Could anyone tell me how i could attract wild life into my garden? All i
have is 3 blank lawns, with a few plants, no shrubs or anything. What could
i do, at low cost?

Sharon.

"Someone" wrote in message
...
Could anyone tell me how i could attract wild life into my garden? All i
have is 3 blank lawns, with a few plants, no shrubs or anything. What
could
i do, at low cost?


A pond. All life needs water. You get water, it attracts wildlife.

Steve

shazzbat writes

"Someone" wrote in message
...
Could anyone tell me how i could attract wild life into my garden? All i
have is 3 blank lawns, with a few plants, no shrubs or anything. What
could
i do, at low cost?


A pond. All life needs water. You get water, it attracts wildlife.

Remember 'wildlife' means the whole lot, vertebrate and invertebrate. If
you want birds, you need the bugs for them to feed on. Don't use
insecticides.

Don't be too tidy. And leave seedheads for seed eating birds to feed on.

At low cost - try to simulate a woodland edge - grass, shrubs, perhaps a
small tree or two. Grow a lot of native species - they'll be host to a
wider range of insects for the rest of your wildlife to live on. Buy one
of Michael Chinery's books on wildlife in the garden so you start to
recognise the things that you see around - birds, butterflies are
obvious and showy, but there's a lot of enjoyment in watching the less
obvious inhabitants.

--
Kay

K wrote:
shazzbat writes
A pond. All life needs water. You get water, it attracts wildlife.
Remember 'wildlife' means the whole lot, vertebrate and invertebrate. If
you want birds, you need the bugs for them to feed on. Don't use
insecticides.
Don't be too tidy. And leave seedheads for seed eating birds to feed on.
At low cost - try to simulate a woodland edge - grass, shrubs, perhaps a
small tree or two. Grow a lot of native species - they'll be host to a
wider range of insects for the rest of your wildlife to live on. Buy one
of Michael Chinery's books on wildlife in the garden so you start to
recognise the things that you see around - birds, butterflies are
obvious and showy, but there's a lot of enjoyment in watching the less
obvious inhabitants.

Yes to all this!! Today my son screamed from the garden that an amazing
butterfly was on the blossoms of the apple tree. It was a Peacock
butterfly! Our nettles have been the perfect place for them to thrive.
We've had lots of Red Admirals and Brimstones and large Whites but
seeing the Peacock today has made our day )

You should start at the bottom of the food chain... A diverse range of plants will attract a diverse range of invertibrates which in turn will attract vertibrates. Before very long, you'll have David Attenborough swinging from your trees!

Someone wrote:
Could anyone tell me how i could attract wild life into my garden?
All i have is 3 blank lawns, with a few plants, no shrubs or
anything. What could i do, at low cost?

Sharon.

Dead cheap................lift some lawn, dig in some chicken manure
pellets, buy 3 different packets of wild flower seeds, mix together and
sprinkle on ground. cover lightly with fine soil, and water. You'll have a
wonderful display of assorted flowers and loadsa bees, butterflys etc...
--
ßôyþëtë

BoyPete wrote:
Someone wrote:
Could anyone tell me how i could attract wild life into my garden?
All i have is 3 blank lawns, with a few plants, no shrubs or
anything. What could i do, at low cost?

Sharon.

Dead cheap................lift some lawn, dig in some chicken manure
pellets, buy 3 different packets of wild flower seeds, mix together and
sprinkle on ground. cover lightly with fine soil, and water. You'll have a
wonderful display of assorted flowers and loadsa bees, butterflys etc...

Yeah! And keep some parts of the lawn with taller grass so that the
bugs can hide in there )

Leave some grass uncut and leave a pile of bricks or wood in a corner
where mice, lizards, toads etc can make a home. If there are snakes in
your area, a sheet of corrugated iron or the like left on the ground
will provide them with somewhere to hide. If you can stand a few
nettles in the garden, the butterflies will thank you.

"Someone" wrote in message
...
Could anyone tell me how i could attract wild life into my garden? All i
have is 3 blank lawns, with a few plants, no shrubs or anything. What
could
i do, at low cost?

Sharon.



The easiest wild life to attract to your garden is birds and also the
quickest and cheapest. You say you do not have any shrubs. Do you have a
fence or a hedge? If so, hang some bird feeders up. Seed feeders, fat balls,
peanut feeders anything you like. Here there and everywhere. Leave them
alone for a couple of days and the birds will find them. Coconut halves
filled with fat, insects and seeds. The Blackbird and the Blue Tits love
these Drive a stake into the ground, an old broom handle and hang something
from that!!!

They also need water. we have an old Victorian Chimney put with a brass
sundial set in the top. This is scooped out to form a bird bath. This is
refreshed every morning. And then there are the birds who like to be on the
ground, so put some food out at ground level. Not too much because of
vermin. Put water on the ground as well. we have two large dishes, I think
they are designed as saucers for large tubs, but I have them for water.

Do you eat apples? Put the core down under a plant/shrub/bush whatever you
have because the Blackbird will find that. I have an apple every mrning and
the core goes on the gravel next to the path. Blackbird looks for it now and
yesterday brought new youngun down :-))
Sparrows gallore and they flock to the nuts, the bath, the hedge, the seed
feeder.

and what variety do we get? Thanks to a super couple of Bird Identifiers,
Blackbirds, Blue Tits and Pigeons. All nesting in a big Leylandii. Sparrows
in and out of ours and neighbours hedges. A pair of greenfinches nesting I
know not where, but they visit my resturant ;-) Coal Tits and a pair of Gold
Finches and of course the Starlings, Collared Doves, and Jackdaws, these
latter ones loving the fat balls.

