Dorset Wildlife Trust - Living Gardens

Gardening Action for Wildlife

Apart from the obvious delight we get from discovering signs of nature in our towns, there are many other reasons for attracting wildlife to your garden...

Most people spend time gardening because they enjoy admiring the beautiful results of their exertions out of doors. Creating a Living Garden will add an extra dimension to this. A garden that is good for wildlife will be as colourful as any other, with the added bonus of being full of signs life.

Wildlife is essential for processes such as pollination and chemical free pest control. The more species you have, the healthier your garden will be!

Wild flowers found in this area of Dorset are adapted to the climate, weather and soils we have. Whatever conditions exist in your garden, there will be species of wild flower that are specialised to grow there with minimal input from you as a gardener. Wildflowers can thrive in those difficult spots such as shady and damp areas.

As a nation, we are destroying many natural habitats in the countryside. Some of the species suffering the highest losses can thrive in gardens making our urban landscape a potential wildlife refuge.

Gardens are one of the few areas safe from agricultural chemicals - so long as you choose not to apply them.

Less money, time and maintenance are needed in a wildlife friendly garden as you are working with nature, not against it.

A mosaic of habitats can be created in a very small space often encouraging more species to inhabit your garden than in an equivalent area of a nature reserve. We can also provide habitat 'extras' such as unseasonal winter blooms and nectar for the species that live here over the winter period.

Gardens provide essential corridors between wild areas effectively enlarging nature reserves and the number of species able to use them.

If we all do our bit, gardens could be amongst the most important habitats for nature - not to replace reserves, but to complement them.

Did you know ? Since 1950
97% wildflower meadows 50% of ancient woodlands 80% grazed chalk downland 50% lowland fens and mires (including peat for the garden) 90% of Dorset heaths	Have all disappeared !

At first, much of the wildlife escaped to hedges and edges, but as you may well aware, these are also being lost at a, frightening rate. Dorset's Wildlife needs you ! You can help by recreating features of these habitats on a small scale in any garden Read on to discover just how easy creating a living garden can be!

Before actually beginning a practical task ...

1. Assess your garden: Look for features such as aspect, climate, soil type and texture, and try to put your garden into a local context. For example: is it near wood, or a heathland site? If so, this may be similar to the original vegetation of your site and give you clues to the type of plants that will thrive here.



2. Think about your lifestyle and decide how wild about your garden you are. Choosing just one task from this leaflet will be a positive contribution to saving Dorset's natural heritage ( ....choosing a few would be even better!)



3. Consider how many habitats you can realistically create an try to make sure they complement each other (for example a hedge and a hedge bank, a pond and a wetland bog).



4. Note all the places you use chemicals, as you will have to reduce or preferably eliminate these to attract wildlife. There are alternatives! Organic techniques offer long term, healthy solutions to any problems you may experience in your living garden. Free copies of HDRA's 'GO organic' are available from the UWP office.

Read through this leaflet to gain some ideas. Once you have decided which features you are interested in, send off for the relevant leaflets, available from garden centres or the UWP with an SAE.

Top tips for a thriving Wildlife Garden

Recommended reading and support

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