The Lazy Gardener

The Lazy Gardener, sounds too good to be true? Well, it's important because our wild animals and plants have been losing their natural homes as woodlands, hedgerows, fields marshes and ponds haven been destroyed to make way for roads, houses and factories. We need the wildlife that lives in these environments and this is what you do. Make a wildlife garden and leave things to grow a little wild. Leave those plants that you would normally pull up to grow to provide food, shelter and breeding places for wildlife.

By doing this you will attract more birds, butterflies and other fascinating creatures. You will add extra interest and pleasure to your surroundings. You will help wildlife to survive in your garden, when it oftens struggles to survive elsewhere. And finally you might save yourself some hard work and even a little money!

You don't have to set the whole of your garden aside, a windox bow would do. A wildlife garden doesn't have to be an overgrown, unkempt garden - far from it. What a wildlife garden does is give you a different perspective; no longer do you garden just for the way things look, you also enjoy things for their wildlife value. Things that you may have otherwise regarded as weeds may now be tolerated because they are food stuffs for a butterflies caterpillars, or the seeds are food for birds.

What do you do? Long grass provides habitat for egg laying and over wintering of caterpillars and leather jackets. Blackbirds and starlings search for leather jackets (cranefly grubs) in short grass. Different species of tree and shrub and flowering plants provide nectar and other food sources through the year. Rotational shrub cutting creates different structures and ages of growth, benefiting different wildlife at different times. Many baby birds need insects - a good source of protein - if they are to grow strong and healthy and survive the winter. A variety of garden plants encourages these insects.

Lazy Gardening is very important for wildlife and actually can be more work than it seems because you don't just sit round doing nothing. You have to make positive choices about what to do, and what not to do. A good wildlife garden is more than just a corner of a garden left to go wild. Whether you are creating a new wildlife garden, or have an established one, think of it as a nature reserve and you are the warden.