How to increase biodiversity in your garden

Grow

23 Dec

Biodiversity is critical for sustaining life on earth but unfortunately biodiverse ecosystems are rapidly declining the world over. This saddens me deeply and it is why I want to do something about it. I not only want to do something but I feel intensely inside me that I was born to contribute in a small but meaningful way. I want to help local plants and wildlife thrive on my own small block of land.

If you have been following me for a while on Instagram or read my about page you will know that I live in a townhouse with a very small, mostly paved courtyard. I am growing food and all kinds of plants in an extremely tight area. With this tiny space I have been able to drastically improve the biodiversity of my garden and I plan to continue doing so.

If you also want to know how to increase biodiversity in your garden I think there are 10 really easy things you can do. Like me, you don’t need to have an acre of land or a completely sunny yard. Whether you live in a small townhouse just like me or if you have a very shady lot these tips will work for you.

1. Wildness

Probably the one that will have the greatest impact is having a wild feel to your garden. The healthiest, natural ecosystems in the world are completely wild. Your garden doesn’t need to be clean and tidy and it definitely doesn’t need to look amazing and neatly manicured at all times. You don’t see straight lines or perfectly spaced rows in nature, everything seems kind of random. In my own garden I’m trying to achieve a wild, yet beautiful garden using minimal rows and straight lines, instead I’m opting for an approach that more closely resembles one where things are growing where they want to grow.

So forget about perfection, opt for a more random and wilder feel. This is what is so great about gardening, there are no rules or exact science so voluntarily choosing wildness is totally fine.

2. Native plants

No matter where you live in the world there are native animals and plants that also call your area home. The vast majority of us, including myself are probably not growing enough native plants. Native plants will attract native animals of all shapes and sizes. Australian animals have evolved over thousands of years alongside our endemic species. Australian plants provide food sources, they provide shelter, and attract native pollinators among other things. The key takeaway is a variety of local plants and trees will diversify the species that come, in particular species only found here in Australia.

Just as an example, I grow probably just as many native as I do non-natives. Natives I am growing include, murnong, Lilli pilly, sandpaper fig, Davidson plum, river mint, pig face, muntries, midgen berry, a NSW Christmas bush and a few kangaroo paws. The purpose for so many of these species is to attract bugs, butterflies, and bees, which will in turn entice birds and lizards to also take up residence.

3. Diversity

It should go without saying but when it comes to creating biodiverse gardens a diversity of plants is key. A diversity of plants means growing a range of species in different categories of trees, shrubs, ground covers, grass and everything else in between. These different species of plants bring in many species of animals and at different times of the year. Diversity is not just about having different plants or animals, but different coloured flowers, flowers with different fragrances, trees that drop their leaves, evergreen trees, flowers that provide nectar, those that provide fruit, those that drop seeds, some which are spikey, some with green leaves, some with hairy leave and a miriad of many other things.

Again, a diversity of plants attracts a diversity of bugs and animals which is an increase in biodiversity.

4. Year round flowers

Another great idea is to provide flowers year round. What do I mean by this? Well, what I mean is to grow an assortment of different plants that flower throughout the year. A lot of us fall into the habit of growing plenty of spring and summer flowers without providing too many blooms during autumn and winter. I have certainly been guilty of this, even to this day, I don’t offer enough cold month flowers. We can avoid this mistake by doing thorough research prior to buying plants and also reading the labels in-store. We need to be aware of what will be flourishing at particular times of the year.

There are probably not too many species that are going to flower for 365 days of the year, but we can create a buffet of many species that all flower at different times. Why not plant small trees that flower in autumn, shrubs that flower in winter, leave your weeds to flower in spring and let your annual vegetables bolt in the summer. This easy to achieve example will give us a mixed bag of flowers year round to attract a range of pollinators of all kinds.

5. Water

Water is essential for all living species to survive, so providing a safe place for birds, lizards and bugs to drink is another excellent tip for increasing the biodiversity of your home garden. Offering a bird bath gives birds a convenient place to drink and bathe in between fetching sticks to build nests and eating insects. Placing small pebbles inside the same bird bath or in a separate smaller dish also gives bees, dragonflies, butterflies and other flying insects a place to rest too. Without small pebbles, these smaller insects may fall into the supplied water and drown. Placing water dishes on the ground for lizards is also beneficial and if you have the space, a small pond will attract dragonflies, frogs and maybe even turtles.

