4. THE WILDLIFE GARDEN
If you want to share your garden with fascinating creatures, then start by not using pesticides, herbicides or fungicides. Stop killing wildlife in the name of neatness or a very selective version of ‘health’. Chemicals are not selective. Although there are occasions when munching caterpillars might be classed as ‘the enemy’, in almost all circumstances they are part of a much bigger, much richer picture. Live and let live.
I deliberately allow the Wildlife Garden to become as ‘wild’ as it can be without losing what I consider to be its horticultural charm. It was made in 2015, primarily to show that you don’t need a big area to attract a wide range of wildlife, and also to demonstrate that a wildlife garden can be good for your fellow creatures as well as being beautiful. When the first edition of this book was published, this area contained a greenhouse, our soft fruit and two asparagus beds. We moved all that and planted hazels, an oak tree and a field maple, all behind a high hawthorn hedge. Having done this we left them to do their thing. As such, it truly was good for wildlife – but not very attractive in any conventional horticultural sense. So I set about seeing how I could combine horticulture with a wildlife preserve. The first thing I did was make a pond. Any pond is good for attracting insects, birds and bats to your garden as well as amphibians and reptiles. I added a shallow beach made up of small stones so birds and mammals could walk in and out of the water, plus a log floating on the surface that is ideal for beetles, basking birds and frogs, and plants such as the Iris pseudacorus (below).
But in 2020 I decided this pond was too small and in the wrong place, so I carefully rehomed all visible life and made a bigger and more central pond.
Next to it I planted a border filled with plants to attract bees (left) and other insects and pollinators. Although it looks natural, the Wildlife Garden is as carefully ‘gardened’ as any other part of Longmeadow.