If you ask most gardeners what they want from their garden, a visually pleasing space that supports local wildlife is something that will come up over and over again. Gardener Daisy Payne - who you may know from ITV's This Morning - has shared her straightforward method for helping the insects and other wild creatures on your plot to flourish.
This time of year is often associated with pruning back various plants in our gardens to encourage fresh growth next spring. However, one of the most beneficial and easiest wildlife garden ideas out there is to leave some plants that are popular with pollinators to do their own thing.
'I like to leave some of my flowers at this time of the year to go over a little,' Daisy Payne tells us. 'Particularly things like stunning salvia because they make a great haven for wildlife as we say goodbye to summer.
Although, she agrees that it’s really satisfying to have a good tidy up at this time of year, which is synonymous with the return to school and a fresh start - no matter how old we are. Doing some simple garden maintenance is one of the many rewarding September gardening jobs to tick off this month, as we embrace the feeling of renewal a new season brings.
'When it comes to pruning, thin back any fruit bushes you have,' says Daisy. 'Rosemary and lavender will also benefit from being pruned ahead of winter.
'Only cut back slightly, going too hard on it may mean it doesn’t recover!' she says. For beginner gardeners, it is well worth taking some time to learn how to prune rosemary, lavender, fruit trees and roses so you feel confident that you know what you're doing.
It might mean that you need to invest in some more gardening tools, such as a set of the best loppers, to prune your favorite plants effectively.
If you want to help the bees as much as possible, there are all kinds of attractive bee-friendly plants to try in your garden. These include beautiful alstroemerias (often called Peruvian lilies), foxgloves, echinops and alliums.
As tempting as pruning and tidying and generally controlling our gardens may be, Daisy's approach shows that sometimes it's a good idea to let go of our desire to keep things neat.
Often, the best thing to do is to do nothing.
Millie joined Gardeningetc in January 2021 as a news writer. When she isn't writing about gardening, she's tending to her small front garden. Her geraniums, dahlias and nasturtiums are looking lovely right now. She recently bought a bench for the garden and is loving alfresco lunch breaks and taking time to notice seedlings growing. She loves picking up some new plants at the local garden centre and is never without some fresh flowers at home.
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