Discover how to help nature by creating a thriving and naturally balanced environment in your garden or outdoor space. This is first of two special features where we share RSPB supporters’ top tips and experiences.
Recently, we asked readers of our Nature on Your Doorstep newsletter to share their top tips for creating a wildlife-friendly outdoor space. A huge thank you to everyone who got in touch! We are delighted and inspired by your many wonderful ideas for wildlife gardening and how to encourage nature. In this feature, we look at your top tips for creating a thriving and naturally balanced outdoor space.
Many readers suggested keeping an area for nature, and letting grass or other plants grow.
Keep a corner of your garden or yard undisturbed, preferably somewhere with a bit of grass where scattered seeds for wildflowers can grow, and where you can put a Hedgehog hole in, so Hedgehogs can pass from your garden to the next. That safe, human-free corner will attract lots of wildlife looking for a safe haven, especially in an urban environment.
Louise France
Wildflowers have many benefits to wildlife and are also much-loved for their beauty.
My best wildlife-friendly gardening tip is to allow wildflowers to grow around the edge of the garden, to provide cover for smaller creatures, such as Frogs.
Craig Oldacre
My nature tip is to scatter wildflower seeds on any patch of soil you haven’t planted (around your other plants), so your garden has lots of ‘mini meadows’ to attract butterflies and bees. If you only have pots or a windowsill, you can still do the same, and grow plants that pollinators love around the plants you want.
Jessica C
I only have a small terrace courtyard garden, so I put in two large, raised beds including a small pond on one. I leave one corner totally wild with ferns, Ivy, wildflowers and so on. I don't have enough space for a compost heap so instead I have a corner with a structure of small logs and bricks where I pile garden waste. It’s a haven for minibeasts and used in winter for hibernating Frogs! As they are raised beds, I'd also say make sure you have plants that can deal with damp as drainage can be an issue. My lavender hasn't done so well!
Daniel Jarvis
Many readers also shared their tips for creating a natural balance in the garden by choosing alternatives to pesticides.
Plant marigolds next to your veg patch. They will deter slugs from munching on the leaves.
Margaret Gallagher
My garden has a huge population of slugs and the area around us also has a population of Slow Worms so the obvious plan would be to encourage Slow Worms into our garden for slug control. I did this by allowing a very weedy patch to set up a corner in the garden starting last autumn. I also added a bottomless composting bin. In recent weeks we have noticed fewer slugs and spotted Slow Worms in the undergrowth and even caught a Magpie ‘red beaked’ trying to swallow a Slow Worm. So the plan has been effective and we are new guardians of Slow Worms! A worthwhile result with natural controls, not too much loss of slugs and no slug patrol at night needed.
Maggie Rosevink
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My best tip to help all forms of wildlife, not just the pretty ones, is to ban all herbicides, pesticides, insecticides and so on. Be totally organic and share your flowers and vegetables with the wildlife. Sure, I hate it when some naughty slugs eat my crops, but I am pleased that they also find them delicious!
Valerie Fitch
Readers also shared their tips for making fertilizer, and encouraging worms.
Make a natural fertilizer. Fill a dustbin with nettle and comfrey leaves, add water and leave to stew for three to six weeks. Syphon off the liquid and bottle, to use diluted as a fertiliser when watering your plants.
Julie Horrocks
My tip for wildlife-friendly gardening is to leave patches of nettles. They are fantastic for butterflies and when you need to cut them back you can use them to make a natural fertiliser.
Tracey T
Whenever I need to prune a plant/shrub I let the flower beds do the composting. I either tuck the prunings under a shrub to rot or chop and sprinkle under plants out of site. Then let the worms and bugs do the work.
Jemma Price
To finish, here’s some final words of wisdom, urging us to let nature take its course by not deadheading, leaving deadwood and embracing ‘messiness’.
I never deadhead. I leave my garden seemingly unruly to others’ eyes, but I get the wonderful benefit of birds feeding off the seed heads, while also providing a wildlife refuge for insects, plus the added bonus of free plants seeding themselves. Win-win! I also like to 'grow' a pile of rotting logs in the corner for bugs. It's teeming with insects. I’ll just sum it up by saying let Mother Nature do your gardening for you, then watch the wildlife visit. Every day in my garden I have wonders and see miracles of nature. Love it!
Cath Simpkins
My best gardening for wildlife tip is to embrace messiness. Don't mow the grass too early, too often or too short. Leave the cuttings for a while. Have a messy corner with logs, leaves and twigs. Don't have regimented borders, let edges flow. Insects, bugs, birds, small animals all love mess.
Tina Ambury
My tip for helping nature to enjoy my garden is to be slightly untidy and mindful about taking less and leaving it for nature to enjoy. For example, I rarely cut the grass, don’t use any pesticides, don’t clear up leaves, and I leave a few nettles for insects and butterflies to thrive on.
Samantha Rogers
Get all the grandchildren involved in rewilding an area of the garden so that our future is in safe hands.
Jennifer Hocknull