Five easy tips to make your garden more wildlife friendly

Our gardens are a treasure trove of varied forms of wildlife that we often neglect. This Garden Wildlife Week, which is running from Monday 5^th to Sunday 11^th June, we’re helping draw attention to the often-forgotten wonders of our gardens by sharing five top tips to make your garden a friendlier place for local wildlife. So the next time you’re gardening, you can be gardening for wildlife to thrive!

Charlotte Barber, Sales Manager at Allison Homes, said: “Garden Wildlife Week is such a great opportunity to reflect on your gardening habits and practices. Many of us are harming our garden ecosystems without even realising it, and there’s so much that we can do to make them healthier and happier environments for the wide array of creatures and critters that also call them home.

“Hopefully this list of five ways you can make your garden more welcoming to wildlife is an excellent starting point for beginning to cherish the entire ecosystem that exists out there.”

1. Leave out food and water
   Leaving some water and food out in your garden can be a great help to the local wildlife.Try to ensure that whatever container you put water in isn’t too deep and that it has textured edges or a large stone in it, so wildlife is able to climb out. Be careful not to leave it in easy reach of predators, such as cats.

   When it comes to food, it is important to know what animals are in your area and what they can and cannot eat, and to dispose of any food that is not eaten overnight, so that it doesn’t spoil and make the animals ill.

2. Build a shelter
   One great way to make your garden a haven for wildlife is to build spaces that the bugs and animals can use.A hedgehog home, which can be made out of wood and covered with soil and leaves to create a cosy space where hedgehogs can rest and hide from predators, is great to include in larger gardens.

   A small bug hotel is perfect for gardens of any size, and provides shelter for insects such as solitary bees, ladybirds and spiders.

3. Pick the right plants
   Some plants are more friendly to wildlife than others, so making smart choices about which ones to have in your outdoor space can make all the difference.Butterflies and bees need lots of nectar and pollen, so plants such as lungwort, lavender and sunflowers can be a great choice. Moths and bats, on the other hand, are attracted to plants that release their scent in the evening, so may prefer options such as evening primrose or honeysuckle.
4. Avoid harmful chemicals
   Some sprays that target insects that eat certain plants can end up poisoning the animals that eat those insects too. So, ditching the pesticides and slug pellets is a great way to bring nature back into your garden.You can also take steps to make your garden welcoming to natural predators of the critters that like to feed on plants and flowers. Birds, hedgehogs and frogs eat slugs, and ladybirds love aphids, so they work as a natural pest control.
5. Give composting a go
   Composting is an excellent way to reduce food waste that can also create a habitat for bugs and reptiles.It is important to know what can and cannot be composted. For instance, cooked foods cannot be added to a compost heap, but things like paper, tea leaves and fruit and vegetable peels can.

Search ‘Gardening for Wildlife’ online for more handy tips!

To find out about the homes we are building across the country, visit https://allison-homes.co.uk/developments/.