Garden Wildlife Watch Tips

Environmentally Friendly Gardening for the Future

These are our five main tips to help you contribute to a healthier sustainable environment by the way you garden. 

If you want to find out other ways to reduce your lifestyle impact then visit our Top Tips page where you will find more about food , water ,energy and transport, and expanded information on gardening.

1. Reduce water use in the garden

Why?

Water is a limited resource and over abstraction damages wildlife habitats. As the climate warms summers will be drier and hotter.

How?

• Collect rainwater in a butt.

• Apply mulch of compost, bark chips, gravel etc.

• Recycle kitchen water.

• Water only in cool parts of day.

• Avoid sprinklers and excess watering.

• Grow drought tolerant plants.

• Avoid watering lawns, allow grass to grow longer.

• Use water retaining crystals in baskets and pots.

• Group containers together and use saucers.

2. Cut down on use of pesticides and inorganic fertilisers

Why?

Pesticides kill pollinators and natural predators so that pests can return in greater numbers. Residues can persist on food crops. Excess chemicals could affect purity of water supplies and harm wildlife.

How?

• Improve soil fertility with organic material.

• Choose plants appropriate to soil and location.

• Choose disease resistant varieties of plants.

• Cultivation methods e.g. rotation, pH, planting time.

• Slugs and snails can be inhibited with irritants like sand or protect seedlings with cloches.

• Use appropriate biological control agent for the pest.

• Suppress weeds with mulches or polythene.

3. Use alternatives to peat

Why?

Over 94% of lowland peat bogs have been damaged or destroyed threatening rare wildlife species. With the warming climate drying peat is breaking down to release ancient CO₂.

How?

• Understand the different peat-free composts and choose according to the required purpose.

• Peat-free composts or manure are better soil improvers than peat which has a low nutrient content.

• Peat is poor mulch as it dries and blows away. Various renewable products are better for moisture and weed control.

• When growing plants in containers etc choose compost which is free draining but retains water.

• Water thoroughly but check beneath the surface as to when to re-water.

• Seek out plants grown in peat-free compost.

4. Compost garden and kitchen waste

Why?

Don't waste valuable nutrients. Bonfires cause pollution and landfill space is declining. Furthermore organic waste in landfill produces the highly active greenhouse gas methane.

How?

• Make your own heap or use a ready made compost bin or wormery.

• Mix garden waste with uncooked kitchen vegetable waste - not meat etc as it attracts vermin.

• Avoid diseased plants, persistent weeds and seed heads.

• Dig in compost to improve soil fertility and water retention or use as mulch.

• If you cannot compost all your green waste use the Council kerbside collection scheme.

• Take large pieces of plant material to green waste skips at Civic amenity sites.

5. Attract wildlife and create habitats

Why?

Wildlife is continually under threat but environmentally friendly gardens are an important refuge. With climate change gardens could form part of a vital network to allow species to migrate as conditions become unsuitable.

How?

• Berry plants like holly and cotoneaster attract birds as do seed plants like honesty and sunflowers.

• Plants like buddleia, lavender, Hebe and sedums provide nectar and pollen for butterflies, hover flies and bees.

• Include native species like birch, scabious or teasels.

• Hedges and plants like ivy give shelter and nesting sites.

• Creating a pond is an excellent way to increase wildlife interest from dragonflies to newts.

• Put up bird and bat boxes, make log piles.

• Put out food and water for birds.

For further tips and up-to-date information, you can download the most recent Gardening for Life Newsletter.