How to Re-Wild your Garden and Improve Biodiversity

Wildflowers and insect friendly plants

Even if you don’t have a garden, a window box with flowers to attract bees and butterflies will help biodiversity in your area. Garden centres will usually advertise specific species for this very job. By providing food for pollinators, you’ll help to attract birds and other predators to create a flourishing ecosystem in your garden.

Wildflower are a great addition to any garden or window box to encourage pollinators in the area

Let your grass grow!

By letting your grass grow for longer periods of time between cutting, you’re providing a safe haven for animals and insects.

If you can, leave one or more sections of your lawn to grow completely wild. This will allow native species of plants to grow such as clovers, which are nectar rich and act as source of food for many pollinators.

Ease up on the weeding where you don’t need to

If you can leave weeds to grow in areas where you aren’t worried about them choking up your vegetable plants, let them grow! By allowing selected weed like Teasel and Deadnettle to grow, you are increasing the diversity of the plants in your garden, welcoming native species, supplying wildlife with extra nectar, pollen and seedheads.

Letting sections of grass and selective weeds grow out can be great for harbouring wildlife

Make your own natural compost

By building a small enclosure to sequester natural debris and waste from the garden into, you can have a big impact on the carbon cycle of your garden. By creating your own compost, you get a natural fertiliser, whilst also helping to save money and energy from otherwise sending your kitchen and garden waste to landfill. A great deal of methane emissions can be avoided by composting naturally in your own garden. Head to this useful article on composting at home to find out more.

Home made composting doesn't have to be elaborate to be effective

Attract insects, bees and birds

Start by leaving a pile of rocks, logs or twigs in one area of your garden, this will act as a shelter for various species of insects. If you want to make something more eye catching and elaborate, you can build a bug hotel! Check out this article for more information on building a great bug hotel. Other additions such as bird feeders, fruit trees and hedgehog huts will encourage a variety of birds and small animals to find refuge in your garden.

A bug hotel can be a great addition to any garden for encouraging biodiversity

Build a Pond !

If you have a large enough space, even a small pond or water feature will do wonders for the biodiversity of your garden. With a small body of water and some aquatic plants, you can help to attract a variety of amphibians and invertebrates such as frogs. This also doubles up as a source of water for birds and small mammals. For more on how to build a natural pond, see the Wildlife Trust’s handy guide.

Keep it Natural & Organic

Avoid using pesticides or chemical fertilisers around the garden. Besides the obvious deterring of many natural species, most pesticides have now been shown to be harmful to our own health and can often contaminate the food we grow. In the worst case scenarios, farmers that use pesticides have shown higher rates of cancer, asthma, diabetes, depression and heart attacks among other health problems. For more on this issue, have a read of this helpful report.

Are you taking steps to re-wild your garden or terrace? Let us know by posting a photo to instagram and tagging @AllotMe_UK