The Ingredients of a Wildlife-Friendly Garden

HERE ARE SOME of the basic ingredients of a wildlife-friendly garden:

Food: You can provide food for birds (and probably squirrels and other animals too) simply by hanging out a bird feeder. But most wild gardeners also try to grow plants that produce nuts, berries, nectar, pollen, and sap that birds and other animals like to eat.

Clean water: All animals need water year-round. (Birds require water not just for drinking but also for bathing, to keep their feathers groomed.) A birdbath, particularly one that is kept thawed in winter, is welcomed by birds and often by other animals as well. Some people build ponds for wildlife; though a large, deep pond is a big project, a shallow pond suitable for birds can be built (using a liner) in just a few hours. Providing clean water also means keeping existing water sources clean – free of herbicides, pesticides, and other contaminants – and not allowing the banks of streams and ponds to be eroded.

Shelter: Animals also need somewhere to raise their young, hide from predators, and shelter themselves from cold. Many people provide birds with nest boxes (also known as bird houses) for nesting or “roost boxes” for winter protection. However, planting the right trees and shrubs can be an even more effective way of providing shelter for animals. Evergreen plants -- pines, junipers, cedars, yews – provide good winter shelter.

If you have a place for them, rock piles and brush piles also make wonderful shelter for animals. (Instead of hauling away brush the next time you prune, try piling it in an inconspicuous corner of your yard.) A dead tree – or “snag” – is considered highly desirable real estate by woodpeckers and many other creatures. If a tree dies on your property, are you sure you want to spend money to have it removed? As long as it doesn’t present a safety hazard, consider leaving it -- the animals will thank you.

Minimizing harmful practices: In gardening as in the rest of life, often what you don’t do is as important as what you do. For instance, wildlife-friendly gardeners try not to use pesticides, which kill beneficial insects along with the pests we are trying to target. (Most of us find that the birds and beneficial insects we attract to our pesticide-free yards eventually take care of most garden pests for us.)

On Becoming a Wild Gardener

IF YOU ENJOY watching birds, squirrels, and other wildlife in your garden … if you are trying to garden in an environmentally friendly way … if you believe that we humans should try to co-exist with the other species that inhabit this land with us … you're going to love being involved (if you aren’t already) in a growing national movement toward what I call wild gardening--gardening that is wildlife-friendly and inspired by nature.

Many people are attracted to wild gardening because they enjoy watching birds and other animals and want to attract them to their properties. This is an easy and very rewarding way to get into wild gardening, so I'm going to be focusing on it for a while. Here 's a little bit of an introduction:

Wildlife-friendly gardening is a way of taking care of our land – whether it’s a 100-acre spread or just one window box -- so that we help birds and other animals instead of driving them away. Wildlife-friendly gardeners do this by providing food, shelter, and clean water for animals, while minimizing practices that harm wildlife. In return, we enjoy the beauty, song, and entertaining antics of countless creatures; know that we are being environmentally responsible in our gardening practices; and bring a little “wildness” into our gardens and our lives!

Wildlife-friendly gardening need not be expensive or time-consuming. In fact, many people find that maintaining a wildlife-friendly garden is much less expensive and time consuming than gardening the old-fashioned way (especially if you formerly were trying to maintain a large lawn).

Wildlife-friendly gardening is not out-of-the-mainstream. Across the country, thousands of people are engaged in this practice.

Finally, your wildlife-friendly garden doesn’t have to conform to any one gardening style. It’s possible to design a wildlife-friendly garden in any number of styles -- from “natural” to “neat and tidy” and everything in between.

In the next weeks and months, we'll be exploring what all this means in practice. Please join me again soon!