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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
Crib in the South Shropshire Hills
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After 12 years creating a
wonderful wildlife garden in Oxfordshire I have moved to pastures
new. Gardening on the edge of a very large 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 just
three years we had attracted 24 species of butterfly! However I
am now faced with almost a blank canvas in Shropshire. Over time I will be
making a new garden, and creating wildflower meadows, nectar borders,
wildlife ponds, a vegetable plot and an orchard. To see our apple and plum
varieties
click
here.
The
existing 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 eventually 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 house in its
beautiful landscape.
In
the three years we have been here we have made good 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 wildflowers, planted a herb border and a nectar border,
created two very large borders where nectar plants and grasses are being planted, established 40 fruit trees,
created a bog garden with a winter stream and harvested
lots of vegetables! Plus planted 400 native hedging plants. The small copse has been thinned, a hedge laid
in the midland style and grass paths sown. And the Big Pond now
really is a pond and not just a hole in the ground! Already the
wildlife is increasing day by day - butterfly numbers are noticeably
greater than our first summer here and bird species and numbers continue to
climb. Gardening of any kind takes time and patience
is essential but we have already made a great impact.
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View of the Long Mynd from the garden
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Garden
Update Spring 2010
The winter
was a long and very cold one so little was done outside except to maintain
the hedges. These are cut at the very end of the winter in order to
disturb the birds as little as possible.
Since the
weather improved a lavender 'bank' has been planted in a sheltered and
well drained spot, and work on the bee garden has started in earnest.
This area is to be sown with bee friendly annuals including phacelia,
borage, cornflowers and wild poppies to make a large swathe of blue and
mauve around the hives, with the occasional bright red poppy for contrast.
Shrubs are to planted at the back of the hives to provide more protection
from the westerly winds.
Work is
continuing on the copse to provide wildlife friendly planting beneath the
trees. Aquilegias of all sorts have been grown from seed, plus
heuchera and other woodland species. Hopefully these can be planted
out over the next few weeks to bring some colour, nectar and pollen to
this area.
The Copse
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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 Long Borders
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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 2010
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