Gardening for Wildlife

Even a small yard can provide the basic elements that wildlife needs to survive: food, water, cover and places to raise young.

In your garden, include flowering plants that provide pollen and nectar for bees, butterflies and hummingbirds throughout the spring and summer. Add some flowering plants that produce seeds in the fall and winter. Plant trees and shrubs that produce berries or nuts. In the fall, allow leaves to stay on the ground and decompose - this provides food and shelter for insects, which in turn become food for birds and other critters.

Include a pond, birdbath or fountain for drinking and bathing.

Cover means a place to hide from people, predators and inclement weather. To provide cover for birds, plant trees and native shrubs or build a brush pile out of branches. To provide cover for insects, stack some logs and let them decay.

Birds, bumblebees and other animals also need safe places to raise their young. You can buy or build nesting boxes for bees, birds and other critters, but natural elements are better. Retain some undisturbed areas in your yard where leaves can pile up and decay. If you have a dead tree, consider leaving all or a portion of it standing. Otherwise, bring in some logs and stumps from neighbors' yards. They will add visual interest as well as a home for wildlife.

Do not use leaf blowers, as they erode the soil in your garden, exposing the crowns of plants and damaging roots that are close to the surface. When you constantly blow away all the leaves, you kill the beneficial microbes in the soil by starving them to death. Leaf blowers also damage wildlife habitat and kill beneficial insects like nesting bumblebees and ladybugs.

Avoid using weed barrier cloth, as it will destroy your soil by blocking air, water and organic matter which are necessary to keep your soil healthy. In theory, weed barrier has tiny holes but those holes get clogged up with dirt and the cloth quickly becomes an impenetrable barrier. Plus, over time, it no longer functions as a weed barrier because weeds grow on top of it. If you have weed barrier, pull it up and throw it away.

Remove all or some of your lawn. Replace it with flowering perennials or with turf alternatives like native bunch grasses.

If you decide to keep some lawn, cut it less often and set the mower blades higher to avoid cutting the grass down to the brown stems. Cutting grass too short means it will struggle to survive and will require more water especially during hot weather.

Avoid using chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides - they are unsafe for people, pets and wildlife.