ecodyfi logo, valley and hills, link to home page

Dyfi Valley Get Growing course

  

Site Map | The Dyfi Valley | Map | Join us | Glossary | Useful links | Contact us | Have your say | Search | News | Events

Are you..?

 light
A local
A visitor
A business
Curious about ecodyfi

Projects:

 ecodyfi office
Mentro Allan (Venture Out)
Transport
Tourism
Energy
Waste
Fair Trade
Biosffer Dyfi Biosphere
Communities First
Lifelong learning

Contact details

 Ty Bro Dyfi

Ty Bro Ddyfi,
52 Heol Maengwyn,
Machynlleth, Powys, SY20 8DT, UK.
phone: 01654 703965
e-mail: info@ecodyfi.org.uk

Become a member of ecodyfi by joining our team of talented and voluntary development workers and catalysts.

Help conserve our environment and improve our quality of life

In the growing section

Home page

Get growing - course description

Course content

Course materials

Weekly activities

Questions and answers

Gardening for Wildlife

Wildlife Gardening: Contents

line

Tips for Meadow style planting for wildlife

Look at your soil first -

  • Wildflower meadows do well on poor soils
  • You may have to reduce the fertility by removing the topsoil and introducing some sand to increase the drainage.

Grasses – use natives or native relatives, eg Deschampsia, Carex, Molinias (cotton grass ) wind pollinated.

Good for field mice and other small furry animals – extending areas from meadows.

Birds – like grasses for nest building and shy bird cover, also seeds.

Tufts and tussocks are good for insects – hibernating and overwintering lavae.

Also plant:

  • Scabious – nectar provider
  • Achillea – nectar plant

Imitate nature by creating drifts of plants in your border.

line Top

Plants for a bee garden/ border – nectar food:

Perennials

  • Salvia
  • Borage
  • Alcea rosea
  • Verbena bonariensis
  • Papaver
  • Digitalis
  • Lathyrus
  • Achillea fillipendulina
  • Eupatorium cannabinum
  • Sedum
  • Scabiosa
  • Eryngium borgattii
  • Dipsacus follonum
  • Circium rivulare

Herbs

  • Lavender
  • Melissa officinalis
  • Foeniculum vulgare
  • Savia
  • Centranthus
  • Echinacea purpurea
  • Allium
  • Mentha

Shrubs

  • Corylus
  • Viburnum
  • Ribes sanguineum

Climbers

  • Lonicera pericleum

line Top

Ynyslas wildlife shelter home

This high-rise accommodation for creepy-crawlies is easy to make from all your unwanted recycled materials so you could create one for your own garden!

  • Basement (reclaimed palette and slate) damp proof course for mini beasts

  • Ground floor (decaying wood) – for beetles, woodlice, spiders, amphibians

  • First floor (air bricks, clay pots/ pipes and slate) - for snails, newts and other small invertebrates

  • Second floor (dried oak leaves, old brooms and wood shavings) – for ground beetles and centipedes

  • Third floor (corks and cardboard) - for lacewings, ladybirds and spiders

  • Loft insulation (grass cuttings and moss) for more beneficial insects and possibly solitary bees

  • Roof (slate and moss )– or try a sedum roof for rain cover for all the mini beasts

Full of nooks & crannies and hidey-holes, there are plenty of corners for ladybirds and spiders to huddle in through a cold winter, or for woodlice and snails to hide out on hot summer days.

Not only that, but as the wood starts to decay, beetle larvae -and other invertebrates - will be able to munch on the rotten wood to gain the nutrients they need.

line Top