hull
If you're inspired to come and have a look at the wildlife-friendly gardening at Flatford Wildlife Garden, we're open every day from 10:30-4:30. You can buy a plant propagated by our team in the garden to take home to attract wildlife to your own garden. We're also excited to invite you to an exclusive wildlife gardening talk and tour around the garden when it is closed. This Gardening for Wildlife event is on 3rd May - see the Flatford Wildlife Garden website or Facebook page for further information about this and other events.