6. No chemicals

Avoiding the use of pesticides and other harmful chemicals in our gardens is another really important tip for increasing biodiversity. Using pesticides and toxic chemicals which contain ingredients with words we can’t even pronounce can have a severely negative impact on our gardens and all local fauna. It’s not just the snails or white fly that is affected by the pesticide, it is all the predators that eat them and the predators that eat them and so on. A biodiverse garden generally has fewer problems with pests because it is also very welcoming to beneficial birds, lizards, frogs, insects etc. that keep pest populations in check. The more biodiverse your garden becomes, the less problems you will have.

Chemicals are a big no no and shouldn’t be used, they are detrimental to all living species on the earth, including ourselves. The use of chemicals will only make your attempts to bring in more animals less likely to happen.

7. safe spaces

A safe space for animals to retreat to is also worth integrating and there are lots of different things you can do. Providing shelter is an easy solution. Hollow logs and crevices are perfect for small lizards to hide in. They also enjoy soaking up the sun so adding rocks into sunny positions can entice them to your garden too. Place these in an open position but still close to their hiding holes so they can scurry away in an instant.

Spiky and dense shrubs are recommended for small birds, like fairy wrens, to dart into when they feel threatened. Bee hotels scattered around your garden will give native solitary bees a place to nest and if you have a big block already with larger established trees, consider providing small wooden nesting boxes for possums, large nesting birds and bats.

These are all great examples of safe spaces for animals to make their way into your yard and call it their home.

8. Lose the lawn

Lawns are, for the most part, large swathes of land that don’t serve a purpose. They are unattractive, unproductive and are usually very low in biodiversity. Lawns are the opposite to what we want, they are essentially monocultures that reduce biodiversity. Our lawns require many hours of mowing and consume ridiculous amounts of water. And, for so many people who are trying to create the perfect lawn, they are frequently pulling out and/or dousing weeds like, clover, dandelions, oxalis, onion weed, thistles, cats ears, purslane, chickweed and more with chemicals, every single weekend. It’s time to change our thoughts around lawns and help them to become wild and diverse again. There are so many alternatives to growing the perfect monoculture turf.

One option is to set up some raised garden beds and grow vegetables. Another thing you may decide to do is cover the grass with cardboard and start a food forest or native strip.

As much as I would love to see the majority of people digging up their lawns, in most cases it’s probably not possible to completely lose the lawn. Some people have dogs who do their business on it or children who like to play cricket or football on them. If that’s the case then replace only part of your lawn and leave the rest as is.

Alternatively, if you really love having a lawn you can still increase the biodiversity by leaving the weeds in and creating a little polyculture, flowering, meadow lawn. The weeds want to grow and they will continue to grow every year, no matter what you do.

9. let your vegetables flower

I briefly mentioned this in tip #4, growing flowers year round and that is to let some of your annual vegetables go to flower. This is actually quite easy to do and can be quite effective. Home grown vegetables are great for us but they can also be a massive hit for honey bees, native bees, butterflies and hover flies if we allow the plants to finish their lifecycle. Popular brassicas like Bok choy and rocket, all our favourite varieties of lettuce, and herbs including parsley and coriander are prone to bolting. When these plants bolt they first go to flower, then produce seeds. We can be strategic with these plants and harvest what we need before they bolt and leave some for the insects to enjoy before taking the seeds to replant again the following season.

I let a few of my pak choi plants go to flower to entice pollinators to the garden.

10. Look after your soil

Finally look after the soil, because soil is life. We need to take care of it and continuously improve upon it. Soil ecology is key to all life on earth and without it nothing would grow. Unfortunately, not enough attention is given to the soil that sustains us but it is an incredibly complex and necessary key to improving biodiversity.

The earth below us is biodiverse, it is made up of billions of micro organisms, worms, insects, fungi, bacteria and a billion more things that we cannot see or can fully appreciate or understand.

Ways in which we can look after our soil is through the abandonment of chemicals, the use of mulches and ground covers to protect the ground from erosion and the drying out of our soil, adding homemade composts, digging as little as possible, implementing crop rotation policies, planting green manures and nitrogen fixing plants such as beans and peas, chopping and dropping garden prunings straight onto the soil and a hundred other ways.

The main takeaway is to care for your soil and to treat it with respect. If you do that, it will help your plants to grow and increase the overall biodiversity.