Making Your
Garden Greener
It can seem quite daunting knowing where to start in making your garden greener if you are new to gardening or simply wanting to increase the wildlife attracted to your green space.
Happily there are some really easy and quick things to do to encourage a range of bugs, slugs, birds and other creatures want to make your garden their home.
Add Water
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Not every garden has, or wants a pond but a little goes a long way.
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A source of fresh, clean water will encourage birds and beasties alike to stop in your garden.
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It doesn't need to be elaborate - a basin, bucket, tub or a bowl is a brilliant start.
Remember to keep it clean and fresh, make sure it's no deeper than 3" and put some stones in the dish to help them any visitor get out.
Feed the birds
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Giving birds a safe place to eat and drink makes them feel welcome.
Offering a wide range of foods will encourage a range of different species into your garden.
65 different species have been spotted in Riverside so far. You can see them here we'd love to see your pictures too!
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To find out in more detail about how to attract birds go here.
Stick Piles
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Bugs and beasties love dark and damp conditions to live in so having an undisturbed pile of wood and sticks would be a haven for these small creatures. The will enjoy the shade and feast on the dead wood.
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Bug Hotel
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These are made from a variety of natural garden items, gathered together for bees and insects to nest,
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Placing bug hotels in different locations within your garden: shaded, sunny, high, low, invites a huge variety of insects to live in your garden.
Longer Grass
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Leaving your grass for longer between each cutting is a very effective way of increasing the insect activity in your garden.
This allows more wild flowers to seed and entice pollinators and the long grass is a perfect home for other bugs.
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We are joining Plantlife for No Mow May!
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Garden Waste
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Gardens produce a lot of waste, from grass cuttings, to pruned bushes and fallen leaves.
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These are an ideal source of food and shelter for the smallest creatures in our garden, so leaving the on the ground for longer, or even in a pile in a hidden corner, is an excellent way increase biodiversity.
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Composting is also a bug friendly way to use garden waste.
Encouraging Wildflowers
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Allowing wildflowers to stay in your garden, even a patch of dandelions can vastly increase the number of pollinators that visit your garden
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Choosing native plants for your garden will also encourage creatures to live and thrive in your garden.
Having lots of different wwildflowers will provide food for bugs, pollen and nectar for pollinators and it will also foster environment for other native wildlife such as birds, hedgehogs and insects to make their homes.
Plant native trees
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Trees are an excellent way to bring diversity into your garden. They provide a home for birds and a huge range of mini beasts too.
Riverside Naturally is committed to using native and biodiversity supporting species of plants and you can see examples of this with or low growing wildflower meadow and our woodland gardens.
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The Royal Horticultural Society has some excellent information on planting for biodiversity: