09:45 - 22 February 2010
Think of two of the most important garden allies and you automatically think of birds and bees. Both of these families of creatures are of huge benefit to the garden. Gardeners can easily support wildlife by ensuring that they plant a variety of trees, shrubs and flowering plants to provide food, shelter and nesting sites. It is also important to add nest boxes, feeders and other support items to the garden. The sooner you do this the more benefit it will provide to these precious garden allies.
Bee aware
Bees play a major role in pollination, absolutely essential for hundreds of crops such as apples, pears, soft fruit, beans, and peas and also for seed production. Bee activity is most obvious in summer, but these creatures also need food in late winter and early spring when flowering plants are less abundant. Do your bit for the bees and plant things that provide nectar at different times of the year. It’s not just honeybees that need support, but also the bumblebees and solitary bees that depend on our gardens for food. For early spring bee plants opt for pulmonaria, crocus and early flowering shrubs such as forsythia, rosemary and weigela. Place a bee box in the garden above head height to provide shelter and nesting sites for solitary bees and if using garden chemicals be sure to follow the instructions to the letter to avoid danger to garden bees.
Bird basics
Garden birds devour all manner of garden pests including the eggs of slugs. To create a bird friendly garden you need to do more than just feed them. A fresh supply of water is essential for all wildlife so install a birdbath, or a water drinker at the very least. If you have more room a garden pond will attract a wide variety of beneficial creatures into the garden but be sure to create a shallow edge so that they can easily escape if they fall in. For the very best results plant a mixed hedge around the garden boundary, this will provide berries for food, plenty of nesting and roosting sites and also flowers for the bees. Open structured trees such as sorbus and lilacs provide further roosting sites within the garden. Make the most of walls and trellis by planting clematis and ivy; these are great nesting sites for the birds.
Support the birds that visit your garden with carefully tailored feed. Every group of birds has a preferred type of food and feeds in a different way. For example robins, blackbirds and thrushes are ground feeders, and like a diet rich in insects. Good quality bird food is now mixed to suit different birds and widely available at garden centres all year round.
