The Natural Gardener
Once upon a time many gardeners used to, at best, admire birds from afar or just glumly tolerate much of the wildlife that visited their gardens. At worst, they’d use countless ways to try and keep it out as much as possible. An Englishman’s home is his castle, they'd say, and nothing was going to stop them from growing perfect pansies in it!
Thankfully these days we’re all a bit kinder, with joined-up thinking about the cycle of garden life and less arrogance about our place in the world. Frankly we’ve had to be, as much of our oncecommon wildlife has gone. How we long for those days when there was too much of it to go around!
We should all be responsible owners of our outdoor spaces
– the best way is to think of yours as a tiny section of a huge national park. So, perhaps you’re in the market for some ideas on easy ways to garden with the environment and wildlife in mind in 2020. The first bit’s straightforward – try peat free, use more natural materials, buy local, save your water and ditch the plastics, of course.
But it’s simple to get the basics of wildlife gardening right, too. On a trip the other day to a hide in Thetford Forest, I was amazed at all the animal life I saw within two minutes, despite it being winter. I saw 12 bird species including treecreepers, jackdaws and woodpeckers, and deer and squirrels were abundant.
What can I take away to emulate, I thought? Well, there was good tree and shrub cover nearby, undergrowth and a little wild pond, and the rangers had put out lots of different feeders to attract birds. You could see the bare bones of plenty of grasses and different flowers, and there were lots of little wood piles and nooks and crannies for shelter.
We don’t all have room to attract lots of unusual species, but include just some of these elements and you’re on to a winner. Best of all, though, was the idea of ‘connectivity’, that this little patch of wild was part of a larger network of similar habitats to help animals roam freely and thrive. Why not engage with your local neighbours and encourage everyone to add something from the list?