Introduction to garden habitats
 
 
We have seen in The Garden Resource that looked at collectively, our gardens are an enormous resource for wildlife.
 
The “garden habitat” is also exceedingly rich and biodiverse, as shown in the section Gardens and Biodiversity. But one of the reasons for this high biodiversity is that gardens are not a uniform habitat, but contain lots of mini-habitats in close proximity.  Few gardens don’t have a bit of lawn, a veggie patch, flower beds, perhaps a hedge and a shrub or small tree, and each mini-habitat will probably support different creatures - although this is an area where further study would be useful.
 
Many of the habitat patches in gardens resemble or substitute for semi-natural habitats in our countryside.  Lawns quite closely resemble grazed grassland, and garden patchworks of hedges and shrubs creates edge-zones, like the species-rich interface between woodlands and grasslands at the edge of a wood. 
 
Compost heaps and wood piles represent the deep detritus layer in woodlands, and multi-species hedges can bring some of the diversity of deciduous woodland into a small space.  Garden ponds can be as species-rich as similar sized countryside ponds, while rockeries and gravel mimic screes and coastal habitats. 
 
Even the veggie patch, heavily disturbed every year, is a model for old fashioned cereal fields before intensive weedkillers removed most of our beautiful cornfield flowers. 
 
This wonderful mix of mini-habitats, that resemble the semi-natural habitats to which our wildlife is already adapted, is one reason why gardens hold so many species.
 
We have several resources on garden habitats for wildlife. 
There are two sections here:
 
We have several "How-to" practical guides covering creating habitats:
 
How to: Make your boundaries wildlife-friendly
How to: Create and maintain hedges
How to: Make a living roof
How to: Create a green wall for wildlife
How to: Create a wildlife-friendly lawn
How to: Create & maintain a wildflower meadow
How to: Create a bed of annual flowers for wildlife
How to: Create and maintain hedges
How to: Create and maintain bee hotels
How to: Create a bug hotel
How to: Bring water into your garden
How to: Make a pond in a pot
How to: Create and maintain ponds for wildlife
How to: Create a wildlife-friendly lawn
How to: Create & maintain a wildflower meadow
How to: Create habitat piles
How to: Make your own compost
How to: Improve an allotment or vegetable patch for wildlife
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Introduction to garden habitats
 
We have seen in The Garden Resource that looked at collectively, our gardens are an enormous resource for wildlife.
 
The “garden habitat” is also exceedingly rich and biodiverse, as shown in the section Gardens and Biodiversity. But one of the reasons for this high biodiversity is that gardens are not a uniform habitat, but contain lots of mini-habitats in close proximity.  Few gardens don’t have a bit of lawn, a veggie patch, flower beds, perhaps a hedge and a shrub or small tree, and each mini-habitat will probably support different creatures - although this is an area where further study would be useful.
 
Many of the habitat patches in gardens resemble or substitute for semi-natural habitats in our countryside.  Lawns quite closely resemble grazed grassland, and garden patchworks of hedges and shrubs creates edge-zones, like the species-rich interface between woodlands and grasslands at the edge of a wood. 
 
Compost heaps and wood piles represent the deep detritus layer in woodlands, and multi-species hedges can bring some of the diversity of deciduous woodland into a small space.  Garden ponds can be as species-rich as similar sized countryside ponds, while rockeries and gravel mimic screes and coastal habitats. 
 
Even the veggie patch, heavily disturbed every year, is a model for old fashioned cereal fields before intensive weedkillers removed most of our beautiful cornfield flowers. 
 
This wonderful mix of mini-habitats that resemble the semi-natural habitats to which our wildlife is already adapted, is one reason why gardens hold so many species.
 
We have several resources on garden habitats for wildlife. 
There are two sections here:
We have several "How-to" practical guides covering creating habitats:
 
How to: Make your boundaries wildlife-friendly
How to: Create and maintain hedges
How to: Make a living roof
How to: Create a green wall for wildlife
How to: Create a wildlife-friendly lawn
How to: Create & maintain a wildflower meadow
How to: Create a bed of annual flowers for wildlife
How to: Create and maintain hedges
How to: Create and maintain bee hotels
How to: Create a bug hotel
How to: Bring water into your garden
How to: Make a pond in a pot
How to: Create and maintain ponds for wildlife
How to: Create a wildlife-friendly lawn
How to: Create & maintain a wildflower meadow
How to: Create habitat piles
How to: Make your own compost
How to: Improve an allotment or vegetable patch for wildlife
 
 
 
 
 
 
What we all like to see, healthy hedgehogs in their garden habitat.
What we all like to see, healthy hedgehogs in their garden habitat.