Backyard wildlife

IF LIKE me you’re a fan of sharing your garden with native fauna, then here’s a few tips on providing a habitat for our native animals. In particular we’ll discuss birds, but these tips will increase habitat for a wide range of fauna.

The bulk of plants used in mainstream native gardens are cultivar Grevilleas, Banksias and Bottle Brushes. These are all amazing flowering plants that add colour, variety and are great nectar sources, but if they are the dominant plants in your native garden and they are surrounded by large open areas of lawn then aggressive birds such as Rainbow Lorikeets and the Common (or Noisy) Myna will often dominate to the exclusion of more timid birds. My tip here is to add different levels to your planting such as ground covers and grasses; a diversity of shrubs and trees; and bushier plantings that give smaller, timid birds somewhere to hide.

Apart from plants and the resources they provide, water is crucial for wildlife and you can supply this in the form of a pond or bird bath (just make sure shallow containers are cleaned often as they can spread disease). But I digress back to the plants...

Edible seed-bearing grasses such as Kangaroo Grass, Poa, Lomandra and Bamboo Grass can increase habitat for smaller birds, with the added bonus that these grasses provide valuable nesting material. It’s the picture of parental persistence watching tiny Red Brow Finches, trying to keep their balance as they take flight with a length of grass ten

Elderberry and Velvet Leaf provide sustenance for a great variety of birds including Lewins Honey Eaters, Emerald Doves, Bower Birds, King Parrots and Currawongs. More bird diversity in your garden also helps with insect control and promotes a natural balance.

Your garden is a great place to share with and learn about the wildlife, enjoy.

It’s that time of year when the temperatures soar, and humidity rises. The key to keeping plants green and lush during this time, is not just pouring precious water from the tap onto them, so as to keep the soil moisture up. The answer is to mulch, mulch and (for something different) mulch the soil with organic matter. Mulch not only improves moisture retention, but keeps the soil cool during the extreme heat spells, encouraging the all-important soil life that will feed and improve the health of your plants and increase the ability of soil to get wet and stay moist.

How much mulch do you need? In many ways, the more mulch the better - the main limitations are availability, cost and time to spread it. However, it’s very much the case that anything is better than nothing. Mulching of whole gardens beds, or planting areas is great, but if you have trees scattered in lawns make sure you mulch to at least the width of the canopy and certainly no less than a metre around each tree. Come and check out our coir fibre blocks, palm fibre mulch mats, sugarcane, “not just mulch” and tree guards, for great products to help establish your plants.