Wildlife-friendly planting is a great way to create a garden where wildlife can thrive. Birds, insects and mammals such as hedgehogs, bats and frogs, need a garden where they have a place to shelter, can safely breed and find adequate suitable food, so having a selection of wildlife-friendly plants can support all of these requirements, and is a great first step in creating a safe space for wildlife.
Here, wildlife expert Vivara shares how to plant a wildlife border pollinators will love.
1. Where on earth do I start?
Start off with getting to know your garden. It might sound daft, but understanding your lawn layout is really important. If you don’t know your garden, neither will wildlife! Does it face south? Does it face north? Where the sun hits is important when locating where to plant your border, to ensure it’s getting enough sunlight (most plants need around 6 hours daily).
2. Plan to plant
Planning where you want to plant your border will help you achieve a much prettier look and feel. When you choose what you want to plant, whether you’re planting one of our hand-picked border packs or choosing your own plants that benefit wildlife, draw a small diagram of your border and plot size where you want the plants to go. Vivara’s border bundles measure 3m x 1m.
3. Where should the plants go?
Plant any roses, shrubs or mid-sized perennials, such as buddleja, in the centre of your border, and place the taller plants like Iron Hard ‘Lollipop’ (Pachystachys Lutea), around the outside. Check out Vivara’s handy layouts for The Beautiful Butterfly Border to get you started.
4. Get Cracking
Once you’re ready to get stuck in, cut or slice through the grass based on the diagram of your border and begin to lift off the grass with a spade. You want to lift from underneath the roots of the grass and ideally avoid removing more than 5cm of soil. If you’ve already done this then you can skip this step!
5. Dig Time
Remove any of the exposed roots, stones or debris until your soil is clear and with a nice soft crumbly texture. Then you can sprinkle compost over the border and mix it up among the soil.
6. Rake it back
Rake over your border to remove any final remaining bits of debris and level off the ground with the back of the rake.
7. It’s plant time!
Now you can set out your plants on the ground and refer to your diagram layout to ensure you’re sticking to the plan!
8. Water them well
Take your plants out of their pots and water them well before planting, this will put them in the best possible position to bloom when you plant them. If your plants are feeling quite dry and light, soak them in some water for 5 minutes before planting.
9. Hole in one
Dig a hole for each plant (slightly bigger than their pot size) and pop a bit of compost in the bottom before placing the plant inside. Then you can cover around the plant with soil to ensure it’s nice and snug!
10. Taking shape
Repeat this until your border is fully planted up. Add an insect house or butterfly house for shelter next to your border and to encourage more wildlife to visit for nectar and pollen.
11. Be proud!
Once you’ve created your wildlife border, you can sit back and in your garden and enjoy the sound of wildlife around you – you’ve turned a part of your home into a habitat.
Vivara offers four different wildlife borders, including The Beautiful Butterfly Garden, The Ultimate Bee Garden, The Bee Rose Garden, and The Best-Ever Bird Garden. Shop Vivara’s wildlife border bundles and full range of habitats, feeders, wildlife food and plants at www.vivara.co.uk.
Butterfly Garden RRP: £109.95
Bee Friendly Garden RRP: £95.99
Bee Rose Garden RRP: £59.95
Bird Friendly Garden RRP: £249.95