Saturday, July 10, 2010

How wild is your wildlife garden?

It turns out after two years plonking every possible plant I can get for free or grow from seed into my tiny patch that something of a wildlife haven has emerged and whilst I should say this is all calculated and planned, in truth it is not.

Having gained my little collection of local beasties - two toads, a gaggle of single bees (Apis melliferaapis) in the bee hotel, swarms (not literally of course) of bumble bees, hoverflies, ladybirds, spiders of all shapes and sizes and many other insects who pop up unexpectedly from under pots and trays. I am delighted at how well they all get on together. Of course I am thrilled with the arrival of the toads as this means the demise of slug city - yehaa!

In honor of the toads arrival I am building a small water feature which will consist of an small upturned dustbin lid, some water and a small up and over ramp for easy toady exit.

One toad lives in the cold frame, he refuses to leave even though I have built him a ramp. The other lives under the bee hotel pedestal ( a bin) at the other end of the garden.

From 2010-07-10


Last night was the first time I had seen bees going in and out of the bee hotel, and I saw 4 on about half an hour, each heading into his/her own little pad brilliant.

From 2010-07-10


Happily the gardens is full of varieties of shrub, tree, and flower nectar and with neighbours on either side who have flourishing mature gardens and a large tree lined park two gardens over they have plenty of local food sources.

4 comments:

  1. Love the bee hotel! I want to see the toad and the ramp you built. Can you take photos?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes - I was moved to comment after seeing the picture of the bee hotel - it's great.

    Sounds like your garden is turning into a real wildlife haven - I look forward to your new blog .... except I have only recently found this one!
    K

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh well yes, I can definitely take pics of the ramp, the toads, now up to 3!, maybe a little more tricky as they are terribly camera shy. I will do my best to capture at least one of them though!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I want toads in my garden, but I don't think that there are too many around here in White Rock.

    Lovely blog, and thanks so much for the fave.

    Jen

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts with Thumbnails