create a wildlife habitat

Create a Wildlife Habitat

* Written by: Dawn Marie Carlson who invites you to check out her  Dawn to Dusk Blog and Garden Design Services via: http://www.DawnToDuskEnterprises.com. 

You can create your own successful and healthy wildlife habitat, which provides water, shelter, food, and room for wildlife families to grow with organic and sustainable conservation and preservation practices. Your own healthy wildlife habitat benefits can be immediate and long-term.

Are you using chemical fertilizers and pesticides in your yard? Do you have invasive species taking over? Is your yard lacking signs of wildlife such as birds, mammals, butterflies, or bees? Do you have dead plants everywhere? Is your soil compacted and unhealthy? Do you wish your garden looked like your neighbor's - full of blooms and wildlife? There must be a better way. Perhaps your garden needs some life - wildlife that is.

Water

All wildlife needs water to drink and bathe in whether it is a small bowl or pan of water with pebbles, a pond, stream, creek, puddles, or a clean bird bath or fountain.

The sound of water will draw wildlife whether it is gurgling or dripping. The hummingbirds flock to my gurgling fountain in the front yard and enjoy drinking the water and bathing in the top of it. I witnessed a brown Towhee taking a bird bath in my dog's water bowl on the deck one afternoon! It doesn't take much to make them happy. One hot summer afternoon, I saw a young buck drink all of the water in my front yard bird bath.

Food

If you grow native plants, perennials, and annuals in your yard, you are offering a smorgasbord of food for different forms of wildlife including butterflies, birds, insects, and mammals. It is important to plant a diverse plant population to meet the needs of all wildlife for maximum benefits.

Food sources include nuts, berries, flowers, nectar, sap, foliage, pollen, and seeds. Since we have deer frequenting our neighborhood, I need to be careful to buy the right plants or else they prune them quickly; it might be just the right food for them.

Native plants foster a healthy balanced local environment, minimize maintenance, maximize resources including water, and are culturally appropriate to the local environment. Avoid invasive non-native plants.

Providing food in a clean feeder is an essential supplement especially during the winter months.

You can create your own soil through composting or worm composting (Vermiculture) and replenish the soil in your garden. This provides an abundance of healthy plants and a balanced ecosystem.

Shelter

Shrubs, brush, meadows, weeds, woodpiles, dead trees, trees, rock piles, woodlands, evergreens, are friendly sources of shelter from weather, humans and predators. You can preserve shelters for wildlife with this in mind. For instance, birds can perch and rest on dead tree branches and see their surroundings and any predators.

Shelter areas can also include: bird houses, shrubs for nests, container plants and small trees, shrubs to protect their young, lay their eggs and live out their life cycle.

Organic

By nurturing an organic garden with native plants, you provide a safe haven for your local wildlife that is free of chemical residues, herbicides, and pesticides. You can nourish nature without diminishing it.

Using organic soils, plants, and fertilizers will preserve a natural environment and promote optimal health at all levels in the ecosystem from the insects to the largest mammals including the vegetables and fruit we grow and consume. Through organic gardening, the water table is clean throughout the soil levels.

The pollinators who survive in your organic wildlife habitat will not transfer chemical pesticides throughout their travels. Beneficial insects will maintain plant integrity with an organic environment and a healthier ecosystem becomes stronger.

It is possible for you to create your own successful and healthy wildlife habitat in your yard by providing water, shelter, food, and room for wildlife families to grow through organic and sustainable conservation and preservation practices.