A Winter Wildlife Garden - It's Easy!
With the onset of winter and the shortening days we prefer to spend much less time winter gardening - there aren't so many chores to undertake, and snuggling up indoors with a good book seems a much more attractive prospect. Likewise, the wildlife in a winter garden is on the hunt for food and shelter to help get through the winter, and there's a lot we can do to help them in their quest for survival.
As we want to become less active in the winter garden, our absence helps to offer wildlife in the garden many great places to spend the winter months. There was once a time when no respectable gardener could retire indoors for the winter unless the herbaceous borders had been cleared, all the fallen leaves removed and the vegetable patch reduced to bare soil.
These days we realise that both aesthetically and environmentally, the winter garden is far more interesting and diverse if some plants are left untrimmed until the spring. Tufts of ornamental grasses have a haunting beauty, especially when illuminated by the low winter sunlight, but they are also a important habitat for hibernating ladybugs.
Areas of leaf litter provide shelter for many useful kinds of insect and will protect tender plants that may otherwise be killed by the cold weather and frosty nights. The stark angular outlines of berried shrubs and the seed heads of annual and perennial plants give a visual structure for the winter garden, and lots will last for many months, providing important food for birds and other wildlife in the garden who will eat all the seeds and berries during the cold months.
Additionally, stone walls, log stores and untidy corners offer ideal homes in our winter garden s for many varieties of wild animals, from field mice to frogs, toads and hedgehogs.
There are also ways we can actively encourage wildlife in the garden, not only into the winter garden, but throughout the year. Nowdays the domestic garden is an invaluable habitat and if we manage it well we will be rewarded with a wide variety of wildlife in the garden that will act as natural predators on our less welcome garden pests.
Feeding the birds is a must for pest control, but once you begin, it is important to be consistent and continue as birds will waste energy visiting your winter garden bird feeder or table fruitlessly if no food is put out for them. In frosty weather they will also need water. This is a good time of year to fix new nesting boxes in place so the birds will have plenty of time to check them out before the spring arrives.
Insects also need places to hide in the winter garden and while many will take up residence in existing hiding places, it's a good idea to provide some extra hiding places. These can be home made from simple materials such as a handful of straw or short lengths of cane in a flower pot, but you can also buy commercial versions.
So, why not spend a few hours making your winter garden a great habitat for your wildlife in winter? That way both you and they will be rested and ready once the days lengthen and spring arrives.for the lengthening days next spring.
About the Author
Ellie Dixon lives in deepest rural Devon with her husband Mike and two large Newfoundland dogs. She is a keen gardener, and grows most of her own vegetables, as well as keeping chickens and ducks.Ellie Dixon lives in deepest rural Devon with her husband Mike and two large Newfoundland dogs. She is a keen gardener, and grows most of her own vegetables, as well as keeping chickens and ducks. Ellie recommends Self-Sufficient-Life.com which is a growing resource of books, articles and audio/visual sources around the subject of rural and country style living. Click Here to Learn More
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