How much to set up? £10.00? and I add to it a bit at a time.

Put something up tomorrow and the birds will be here within 48 hours.

Me an expert? No. Only started last year and my computer desk overlooks the
garden :-))))) so I see them all.

Mike


--
------------------------------------------------
Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association
www.rnshipmates.co.uk
International Festival of the Sea 28th June - 1st July 2007

Mike wrote:
"Someone" wrote in message
...
Could anyone tell me how i could attract wild life into my garden?
All i have is 3 blank lawns, with a few plants, no shrubs or
anything. What could i do, at low cost?

Sharon.



The easiest wild life to attract to your garden is birds and also the
quickest and cheapest. You say you do not have any shrubs. Do you
have a fence or a hedge? If so, hang some bird feeders up. Seed
feeders, fat balls, peanut feeders anything you like. Here there and
everywhere. Leave them alone for a couple of days and the birds will
find them. Coconut halves filled with fat, insects and seeds. The
Blackbird and the Blue Tits love these Drive a stake into the ground,
an old broom handle and hang something from that!!!

They also need water. we have an old Victorian Chimney put with a
brass sundial set in the top. This is scooped out to form a bird
bath. This is refreshed every morning. And then there are the birds
who like to be on the ground, so put some food out at ground level.
Not too much because of vermin. Put water on the ground as well. we
have two large dishes, I think they are designed as saucers for large
tubs, but I have them for water.

Do you eat apples? Put the core down under a plant/shrub/bush
whatever you have because the Blackbird will find that. I have an
apple every mrning and the core goes on the gravel next to the path.
Blackbird looks for it now and yesterday brought new youngun down :-))
Sparrows gallore and they flock to the nuts, the bath, the hedge, the
seed feeder.
snipped

My mother puts currants on top of her water but, and a blackbird family
visit every day.
--
ßôyþëtë

Someone wrote:
Could anyone tell me how i could attract wild life into my garden? All i
have is 3 blank lawns, with a few plants, no shrubs or anything. What could
i do, at low cost?

Have a look at this site: http://www.rspb.org.uk/gardens/guide/
It tells you what to plant to attract wildlife.
You need a pond without fish, so that frogs and toads can spawn and
birds can drink. You can plant it up with water plants that appeal to
you, too and you need to make sure that in one area of it, it either
slopes or that there is a corner where the frogs etc. can get out.
While your plants are growing, hang peanut, seed and fatball feeders
from y shaped sticks or from windows etc. The birds will quickly find
them and start to visit you regularly.
To find your plants, ask neighbours for cuttings of theirs, go to plant
sales in your area, read the local newspaper to see if anyone is
selling off a surplus and find a reasonably priced nursery or garden
centre. Ask for garden gift tokens for Christmas and birthday presents
and perhaps someone might give you or make you a bird table.
If you have a neighbour whose garden you really admire for its wildlife
planting, ask that person for help and advice and I think you'll find
yourself inundated with it. People really do like to be asked!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon

BoyPete writes
Someone wrote:
Could anyone tell me how i could attract wild life into my garden?
All i have is 3 blank lawns, with a few plants, no shrubs or
anything. What could i do, at low cost?

Sharon.

Dead cheap................lift some lawn, dig in some chicken manure
pellets, buy 3 different packets of wild flower seeds, mix together and
sprinkle on ground. cover lightly with fine soil, and water. You'll have a
wonderful display of assorted flowers and loadsa bees, butterflys etc...

That will require maintenance. The grass will love the extra nitrogen,
and will compete more effectively than the wild flowers, so you'll have
to weed and treat it like a conventional flower bed. You won't be able
to go for the wild flower meadow look.

If you want to give the wildflowers a chance of competing against the
grass, you need to *reduce* the fertility. Leave out the chicken manure
pellets.

Decide whether you want ot go for a perennial meadow, with perennial
plants, or an annual one with cornfield type flowers, which you will
need to clear and re-sow every year.
--
Kay

K wrote:
BoyPete writes
Someone wrote:
Could anyone tell me how i could attract wild life into my garden?
All i have is 3 blank lawns, with a few plants, no shrubs or
anything. What could i do, at low cost?

Sharon.

Dead cheap................lift some lawn, dig in some chicken manure
pellets, buy 3 different packets of wild flower seeds, mix together
and sprinkle on ground. cover lightly with fine soil, and water.
You'll have a wonderful display of assorted flowers and loadsa bees,
butterflys etc...

That will require maintenance. The grass will love the extra nitrogen,
and will compete more effectively than the wild flowers, so you'll
have to weed and treat it like a conventional flower bed. You won't
be able to go for the wild flower meadow look.

If you want to give the wildflowers a chance of competing against the
grass, you need to *reduce* the fertility. Leave out the chicken
manure pellets.

Decide whether you want ot go for a perennial meadow, with perennial
plants, or an annual one with cornfield type flowers, which you will
need to clear and re-sow every year.

K, I posted from experience...... skip the manure if you like, I just use it
everywhere.......it worked fine for me.

--
ßôyþëtë
(SE London)

BoyPete writes
K wrote:

K, I posted from experience......

So did I...

skip the manure if you like, I just use it
everywhere.......it worked fine for me.


--
Kay