Birds singing, and bees buzzing are some of the great joys that come from owning a garden and for some, their garden is a little sanctuary for the wildlife. Not only is having a garden filled with local wildlife beautiful and relaxing it is also a great way to keep your garden healthy and alive. Birds are essentially the security guards of your garden; they eat harmful bugs, insects and slugs that may endanger your plants, as well as eat weeds and their seeds. Bees, bugs and worms are also great! Bees help pollinate your plants and keep them thriving and healthy. Worms love to thrive in healthy soil, and provide nutrients for the plants to grow in and are also a great snack for a bird if they’re feeling peckish. This article will suggest some great ways to encourage the beautiful local Australian wildlife to spend their time in your garden.
Before we get started, here’s a free tip. Keep in mind when catering for wildlife to remember to use as few pesticides as possible, or remove it entirely from your garden. Pesticides can poison the birds, bees and good bugs and insects in your garden, plus, it isn’t really that healthy for the plants either to have poison on them. While pesticides do a great job of getting rid of pesky insects, wild birds and lizards are a great, natural way to keep the pest population down.
Grow the right plants
Flowering plants
The local wildlife loves nothing more than plants, especially ones that have flowers and are native to your local area. Try to have a variety of plants and trees that flower at different times of the year, so you can keep your garden blooming all year round. There is a vast array of beautiful local Australian plants that the wildlife love, such as geraniums, grevilleas, pansies, tea trees, bottlebrushes and banksias.
Shrubs and bushes
Birds love to make nests, and there isn’t any reason why they shouldn’t want to in your garden. Grow some thick and dense shrubs and plants to provide a home and shelter for the local birds. Some great thick plants to consider are lemon myrtle, rosemary bushes, fuchsia, and paperbark trees or shrubs. Nothing is more adorable than hearing the chirping of baby birds in a little homemade nest.
Fruit trees
Another great addition to the garden that birds and local wildlife will love is fruit trees, especially if you want to encourage beautifully coloured parrots, such as lorikeets, gallahs, cockatoos. Parrots love to chew on all different kinds of fruits, so some trees to consider are apple, fig, cherry, peach and lilly-pillies.
Food and water
Install feeders and boxes for birds to come and get a bite to eat, doing this will encourage them to stay or revisit if they’re migrating. Don’t forget to leave them some water dishes as well so they can get a drink, especially on those hot days. Avoid anything processed, this includes bread, as it can be dangerous for some birds to ingest. So, keep it natural, your local pet shops should have seed mixes, they…
