What Is A Wildlife Water Garden?
This water garden is a natural wildlife magnet as it attracts all sorts of animals, birds and insects. The garden is very natural looking, with trees, plants and twigs all mixed together creating a small forest. A wildlife water garden is in itself a natural ecosystem, having inputs and outputs. The birds feed on the invertebrates while larger mammals feed on the smaller animals. This is very fascinating indeed.
The ideal garden meant to attract wildlife should have water and in large quantities. All life on earth depends on living water and lack of it only causes the animals to be reluctant to come to the garden. The garden should have undergrowth and humus to provide protection and food for the small animals. A woodland-glade wildlife garden is a perfect example of a garden that is designed to attract wild animals. The components of this garden are
- grass
- woodchip
- pond
- meandering path
- chairs
- vegetation
- decaying wood and grass
Why choose a wildlife water garden?
Most people are afraid of wild life and believe that the water garden is not at all safe for young children. This may be true to some extend, but you wouldn't expect to find a prowling lion in the garden would you? This garden attracts the smaller creatures and is safe... designed correctly it will prove to be the enter of attraction for you, your family and visitors.
If you are still not comfortable with having this design then perhaps you can consider having a meadow water garden. The latter design pattern does attract birds but not as mush as the woodland water garden. This water garden also does not have a lot of grass but instead uses crushed bark.
Creating a wildlife water garden...
The ideal area for creating this water garden would be an area about 80 ft
- Draw up a sketch of the design first - then make a detailed diagram taking into consideration the house, boundaries, structures and large trees. Note all drains in the area.
- Get rid of all unwanted plants - give them to your friends
- Dig out the pond and use a butyl to build the pond
- Create bog-garden areas by using the butyl off cuts
- Look for wild species of trees that grow in your area and plant them in this garden
- Plant bog plants such as Striped Grass and Royal Fern. Also mix it up with marginal plants such as Irises and Sweet Grass. The more plants you have the wilder the garden looks.
- Under plant the trees with shrubs and ground cover
Care and maintenance
You should clean the pond at the beginning and end of the season - at the end of winter and beginning of spring. Get rid of leaves and debris from the pond and allow them to rot together. Do not allow the trees to be completely colonized by by a individual weed species.
The bird boxes and paths should be cleaned in winter to attract birds...