Winter
is here, and December can bring major changes to our weather.
Rain, frost, wind and sometimes snow. It is easy to
forget about the creatures outside our four walls when the
temperature drops. Most of us feed the birds at this time and
appreciate the enjoyment we get from these garden visitors,
but we may overlook the frogs and toads, small mammals, bees,
butterflies and moths and a vast array of smaller insects,
because they are inconspicuous at this time of year. But they
are still out there and it is useful to know a little bit
about their habits and life cycles so we can ensure that the
gardening that we do now is not detrimental to them. We need
to know what we should and shouldn’t be doing in the winter
garden.
Most
gardeners appreciate that not cutting down herbaceous plants
in autumn can be very beneficial to wildlife, and the majority
of gardening magazines will tell us that leaving seeds on
these plants will provide food for birds through the winter.
Unfortunately this is not entirely correct. Anyone who has
watched a greenfinch at a bird feeder, systematically picking
out seeds and depositing them on the ground beneath will know
that birds are very fussy about what they eat! Many plant
seeds are just too small, inaccessible or without sufficient
nutrition to be eaten by birds. All birds have their
favourite seeds in gardens, including lavender, knapweed, evening
primrose and of course sunflowers, so ensure that these are
most definitely left alone now, but many others will not
attract birds during the winter. If you are in any doubt about
having the right natural seeds in the garden make sure that
you have a few bird feeders or a bird table, liberally
supplied with nutritious seeds such as sunflower hearts and
peanuts, from a reputable bird food supplier.
Often
when we see birds foraging around seed heads they are actually
searching for the small insects that shelter amongst the seed
pods. Leaving your herbaceous vegetation standing until March
is important for a variety of reasons, but perhaps most
crucial is the cover it provides for a huge range of
creatures, including useful insects such as ladybirds and
lacewings. If these insects are catered for over the winter
they will be on hand in your garden in spring to deal with the
first crop of aphids. Hollow stems are a favourite
hibernation place of ladybirds, and large groups may choose to
spend the winter together out of harms way in this natural
habitat. Of course many seed heads are an attractive feature
in their own right, especially when sprinkled with frost and
are worth retaining for that alone.
Once
we have decided to leave the borders uncut, another winter
task becomes obsolete. It was traditional to dig over border
spaces between plants to ‘expose pests’ and keep the
herbaceous border tidy at this time, but in fact this is
extremely harmful to many insects, especially moths. Lots of
species, including the beautiful hawk-moths, spend the winter
in the pupal form, under the soil. At the end of the autumn
these caterpillars bury themselves beneath the vegetation they
have been feeding on to emerge in late spring or summer. This
is a very energy efficient way of sitting out the cold wet
weather. Digging over bare soil now can expose moth pupae
and many soil insects to harsh weather. A good thick mulch of
organic matter between the herbaceous flowers, or over exposed
soil on the allotment, is a much more satisfactory means of
protecting the wildlife and the soil beneath.
Where
slightly wilder areas of the garden are concerned, including
the bottoms of hedges or areas of long grass here and there,
these too are best just left alone now. In general wildflower
meadows or rough grass will have been cut and raked a couple
of months ago, but hopefully you were able to leave some small
patch uncut and it should remain so until the springtime.
Long grass is vital to wildlife at all times of the year and
cutting it now removes all shelter for small mammals such as
field mice, shrews and voles and many species of insect.
Hedgehogs in particular need a good depth of leaves and dried
vegetation to create a winter hibernation nest and will often
choose a tangle of grass and other vegetation that has not
been disturbed. This could be under a hedge, beneath thick
shrubs, or they may use a compost heap or log pile. Uncut
borders where the plants are dense are also sometime chosen.
Hardy geraniums are especially good for hedgehogs as they
retain a dense mat of dried leaves through the winter.
December is sometimes a month when big changes are made in
gardens, but any major activities should be done with care and
consideration for all your garden inhabitants. It is not a
good time to remove or severely prune evergreens or shrubs
with berries or hips as these provide more than just food for
birds and mammals. Many insects, including ladybirds, take
cover in dense conifers, which are also used by the smaller
birds such as wrens and goldcrests for roosting on cold
nights. In fact a conifer hedge can have many benefits to
wildlife, as long as it is kept well trimmed and a sensible
height. Take care also when removing or repairing stone walls
or relaying paving, where toads, newts or slow worms may
hibernate and log stores may be protecting hibernating
butterflies, including small tortoiseshell or peacock.
So
does this mean that the less we do the better this month? As
far as the wildlife in our gardens is concerned the answer is
definitely ‘yes’. There are jobs that can be done, but it is
worth thinking through every aspect of the work ahead, and
considering the disturbance that it may create.
Amongst my gardening friends there seems to be two distinct
types of winter gardener. There are those who generally love
the cold weather, and spend a lot of time in December outside,
‘tidying-up’ and preparing their gardens for the spring
ahead. And there are others who prefer to spend the colder
weather inside in the warm and let the garden look after
itself. If like me you belong to the latter group, it is
heartening to know that our approach is the most beneficial to
the wildlife in our gardens and our more energetic friends
would do well to take a leaf out of our gardening book.
|
