Author: Jennifer Dawson
Making your garden into a natural and sustainable haven means allowing a few critters into your backyard. Less than 1% of the world’s insects are pests, the rest are essential to the food chain and pollination. Many people think that controlling weeds and insects with harsh chemicals is the only way to make their garden beautiful when in fact it’s more fun and much easier to enhance your garden with decorative ornaments and create a natural and inviting habitat for small mammals, birds, and insects.
Encourage wildlife
Creating a fairy garden is the perfect way to encourage small winged creatures to your backyard. Including dead logs and branches will provide homes for ground and wood-nesting bees and beetles. If you find too many bugs are damaging your plants, you could make your own natural pesticides to deter aphids and whiteflies. Or, to keep the harmony and balance of your garden, place some seed in a bird feeder to attract chickadees and thrushes and they will go on to devour less welcome insects, slugs, and snails.
Conserve water
By installing a rain barrel, you can save up to 1300 gallons of water during the summer months. It will also limit excess run off during heavy rains which can cause disturbance to animal and insect ecosystems. Use the water to irrigate your garden at the end of the day so moisture soaks into the soil instead of evaporating in the sun. If you have a pool, using a cover will also reduce evaporation by 95% and keep the water warmer. To blend a pool or other large features into your natural landscape, surrounding it with native flowering plants, interspersed with elegant statues, will provide shelter from the wind and food for wildlife.
Recycle leftovers
While still leaving plenty of room for fairies, dedicate a sunny corner at the bottom of the garden to a compost bin for recycling garden cuttings and vegetable peelings. Food scraps account for 30% of waste that we throw away so, instead, put them to good use as nourishment for your plants. Make sure to mix the compost well with the soil though as simply covering the earth with mulch can smother ground life such as ants and beetles.
Turning your garden into a welcoming and sustainable environment doesn’t have to mean compromising on design and decoration. As well as saving you money and energy, it can result in a magical habitat for wildlife and a haven in which you can relax.
Article by Jennifer Dawson published by Fairy4u.com