All of this hot weather has been nice, but, it has had some negative effects too. It has made it more difficult for most types of wildlife to thrive. Some mammals have struggled to stay cool enough. While for many insects finding enough food has been a struggle as their food sources have bloomed early and in abundance, but died off quite early in the season. Bearing this in mind, I thought now was a good time to remind everyone of how to make your garden more wildlife friendly.
Plant some wildflowers
Buying some Wildflower Seeds from The Grass People is a great way to quickly create an area where insects and butterflies can thrive. You can do this in several ways. A lot of people choose to sow wildflowers at their bottom of the gardens. This is great idea because it allows you to enjoy the best of both worlds. You can turn the top half of your garden into an area for the family to play and relax in while giving over the bottom strip to wildlife.
Wildflowers and grasses look fantastic. But, if you do not like that look you can just erect a simple frame and plant some climbers to screen off the two sections of the garden from each other.
Install some bug hotels
Bug hotels are small enough to hide at the back of your shed or maybe the edge of a flowerbed. But, if you want to you can turn one into a garden feature.
For example, stack up some short logs against a wall and drill some holes into the lower layers to create little bug homes. Or you could take a tree stump and turn that into a bug hotel. If you are good at carving, you could even create an attractive sculpture for your garden using one.
Build a bird table
Bird tables and baths can be very important when there is not a lot of food or water around. There are plenty of nice ones available in the shops, or again you could make your own. You can easily buy the materials you need and find plans and how to videos online.
Focus on planting native plants
Like us, wildlife likes to live in familiar surroundings. The more native plants you can use in your garden the better it is for the little critters that live in your area. It provides them with somewhere to go that suits their needs. Usually, these plants will thrive in your garden. They will look especially nice and supply the local wildlife with a reasonably reliable source of food and shelter.
Plant some evergreens
It is also worth planting a few evergreen plants. These have the potential to provide shelter and food year around. Holly is a good example of an evergreen plant that is hardy, attractive and capable of providing food for birds and other wildlife.
As you can see making your garden more environmentally friendly is relatively easy. In fact, it is a great way to motivate yourself to get out there and enhance your garden.
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