How To Attract Wildlife To Your Garden, check here to learn more. When you make your garden a warm, well-shaded, quiet, and cozy place, you can attract various wild animals that will improve the quality of your garden.
One of the best ways to connect with nature in the most organic form is by growing a garden that replicates the same biodiversity of the outdoors.
While most people have a variety of plant species growing in their small house gardens, the real commitment to gardening begins once you spot beautiful wildlife finding comfort in your self-grown green haven.
Apart from giving a garden a more natural, raw, and wild ambiance, animals can also help your garden mature into a natural ecosystem that can sustain itself while supporting life.
Keep reading to learn about the benefits of attracting wildlife to your garden and which animal species you should try to attract.
Why Should You Attract Wildlife to Your Garden?
Whenever people build their homes, there is a reason they leave out certain empty spaces on their property to build a garden.
A well-kept home garden can instantly enhance the outlook of any house, make it appear more inviting and calmer, and boost your property’s curb value.
However, while most people assume that growing a garden on their property is all about finding the top plant and flower varieties that will grow well and look good together, this is not the case.
Although plantation is a big part of any garden, it is not the only feature that helps it mature and grow into a fully sustainable, natural ecosystem.
Instead, unless you have certain wild animals visiting and living in your garden, your garden may never reflect the raw and calming allure you are trying for.
benefits of attracting wildlife to your garden
When you attract wildlife to a garden, you achieve the following:
- You create a diverse ecological community, which is the purpose of any garden or forest-like natural system.
- When wild animals feel welcomed in your garden, they build their homes and feel naturally encouraged to reproduce.
- Such healthy and biologically diverse ecosystems can thus help restore the planet’s natural balance and contribute to the conservation of certain animal populations that otherwise suffer in a metropolitan city.
- Moreover, besides helping animals find a place to live and reproduce, certain wildlife in your garden will help them mature much faster.
- It will help the plants grow faster and allow a natural balance to form, which is otherwise quite challenging.
- Moreover, while you can look after your plants, pollinate them, and feed them seasonally, attracting wildlife will make the task so much easier for you.
- For instance, while pollinating plants by hand can take a lot of time, small rodents and birds can do it for you in a very short period.
- Similarly, since fertilizing and aerating a garden plot can take a lot of time, animals and insects will naturally keep doing it for free.
- Furthermore, you can protect animals from dying out in the open by giving them a place to feel at home. Once again, this helps encourage a healthy increase in their population and lets you play your role as a responsible human being.
- Finally, you need to attract wildlife to your garden as they can bring happiness and peace to you. While gardening is a therapeutic activity, it can become a lot more wholesome and rewarding when you witness and interact with certain animal species every day.
- Doing so can help reduce anxiety and depression, give you purpose, and make you much more productive and happier in life.
Which Wild Animals Can Form Symbiotic Relationships with Your Garden?
What is a Symbiotic Relationship?
A symbiotic relationship is a form of close association or living situation in which two or more different animal species live together or interact to mutually benefit one another.
For instance, when a bird sits on an ox, it helps the ox get rid of ticks and other bugs by feeding on them while the ox is providing the bird with food.
Similarly, although some wild animals can destroy your garden, certain animals will form a mutually beneficial relationship with the different plant species in your garden.
While the garden will offer the animal shelter, food, and protection, the garden will get pollination and fertilization.
Top Wild Animals You Need in Your Garden and the Respective Benefits They Can Provide
| Name of the Animal | The Benefit it Can Offer to Your Garden |
| Frogs and toads | Birds do a fantastic job at controlling the population of plant pests in your garden. They feed on aphids, gnats, spiders, beetles, moths, and mosquitoes, all of which can harm the plants. |
| Bats | Birds can help pollinate the garden when seeds get stuck to their feathers. |
| Certain birds | Worms make holes in the ground, which helps aerate the entire garden. This keeps plant roots healthy and helps avoid the build-up of moisture in the soil. Their movement in the soil also distributes plant nutrients throughout the soil and improves the overall structure of the ground. |
| Worms | Bees have furry bodies that help carry pollen as they move from one flower to the other. This helps pollinate the garden and encourages healthy and rapid plant growth. |
| Bees | Like snakes, lizards also feed on pests and insects. They are also natural barometers of the environment.If they exist in a healthy population in your garden, their existence indicates low levels of heavy metals and pesticides. |
| Garter Snakes | Although most snakes can be dangerous, a garter snake can benefit your garden. These snakes help in pest control by feeding on grasshoppers, frogs, worms, crickets, etc. They also feed on small rodents, which can destroy your plants, fruits, and vegetables. |
| Ladybugs | Ladybugs are another excellent pest controller. They feed on aphids, mealybugs, and fungal gnats. They also consume insect eggs, significantly reducing the population of harmful bugs in your garden. |
| Butterflies | Like bees, butterflies are attracted to bright flowers for their nectar. As they move from one flower to the other, they help transport pollen which can induce new growth in your garden. |
| Lizards | Like snakes, lizards also feed on pests and insects. They are also natural barometers of the environment. If they exist in a healthy population in your garden, their existence indicates low levels of heavy metals and pesticides. |
| Ants | Like worms, ants also dig around tiny tunnels in the soil, which helps keep the ground well-aerated. They also help speed up the decomposition of dead animals, which releases nutrients into the soil. |
How To Attract Wildlife To Your Garden (5 Ways)
Now that you know which animals can form a great symbiotic relationship with your garden, let us now discuss how you can get these animals to live in your garden in the first place.
Some of the ways to attract these wild animals to your garden are as follows:
1. Grow a Variety of Plants in Your Garden
Different animals are attracted to living around different kinds of plants.
While a garter snake will prefer tall trees, thick shrubs, and sufficient shade to remain hidden, butterflies will look for vibrantly colored flowers.
Hence, if you want your garden to have great biodiversity, invest in growing different plants that can act as perfect feeding, nesting, and hiding grounds for the animals.
2. Build Small Homes and Nests
Although most animals prefer to make their own homes, certain bats and birds will be attracted to the pre-made homes and nests you hang in your garden.
If you are making these homes yourself, ensure a rightly sized window that allows comfortable entry and proper protection.
3. Add Rocks and Pebbles
Animals like toads, frogs, snakes, etc., like to remain hidden during the day hours.
If your garden is wide open and does not have the structural variety to hide these animals, they will not be attracted to consider it their home.
Hence, apart from growing tall plants, also add different-sized rocks and pebbles that will help add shade to the garden while also giving these animals a place to hide and rest.
4. Build a Small Pond
Frogs and toads are also attracted to areas with small water bodies. Since water bodies are breeding grounds for most insects, frogs tend to stay nearby to feed themselves.
5. Refrain from Making Loud Noises in Your Garden
Finally, refrain from making sudden or loud noises in your garden that might scare or disturb the resting or hiding wildlife.
However, feel free to relax and lounge in your garden whenever you like.
Final Thoughts
When you make your garden a warm, well-shaded, quiet, and cozy place, you can easily attract a variety of wild animals that will return the favor by improving the overall quality of your garden.
Hence, grow various plants, add some rocks and pebbles, and build a small water body to make your garden the perfect natural habitat for wildlife that can offer a symbiotic relationship.
My name is Olivia, and I live in the United States and love having plants in my garden. Lots of plants are there on my balcony, indoor and outdoor garden also. Here I am trying to share useful gardening tips, how to grow and care for various plants, etc.
