Wildlife Gardening - encourage wildlife to your garden and give nature a hand!

 

If you’re stuck inside with lockdown and the weather is too bad to get out into the garden, now is a good time to set your brain to work (if it isn’t already!). 

Why not some time reading up on how to help animals and wildlife in particular in your garden?  There is always something new to discover, and you never know, you may be able to put it into effect in your own garden or on your balcony, or you may be able to get involved in gardening in the community or in schools in the future.  The RHS is a wonderful source of information!

Plant things to encourage pollinators such as bees and butterflies
Watch for the RHS sign that this plant will help encourage pollinators when you shop for your garden!

The RHS is Britain’s leading gardening charity and they’ve been going since 1804.   RHS stands for the Royal Horticultural Society and amongst other things they are world famous for their wonderful flower shows at places like Chelsea, Hampton Court, Tatton Park and their superb gardens (Harlow Carr, Hyde Hill, Rosemoor and Wisley). 

Wildlife Gardening - Help is at Hand from the RHS!

You don’t have to leave home to access lots of help from the RHS – you can do it online!   So if you want to do more wildlife gardening, help is at hand – all you have to do is to fly away to the RHS website and visit their Wildlife Gardening pages.

 

Encourage pollinators into your garden

 

Encourage wildlife into your garden

The RHS has a number of tips for encouraging wildlife into your garden.  These include:

  1. growing the right plants and flowers (and there’s a list to help you)
  2. growing a mix of trees and shrubs
  3. giving water to birds and insects
  4. taking care of mature trees
  5. leaving a pile of deadwood
  6. doing lots of composting
  7. not leaving your garden too tidy
  8. creating a mini wildflower meadow
  9. allowing a patch of grass to grow a bit longer
  10. gardening sustainably
  11. feeding birds and wildlife!

Wildlife need water, so why not put a pond into your garden?
Wildlife need water, so why not  put a pond into your garden?   It doesn't need to be big - you could use a container.
Just make sure that your pond has slopes so that wildlife can climb out.

And to help you along, the RHS has lots of information about encouraging wildlife into your garden.

  • Wildlife nesting in your garden
  • Gardening for wildlife (with ideas from a London garden)
  • Amphibians in your garden (that’s frogs, toads, newts and so on)
  • Planting a wildlife pond
  • Bats in your garden
  • Birds in your garden moths in your garden
  • Wildlife gardening in a changing climate
  • Wildlife watering holes
  • Winter wildlife – how you can attract and feed wildlife
  • Wildlife container ponds
  • Planting a wildlife pond
  • Garden lightening:  effects on wildlife
  • Butterflies in your garden

All creatures great and small need a home. Your garden can help give wildlife a home.

All creatures great and small need a home.  Your garden can help give wildlife a home or at least, somewhere to stop off at.

So you see, there’s no shortage of things to watch and you can also enjoy their fabulous website!

Become a member of the RHS, and you get all sorts of benefits, including discounted tickets to flower shows, personalised gardening advice on the phone or online and the monthly The Garden magazine.   This could be a great gift for a garden lover, too.  Find out more here.

 

Hop off to the RHS website to find out more

Find out more about Wildlife Gardening from the RHS

 

All images on this page ©RHS