Gardening for wildlife

[BeverleyBrooks]

Is anyone else trying to make their garden more natural and more wildlife friendly?

I really enjoy gardening and the wildlife it brings. I am now trying to use native plants where I can and to look at other ways to make the garden more habitable for wildlife.

I have downloaded the Seek app and instead of automatically digging up any ‘weeds’ I am identifying them to see if any would be worth keeping as wildflowers. It’s really interesting!

I have a small pond already.

I have cut a hole in the bottom of my fences for frogs / hedgehogs so they can move between gardens easier (inspired by the David Attenborough London nature programme!)

I really want to encourage more insects, butterflies, bees, birds so am actively looking for native plants - instead of just picking up whatever looks good in the garden centre!

I just wondered if anyone else feels the same, I had a quick scroll through the gardening section, but couldn’t see a similar thread.

Yes what is it with buddleia and railway lines?

The railway isn't far from me and there are buddleias growing in the streets here too.

Budleja is a funny one, it is invasive but the one I have in my garden (white flowers) has never seeded or spread.

Butterflies and bees do love it.

I try my best to make my garden wildlife friendly. I have a mixture of plants that flower at different times of the year.
"Weeds" are almost always left in with the "proper" plants.
There's a pond, a log pile, a small wall, a stumpery and a few boxes for birds, bats and bees.
There are various ways in and out of the garden.
There's long and short grass as well as some bare earth. I try to keep pond edges damp for mud.
The pond has a variety of cover and tall plants as well as lots of shelter around it and easy routes in and out.
In winter, I dont "tidy " - dead stems and flower heads stay for overwintering insects.
One area of grass is only cut twice a year.

We've had plenty of birds using the garden, and we regularly get frogs and newts. Loads of insects too, so it seems to be working.

I have stopped cutting down spent flowers in autumn as I read that insects can overwinter in the dead stalks, so it has been hard to leave them alone now that spring is here and I’ve got my tidying hat on.

Im also resisting the urge to pull any weeds - the ones I know I don’t want (in my gravel, insignificant flowers) because they are native and early flowering and bees and insects need all the help they can get this time of year. Once the season gets going and they’ve gone to seed - they’ll be gone.