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The Wildlife
Garden at The Crib , Shropshire
Managing your garden for
wildlife adds an extra dimension for the enthusiastic gardener (or even
the less enthusiastic gardener!) It is an exciting way of gardening and
can help our native wildlife by providing food and habitat that may be in
short supply in the wild. Even a small garden can be managed in such a way
that birds and mammals become a part of the fabric of the garden, rather
than occasional visitors.
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The
South Shropshire Hills from the garden |
 After 12 years creating a
wonderful wildlife garden in Oxfordshire I moved to pastures
new in 2005. Gardening on the edge of a very large Oxfordshire village, surrounded by other
gardens, was an interesting exercise and over those years the wildlife
that came to the garden and made its home there was fantastic -
within three years we had attracted 24 species of butterfly!
In Shropshire I was faced with almost a blank canvas. During
the 6 years we have been here I started to create a wonderful
wildlife garden with wildflower meadows, nectar borders,
wildlife ponds, a vegetable plot, a woodland garden and an orchard. To see our apple and plum
varieties
click
here. |
The
original part of the garden had a couple of small flower borders, but otherwise
was simply lawn. However it was blessed
with a few apple trees and a great mixed native hedge which has instantly
provided a good habitat for birds. Over
time I will be documenting, on this website and also in a
book, the creation of the garden and the wildlife we attract, as and
when it comes.
Progress in terms of
the wildlife we are attracting has been rapid - especially regarding the
bird and insect life. You can click here
to see what we have attracted so far. A few small changes in any
garden can make a huge difference to its value as a wildlife habitat! |
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One
challenge in this garden is to preserve our fantastic views. In the
Oxfordshire garden, the objective was to screen the uglier views around us
to create a protected wildlife haven within a not terribly attractive
area. Here we have the opposite but enviable task of including the
surrounding landscape in our garden. The picture above shows the view from
the Long Border garden. |
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In
the six years we have been here we have made excellent progress towards our
aims to create a really wonderful wildlife garden, full of interest all
year round. In that time we have sown a large wildflower meadow,
created three smaller meadow areas by allowing the grass to grow and adding
small wildflower plants, planted a herb border and a nectar border,
created two very large borders with a variety of nectar plants and grasses, established
over 40 fruit trees,
created a bog garden with a winter stream and harvested
lots of vegetables! Over 400 native hedging shrubs have also been
planted. The existing small copse has been thinned and under planted
with woodland flowers, a hedge has been laid in the Midland style and
grass paths sown. Three ponds, teaming with life, have also been
created. Already the numbers of wildlife visitors are growing
day by day - butterflies in particular have increased tremendously and
bird species have risen to 67 in the garden, including a few national
rarities. Gardening of any kind takes time and patience is
essential, but we have already made a huge impact.
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The Wildlife Friendly Herbaceous
Borders |
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Garden
Update 2012
After such
a long cold winter the arrival of spring was very welcome! Our only
losses, after temperatures of up to -12C here, were some Hebes and
although sad, this fast growing shrub can be replanted. Work continued in the copse
last year, to plant shade loving species,
especially Aquilegias that seem to do well here, with plenty of woodland
grasses and sedges too. A new small border was created to hide
an ugly oil tank and create a bird feeding area close to the house, plus
work on the bee garden continued. A small non native meadow is being
created around the beehives there with wildlife
friendly plants including Echinacea and Coreopsis while the rest
will become a new soft fruit garden. These plants will provide
pollen and nectar for our honeybees and they in return will pollinate the
fruit for us. In the larger garden area the orchids that are
thriving in the meadow numbered more than 80 last year and were seeding into paths, and these are being moved
to other parts of the garden. An extension of the very successful Big Meadow
was started.
In all
there is, as ever, much to do, and plans for 2012 include planting
wildflowers in the apple orchard, more planting on the bank on our
boundary and our very successful wildlife friendly herbaceous borders will
be extended.
The
Living Roof on the Log Store
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The Bog Garden
and Vegetable Garden |
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The Big Meadow |
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The
Nectar Garden
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The Pond Bank and the Log Cabin
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The Big Pond
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Over time we
hope to create a beautiful garden, where wildlife is welcome.
We are recording the butterflies and birds,
running a moth trap, putting up bird boxes and creating log piles.
To check out the wildlife we have recorded so far, click
here
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©
Text and photographs Jenny Steel 2012
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