10 Steps to a Nature Garden (a self-paced online course)
10 Steps to a Nature Garden is a wonderful self-paced online course from Patch of the Planet, on how to grow a wildlife-friendly garden. Ideal for anyone who loves nature, it includes over 4 hours of videos, and lots of exercises, plus you join the ‘Patch Pals’ online learning community. .
The course was created by ecological gardeners, who are experts on permaculture and fruit trees. They know how to grow a garden that will be loved not just by you, but visiting mammals to tiny insects!
Read more on no-dig gardening and humane slug/snail deterrents. If you live with animal friends, read up on pet-friendly gardens (some recommended flowers are not safe).
Tips for Wildlife-Friendly Gardens
- Ditch Chemicals and Fertilisers. Bin empty containers and take half-empty ones to the tip, In organic gardens, ladybirds can eat up aphids, birds and frogs will take care of slugs and snails.
- Let Part of Your Lawn Grow Wild. Cutting grass less often lets wildflowers pop up, to feed insects and pollinators. Leave a section of lawn un-mowed in spring and summer.
- Swap Exotic Plants for Native Species. Local plants support wildlife. They offer food and shelter for birds, insects and mammals.
- Add Log Piles and Stone Stacks. These create perfect hideouts, especially in sunny weather or for hibernation. Over time, these piles become homes for beetles, worms, frogs, and slow worms. Leaving fallen leaves and dead branches provide shelter, and enrich soil.
- Create Wildflower Patches or Meadows. These not only add colour, but attract bees, butterflies, and moths. Surprisingly, they need poor soil, so don’t add compost (encourages grass to compete).
- Hedges Instead of Fences. If possible, swap wooden fences for living hedges, these give safe nesting places and act as corridors for hedgehogs to roam at night between gardens.
- Wildlife-friendly ponds are loved by amphibians, birds and insects (ensure they have sloping sides, and avoid netting). Large shallow stones create safe landing spaces for bees and butterflies.
- Safe Havens for Garden Birds. Keep cats indoors at dusk/dawn (avoid wooden posts that claws can climb) and also avoid coloured/tin bird houses (these over-heat and attract predators). Turn off lights when not in use (and avoid facing indoor plants to gardens, to stop birds flying into windows).
