Rewild Your Garden is an illustrated guide to bring wildlife back to your garden, often by just leaving things be. In this practical guide, horticulturalist Frances Tophill (a presenter on BBC 4’s Gardener’s World) shows how to plan and maintain a beautiful garden that will attract bees, birds and a throng of unsung garden heroes.
If planting green spaces, learn how to make gardens safe for pets (includes indoor plants to avoid). Also learn of safe humane ways to prevent slugs/snails. Avoid facing indoor foliage to gardens, to help stop birds flying into windows.
Whether you have a small balcony or a large open space, discover the joys of welcoming natural ecosystems back to your garden, along with a host of new visitors. The author has worked as a gardener on private estates and gardens, as wel as community-based projects.
Planting with Nature is a beautiful book on how we can all help to support local wildlife and tackle the climate crisis All by how we plan and use our gardens. This practice guide can make your world a little greener, and boost nature on your patch. Illustrated with specially-commissioned drawings, the book includes tip s on planting nectar-rich borders, native hedgerows, trees and wildflower meadows, plus how to create rain gardens, green roofs and ponds. Together with providing homes for birds, mammals, amphibians, bees and other insects, you’ll also find new ways to grow fruits and vegetables, and make your own compost.
This organic cotton vegetable protection net is a more wildlife-friendly alternative to netting, which can trap wildlife and birds (due to large holes) and is not good at protecting from wildlife as most fly through the holes, and could get trapped. It’s also an alternative to plastic fleece to protect tender crops against late frosts or unwelcome visitors.
how to build a garden pond for wildlife
Not all gardens are suitable for a pond. But if you wish to build one (or have one already) this post can help. Garden ponds are not just relaxing to be near, but support all kinds of native wildlife including dragonflies, grass snakes, frogs, toads and newts.
Ensure ponds have sloping sides for wildlife to easily enter and exit. Avoid netting (especially large-hole netting) to avoid wildlife and birds getting trapped. Avoid toxic plants near animal friends (read how to make your garden safe for pets).
Ponds are not simple to build or maintain, so do your homework. You’ll need to ensure the pond has shady and sunny areas, and ensure adjacent habitats and make sure you regularly remove algae and too many leaves. Plus you’ll need (safe) drinking areas for visiting wildlife (bees drown easily) and dense shrubs to protect birds say from sparrowhawks and sunny areas for basking grass snakes.
Ponds often have fish, but too many will encourage algae and weeds (if there are too many, see if someone else can safely take some, ensuring the water temperature remains constant in transport and adaption to avoid shock of changes before settled in). A solar pump helps to clear the water, and ensure you have some kind of wildlife protection system to stop tadpoles and other creatures being sucked into the pump. When topping up water, rainwater is better than tap water, and you’ll also have to remove sediment in early autumn (only half at a time, to avoid losing creatures living in the mud).
books to help you build a garden pond
How to Create a Wildlife Pond is a beautifully illustrated and photographed guide to plan, create and maintain your pond, whether natural, container or formal. You’ll learn which creatures will visit and when, and plants that help ponds thrive. Plus how to encourage a natural eco-system and maintain your pond.
Building Natural Ponds is an American book for those who get scared of the complicated mess of pipes, pumps, filters and chemicals to adjust PH and keep algae out. This book will show you how to build a simple pond for dragonflies, frogs and songbirds, using how-to drawings and photos. Understand pond ecosystems and natural algae control. Plus tips on scaling up to large ponds, pools, bogs and rain gardens. Robert is a master gardener with 50 years experience.
how to humanely deter herons from ponds
Herons are often an issue near ponds, but dummy herons rarely work (herons hunt together, so will think they’ve found a mate) and heron plastic disks could harm other creatures like hedgehogs, whose spines could get caught). It’s sad to say. But herons do kill fish and ducks. And if you have a pond, it’s likely that herons will try to find them. You may have to accept its nature. The only two solutions that may help are tall plants at the edge (to obscure the view of tasty fish) and a solar fountain to agitate the water, so herons are less likely to see them.
