Wildlife Garden

[Jeapesy]

I have just bought my first house and now have the official move in date of the 2nd November. My first task is to sort out the garden, currently it is a very bare 'show' garden with little vegitation.

My initial plan of action is to plant a few trees and shrubs to attract birds and provide cover for them. Then i also plan to introduce a wildlife pond. But seeing as i'm completely new to gardening as living with my parents for my whole life i've never got involved in it so i have a few novice questions.

Firstly when is the best time to plant trees? I've heard about now is as good as any? Secondly which trees and plants are best to attract birds?

With the wildlife pond when would be the best time of year to start it? The winter? I've already got a shortlist of plants having read through numerous wildlife pond threads on here, i will also try to incorporate a bog of some sort. The plants i was thinking of are as follows

Water Starwort
Elodea Canadensis
Water Crowfoot
Yellow Flag Iris
Ragged Robin in the bog
Frogbit
Water Solidier

Does this seem acceptable?

Any suggestions or advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers
Paul

[AshLee]

Hi Paul, I think now is a good time to plant your trees/shrubs. However, if you want to plant bare-rooted specimens (which certainly seems to be the cheaper option) they will be more widely available in the next month or so. Your planting scheme should consider the type of soil (clay/loam/acid/alkaline (lime-rich) etc) and conditions (sunny/exposed/dry etc) that you have. Do you know? A picture of your site will help.

Suggestions:
Pyracantha - flowers, berries, cover, nesting sites. Evergreen. Will survive most soils, but a waterlogged site is a definite no-no. Otherwise, this is one of my favourite plants for the wildlife garden with the added benefit that it is fast-growing.
Hawthorn - has the added attraction that it is a native plant and supports around 150 insect species. Not evergreen, but really easy to grow.
Guelder Rose - native and tolerant of moist soil with a high pH.
Holly - native evergreen great for nesting birds and hibernating insects, and supports the gorgeous Holly Blue Butterfly
Buddleja - the "butterfly bush". Not everybody's cup of tea, but "does exactly what it says on the tin".

You might want to plant something with a more open branch structure to hang feeders from and provide perches for birds, like a Silver Birch (which can provide a sunning focal point), Rowan or a cherry tree (Wild or Bird Cherries are good for wildlife gardens, I believe).

Any walls and fences can be made more wildlife friendly with trellis and climbers:
Ivy - easily grown from specimens already native to your area by taking cuttings. The flowers later in the year provide food for Red Admirals and a whole variety of other insects. It's evergreen and provides shelter and nest sites for birds.
Honeysuckle - flowers for moths followed by berries for birds.
Bramble - supports a whole variety of insect species and excellent cover and berries for birds.
Clematis (Traveller's Joy) - dense branches provide shelter for nesting birds. Very easy to grow from seed collected at this time of year and lime-tolerant.

Climbers provide almost instant height to a new/bare garden.

Best wishes with your new venture, and the move !

Ash

[Jeapesy]

Thanks for your help Ashlee, i'll take some pictures of the garden once i'm in and post them here to help with any other tips. Again with the soil type i'll do some investigations once i'm in.

Looking forward to making the garden more wildlife friendly and seeing what i may be able to attract to the garden.

[cutecoot]

'Now' is definitely the best time to plant trees .. and shrubs, and pretty much most other plants .. Jeapsey. They can all be planted in early spring too, but I find that you end up having to keep too much of an eye on them in case they dry out. Planting at this time of year, while there is still a bit of warmth left in the soil, means they have the whole of the winter to settle in and start putting out roots without the need for constant watering. Don't leave it until it gets too far into winter though, otherwise they might lie dormant in cold, soggy soil!

[Tringa]

I suggest you don't start the pond until all of the leaves have fallen. Leaves will get in the pond eventually, but waiting until the leaves have fallen this year will at least mean it does not start off with leaves.

Others will know better, but it may be possible to get a pond at least partly filled with rain water if it was started in January.

You mention the Yellow flag - a great plant. We have one in pond, but it is going to have to be removed. It is close to 7 feet tall, measured from the bottom of the pond and despite it being in a very large planting basket it blows over very easily. However, your pond and location may mean you can accommodate it.

[Jeapesy]

Thanks for all your help and suggestions, once i've moved in i'll put some garden dimensions and photos on here to help with suggestions plus show my progress.

[cutecoot]

Originally Posted by Jeapesy

Thanks for all your help and suggestions, once i've moved in i'll put some garden dimensions and photos on here to help with suggestions plus show my progress.

Great stuff, would love to see how your garden progresses, Jeapsey

[dickybird]

hi jeapesy
try to incorporate a cotoneaster of some sort--invaluable to blackbirds etc!
im sure the bbc website--and others--will be able to give you many ideas.
i get a good mixture of wildlife in my garden----mainly,i think, because i dont keep it too tidy-at any time of year

[squeek]

hi db, so your back, did you get my pm ? jus wondered incase your system isnt working, we all get gremlins in our computers at some time or other.
sorry to but in on your thread Jeapesy.

[burntfacedjake]

Lots of great advice for you on here. I would leave the garden for a year - that way you'll begin to understand what microclimates occur which will in turn lead you to decisions about the eventual design. It also gives you time to mull over different ideas rather than rushing into anything. You can always set up some bird feeders to tide you over for a year.

If you can't wait then I'd would definitely recommend some preliminary reading: Try Ken Thompson's book 'No Nettles Required' which debunks many of the myths about wildlife gardening. It's a very accessible book ( I read it in a couple of days) and its findings are based on the Biodiversity in Urban Gardens project that Thompson led at Sheffield University. I'd recommend it to anyone. I'd also really recommend read Rain Gardens by Nigel Dunnett and Andy Clayden also at Sheffield Uni which focuses on water but has masses of great ideas relevant to wildlife ... and no I'm not connected with Sheffield Uni in anyway A good design book is probably worth a look too. Try one of John Brookes books.

Also, get yourself a tracing pad, map out the garden on one sheet then use overlays to design your garden - paths on one layer, trees on another and so on. It's important that the garden works for you as well as for wildlife. Don't worry if you don't have much to spend. If you are prepared to put in the work you can create something you'll be really proud of by a little planning and some scrounging of plants and materials from friends and family. There are also lots of cheaper and environmentally friendlier alternatives to some of the materials that you'll see in garden design books. Many nurseries sell trees in 'whip' form which are cheap as chips (literally) and will catch up with an expensive garden centre tree in 2 or 3 years.

Good luck with it and keep us informed on the forum