Planning a Habitat Garden for Critters

It may seem like birds and bees have plenty of places to call home but consider how much habitat we take from them when we change and development the landscape. Picture the perfect meadow of sunny summer days and likely little sunlit moths, butterflies and bees are floating and dancing above it. There’s no reason why you can recreate this kind of perfect tiny critter habitat in your garden and the birds and bees will thank you.

Here in Germany I often see “habitats” integrated into agricultural land. For instance, farmers get an incentive if they plant wildflowers along the edge of their crops and I’m pretty sure they get the seeds for free. This little edge of shelter brings insects and bees back to places where they would otherwise chalk off to for-humans-only, and its a small but important endeavor to keep ecosystems in balance.

Planting a habitat garden doesn’t mean you have to go wild and completely un-manicured. You can integrate this little green gardening step into any kind of garden or setting. In my own garden, I give about a fifth of the area to wildflowers that attract insects and bees - a variety of plants that are beautiful and give enough diversity and density to the tiniest visitors.

This year we are also planting berry bushes for the birds (and us) along the edge of the habitat. The wildflowers are the first thing you see when you walk into the garden, the berry bushes make a hedge and beyond that things get more organized with vegetable beds. On the opposite end of the garden (which is a long strip) I plan a little bit more habitat with some bushes, mint and flowers. So, the garden edges are for wildlife and the middle is for people.

Couple things to keep in mind:

• habitat garden areas should be dense, like meadows
• don’t worry about uninvited guests, if you invite bugs, you also invite birds.
• choose native plants, your local birds and bees know these and the plants will thrive with little maintenance
• don’t worry about size, dedicate as little or big amount of space as you want

Here’s a Backyard Conservation Tip Sheet from the Natural Resources Conservation Service with more great ideas to get you started.