Why a Lively Garden Makes Better Reading

There is a particular pleasure in settling into a garden chair with a book and a mug of tea, only to be interrupted by a goldfinch landing on a teasel two metres away. A garden that hums, flutters and chirrups is a garden you actually want to spend an afternoon in, and the good news is that you do not need acres to create one. A modest corner, a sunny wall or even a small courtyard can support a surprising amount of life once you give birds, bees and butterflies what they are looking for.

Wildlife gardening is not a separate project from outdoor living. It is the same project. The planting that feeds a bee in June also gives you something lovely to look at over the top of your book, and the pond that attracts damselflies is a genuinely lovely thing to have beside a bench. Here is how to build the two together.

Plant Native Flowers That Earn Their Keeps

Native and near-native plants tend to support far more insects than highly bred ornamentals, largely because our bees, moths and butterflies evolved alongside them. You do not need to turn the whole garden into a meadow — a border or two, planted generously, will make a real difference.

• Foxgloves — brilliant for bumblebees and long-tongued bees, and happy in dappled shade. They seed themselves freely once established.
• Ox-eye daisy — cheerful, tough, and a favourite of hoverflies and small beetles.
• Field scabious — a nectar powerhouse that flowers from midsummer into autumn, just when bees need it most.
• English lavender — plant it near your seating area, in full sun and well-drained soil, and you will read to a constant soundtrack of buzzing.
• Teasel — statuesque, architectural, and the seedheads feed goldfinches right through winter.
• Birdsfoot trefoil — a low-growing native that is a larval food plant for the common blue butterfly.
• Wild marjoram — small pink flowers, superb for solitary bees and butterflies, and useful in the kitchen.

The key is to plant in drifts rather than singly. Three or five of the same plant together will draw in far more insects than the same plants dotted about. Above all, resist the urge to cut everything back in autumn — seedheads and hollow stems are winter accommodation for insects, and they look wonderful frosted.

Add Water — Even a Washing-Up Bowl Will Do

Nothing transforms a garden for wildlife quite like water. A pond of just one or two square metres will be colonised within weeks by pond skaters, water boatmen and, if you are lucky, a visiting dragonfly. Sink an old washing-up bowl, a Belfast sink or a rigid pre-formed liner into the ground, ideally where it gets sun for at least half the day.

• Include one gently sloping side or a ramp of stones and pebbles so hedgehogs, frogs and insects can get in and out.
• Plant a little hornwort for oxygen, plus water mint and marsh marigold around the margins.
• Keep no fish — they eat everything you are trying to encourage.
• Fill with rainwater where possible, and top up in dry spells so the level stays steady.
• Leave a wilder edge of longer grass and stones, which is where frogs will shelter.

Site the pond a comfortable distance from your reading chair. Close enough to watch the activity, far enough that you are not bothered by midges at dusk.

Build Shelter in Layers

Food brings wildlife in; shelter keeps it there. A layered garden — tall trees or hedging, mid-height shrubs, then ground cover — offers nesting spots, roosting places and corridors to move along. If you have space for only one structural change, plant a mixed native hedge of hawthorn, blackthorn, hazel or holly.

Smaller additions are just as valuable. A log pile tucked behind a shrub provides overwintering habitat for beetles and solitary bees. A shallow dish of water at ground level helps birds and hedgehogs. A bee hotel fixed to a south-facing wall, at least a metre off the ground, will be occupied within a season if you keep it dry. And please do avoid pesticides and slug pellets in a wildlife garden — the whole point is to let the predators do the work.

Choose a Reading Spot That Suits Both of You

Position your bench or chair with its back to a hedge or fence, facing the busiest border. You will get shelter from the wind, and the insects will come to you rather than the other way round. Dappled shade under a small tree is ideal for long summer afternoons, while a sunny spot near the lavender is perfect in the shoulder seasons.

Keep a small table for your book and mug, and leave a metre or two of longer grass nearby as a mini-meadow. A gravel or bark path through the planting makes the whole area feel intentional rather than neglected, and it gives you a reason to wander out with a book in hand.

Keep It Going Through the Seasons

Wildlife gardening is largely a matter of doing a little less, a little later. In spring, hold off on the big tidy-up until temperatures are reliably above 10°C, so overwintering insects can emerge. Through summer, deadhead only what you need to for tidiness and let the rest run to seed. In autumn, leave fallen leaves in corners and resist cutting back seedheads and stems until late spring. In winter, keep the pond ice-free by floating a small ball on the surface, and top up bird feeders regularly.

Do that, and you will find the garden rewards you in the most restful way possible: a busy, beautiful backdrop to every chapter you read, and the quiet satisfaction of knowing you built it.