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Edible Gardens & Wildlife
Having a wildlife friendly backyard with resident possums and native birds doesn't mean you can't have a productive food garden as well. In fact many of our native wildlife species are actually beneficial in a food garden and can help with free, natural pest control and pollination.
By attracting and working with different native wildlife species you can also minimise your need for and use of harmful chemical pesticides, which can damage your soil and kill non target species.
There are some of our native species that that have developed a taste for our nutritious home grown fruit and veggies and often exclusion or deterrents from accessing certain plants or garden beds is the best response. There are currently many different products on the market and some cheaper and innovative home ideas to deter and prevent species such possums, birds and fruit bats from beating us to our much anticipated crops.
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Useful Tips and Facts
- Create urban wildlife corridors and stepping stones to larger local bushland or parkland areas.
- In nature there is no such thing as waste everything is linked and contributes to the cycle. As a plant reaches the end of its life cycle it is not discarded by nature, instead it provides habitat for animals and food for micro-organisms as it lies on the ground, the waste from the micro-organisms, bacteria and fungi feeding on it replace nutrients and organic material to the soil for new plants to grow.
- Plant local native species
- The best way to attract native wildlife to your backyard is to provide a variety of healthy natural foods in the form of seeds, leaves, flowers, nectar, pollen, fruits and nuts throughout the year.
- The use of pesticides and herbicides can damage your soils and kill non target species. The poisoning of insects with chemicals can also cause larger species relying on those insects as a food source to become sick or even die from eating poisoned insects.
- To create habitat for smaller native birds you can grow shrubs close together to create dense corners or pockets in your garden which will provide protection and refuge from larger aggressive birds such as noisy miners
- Wattles (Acacias). While most wattles only live between 6 - 10 years, they are an important pioneer species which colonise disturbed areas, where other plants find it hard to grow. They improve soil conditions enough to allow other species to germinate and thrive by fixing nitrogen into the soil through their roots and adding high levels of organic leaf litter.