Want something fun to do while your garden is sleeping this winter? How about signing up for Project Feeder Watch? If you live in North America, you can participate in collecting data that helps scientists determine changes in bird distribution and abundance. This is a great way to teach your kids about scientific data collection and bird …
Backyard Wildlife
Gardening with wildlife and creating wildlife habitat in your backyard or garden can bring you a lot of joy. I love to watch the birds, butterflies, frogs, lizards, bees, and small mammals visit my garden, even if it means I sometimes lose a few plants. These articles talk about how to create backyard habitat, what plants can help wildlife in your garden, and even talks about some of the critters you might see in your garden.
Backyard Wildlife: The Critters in My Garden
For me, half of the fun of having a garden is watching the critters that come to enjoy it. Here are some of the critters that have shown up in my garden (and my family's garden) in the last couple of years. Learn more about backyard habitat by reading these articles Food plants for caterpillars and butterflies How to Create Good Wildlife …
Continue Reading about Backyard Wildlife: The Critters in My Garden
How to Create Good Wildlife Habitat in Your Backyard
If your garden includes sources of food throughout the year, water, a variety of structure (height and shape) that can be used for cover, and plenty of places for animals to create nests in to reproduce, it’s likely that you already have lots of wildlife in your yard. Wildlife requires 4 things to thrive Food Water Cover Places to …
Continue Reading about How to Create Good Wildlife Habitat in Your Backyard
Plants that provide food and shelter in fall and winter for wildlife
If you’d like to see more wildlife in your garden in winter, be sure to include plants that provide food and cover in the fall and winter. Some of these plants are evergreen, providing necessary cover, and some have fruits, seeds, or nuts that persist into winter. Here are some (mostly native) plant suggestions that can be used throughout much of …
Continue Reading about Plants that provide food and shelter in fall and winter for wildlife
Keep the Deer from Eating the Plants in Your Raised Bed Garden
Three young fawns and a doe have discovered my garden just recently. They ate all of the leaves off of the pepper plants, devoured the hostas, stripped the bean plants bare, and ate every single beet top. Now that they’ve found us, I’m sure they will continue to come back. I am starting to think about planting for a fall crop of vegetables, so I …
Continue Reading about Keep the Deer from Eating the Plants in Your Raised Bed Garden
The Cayenne Pepper vs. Squirrel Experiment
I may have mentioned this before, but my yard has a LOT of squirrels. With several oak and pecan trees, there is plenty of food for them. The problem is, whenever I plant new seeds, the squirrels (and cats) dig up the soil. I end up with empty spots that never grow. I planted beets and carrots in my two raised self-watering beds. The soil in …
Continue Reading about The Cayenne Pepper vs. Squirrel Experiment