Biodiversity in your Glasgow garden

Garden designers and landscape gardeners in Glasgow can help you attract wildlife into your garden, and can help increase biodiversity net gain using appropriate planting schemes on commercial and residential properties alike. Glasgow is home to an enormous amount of wildlife, and there are a number of ways a garden designer or landscape gardener can help invite them into your outdoor space.

Here are some ways you can set about making a garden design more wildlife-friendly – you will also find. One of the best things you can do is to provide an area of water for birds to drink from, and insects and other wildlife to make a home in or nearby. This does not mean you need to install a costly pond. In my own garden, I have simply re-commissioned an old Belfast sink, plugged the drain and turned it into a pond. It sounds unbelievable, but just a small piece of water like this will make a huge difference to wildlife in your garden. I have put a number of stones into my ‘pond’ ensuring there is a shallow area for birds to drop in for a bath, and I have also put in some aquatic plants that I bought from a local garden centre. The most important thing is to make sure that frogs and other amphibians can get in and out of the pond, and I have done this by creating a set of steps up to the pond using some old bricks – I call it my frog ramp! Finally, you don’t want to have fish in your pond, as they will hungrily devour any young wildlife in the pond. You can of course speak to your garden designer or landscape gardener about creating a more substantial pond In your Glasgow garden.

Another easy win when you’re trying to think of ideas for helping the wildlife in your garden, is to
find some space to leave some old logs to rot and provide a feast for beetles. You will notice that in some cities now, when they have to fell large trees in parks, they will leave the trunks to lie on the ground to just rot away. This is a fantastic thing to do, and you can emulate this by leaving some smaller logs lying around. In my own garden, I have put a pile of thick branches amongst my shrubs – they are not visible most of the year, and yet they are providing a real boon to beetles and insects. Have a chat with your Glasgow garden designer or landscape gardener and see how they can help you with this.

Is your garden large enough to leave an area of grass to grow long in the summer? This need not
look messy, simply cut a neat line with the mower as if you were edging a flowerbed, or perhaps just leave a couple of ‘islands’ of long grass in a larger lawn. This will actually add real interest and texture to your garden, and will also provide a home for little (friendly) beasties….and consequently some food for the birds!

Bird boxes are a great way to do your bit for local birdlife. They also make a fantastic project for
children – they are relatively easy to make, and can be a wonderful introduction to nature for kids, in a way that keeps them involved and excited. It is even possible to buy birdboxes with webcams inside these days, and please take my word for it when I tell you what fun it is watching young birds making a home and hatching chicks yards from your house! These are set up so that you can watch the activity on your own television, from the comfort of your sitting room. Plants can obviously make a critical difference when it comes to encouraging wildlife to your Glasgow garden.

Many people have tried and failed with wildflower seed, but unfortunately most garden soil is just
too rich for wildflowers. If you do want to create a wildflower meadow, which is a great thing to do, the best start you can make is to rake off the top two inches of your top soil to reduce the fertility. I will go into the details of making a wildflower meadow another time on my blog. If you speak to your garden designer or landscape gardener in Glasgow they will be able to chat through some options for you too.

If you’re looking for some plant ideas for your garden, why not try Foxgloves, Lavender, Cotoneaster or Pyracantha. These are just a few examples, you have hundreds of choices!
Keeping the birds in your garden regularly fed is another easy and really important way to keep
wildlife visiting your garden. You will be amazed at how brave birds can be, I have set up a number of bird feeders that hang inches from my kitchen window, and each morning I am able to watch various little birds having their breakfast while I am making my coffee. It makes a great start to the day!

Garden designers and landscape gardeners in Glasgow will be happy to help with ideas for increasing biodiversity in your garden. Tom Angel is passionate about increasing biodiversity in gardens - get in touch today to discuss how Angel Horticulture Ltd can help.