What to plant

[Rob the Radish]

I have a small area of my veg garden that i am thinking of sacrificing for wildlife, i was thinking of planting some flowers, something ni ce to look at, but also will attract beneficial wildlife for my veggies, bees, ladybirds etc.

Any suggestions, i have a 6 foot wall they could be grown against so fairly sheltered.
The area is about 8 metres by 4 metres, although i dont have to use it all !!.

Thanks for any help.

Rob.

[taff]

borage, nastutiums, phacelia [sp?], sweet peas, lavender, poached egg. Thos are the ones I know either bees love, or black fly love.
The beauty of borage is it'll self-seed too, so no need to do it year after year. You do have to pull out any in the 'wrong' place though Next doors nasturtium seems to self seed well, but mine either never grows or never grows the next year. Phacelia haven't grown, but will put some in places that aren't any good for veg next year. Bees love purple coloured things too, or seem to....
Someone will be along soon.....

[mothhawk]

All the above that Taff says, plus:-

With that much space, you could put in a fruit tree or two for spring nectar - apple, cherry, pear, plum etc. Also for spring flowers, pulmonaria, dead nettle, heather, bugle, broom, bluebell.

Early summer - chives or any alliums left to flower, comfrey, rosemary, thyme, honeysuckle, perennial wallflowers, sage and other salvias, foxgloves, cranesbill type geraniums, and for trees/shrubs, ceanothus, wisteria, cotoneaster.

Mid to late summer - marjoram, hyssop, catmint and any of the mints really, rockrose, sunflowers, loosestrife, red clover, delphiniums, blackberry.

Basically bees like simple flowers with lots of nectar, favouring small cross-shaped flowers most, and as Taff says, they do seem to go for the purples and lilacs first. Hoverflies love poached egg plant flowers, butterflies go for nectar.

Shrubs and bushy plants give them somewhere to shelter in bad or rainy weather, and you can add ladybird and bee houses in sunny spots to encourage them to overwinter.

A cool, damp, shady spot will encourage frogs and toads, a few large stones or cut logs tumbled together in a corner or against a wall or fence would work.

Can't think of any more offhand, but I'm sure others will.

[Helgalush]

My lavender, borage, sunflowers, scabious, thyme, oregano/marjoram, violas, and nasturtiums have had bees all over them, and lots of ladybirds too.

[Rob the Radish]

Jeez, thats a lot of info there, thankyou very much for taking the time to reply.

I am not in a position to plant any fruit trees or shrubs, unfortunatly as i would love to. but it is not my garden and i am only working it.

I have planted some green manure to over winter, but wanted to plant an area up at some point for next years wildlife to enjoy. i will probably only do a small bed at one end, 1mtr x 8mtrs, and possibly a row of something down the side of the veggies. say a foot wide about 30 metres long. i really like the idea of bees and ladybirds so will look into creating a habitat for them and hopefully get them to overwinter with me.

I dont think i will be able to do habitat for frogs and toads as it is a very dry garden and drains too well really, although i have a wall on two sides it gets a lot of sun and no shady/damp areas in sight.

I have a chive bed already and that usually proves a good favouriite, also i will be having onions, leeks and garlic going to seed so will look forward to what they bring in.

Have planted some crimson clover that i am planning to leave to go to seed, that should encourage something, what i want to do now is get some bright colours in there, marigolds etc, great idea about the sunflowers, will deff get some of those in somewhere as i love seeing them.

So now i need to find some borage as thats interests me, Rosemary and thyme, some lavender, mint i already have.

Thankyou for all the info, i need to get looking for some seeds and planting times now !

May also look into finding ways to keep some bees and lady birds over winter.

Thanks, Rob.

[Two_Sheds]

I dont think i will be able to do habitat for frogs and toads as it is a very dry garden ... no shady/damp areas in sight.

You'd be surprised ~ my lotty is virtually on sand, I have no ponds nearby that I know of, but I have frogs
They only need ponds to breed in: the rest of the time they shelter & hunt in long grass. Shade is easy enough to create too

[salome2001]

interesting to read all these replies as we are thinking of doing the same thing on our plot (though hubby also wants to sink some black plastic and give the frogs a pond too)
Does anyone know if any seed manufacturers do a "bee flower mix" or similar packet of seeds?

[Helgalush]

Yes I have seen collections like that in the Organic Gardening Catalogue - there's some on this link: The Organic Gardening Catalogue

[salome2001]

thanks for that, had a look, might see about a catalogue