Designing your Yard to Eliminate Destructive Wildlife
In Australia, wildlife can pose a big problem when it comes to keeping your yard clean and tidy, especially if you live in a rural or semi-rural area. Wild animals can damage plants, dig up garden beds, and can even break fences and other objects. Fortunately for you, decent landscape designers can help you craft the perfect animal resistant garden – to a point! After all, sometimes it is nice to see some of our wildlife enjoying our garden as well.
If you can’t afford to or don’t want to use a landscape designer, then the following tips and tricks will help you build your yard to eliminate destructive wildlife:
Build good fences:
In many cases, simple fences are all that you need to keep most Australian wildlife out. Things like kangaroos and other large herbivores that can damage and destroy gardens can be safely kept out by well designed fences.
If you do decide to go down this road, then you should consider using a fence which compliments your garden design. Rather than installing a simple colorbond or picket fence, go for something more inspiring and more creative – it will be worth it!
Take steps to discourage digging:
Another major problem in urban gardens is digging. This can come from a variety of animals, depending on where you live, but is actually a relatively simple problem to prevent. In many cases, simply building a sturdy fence will prevent most digging animals from entering your yard, but if it doesn’t, or if you don’t have a fence, there are other things that you can do.
First, try and reduce the amount of bare dirt you have around your yard. Consider paving or covering paths and other naturally bare areas, or plant a robust covering grass like kikuyu. Use some sort of mulch in your garden beds to reduce access to the dirt around plants, and before you know it, your digging problem will be solved!
Be careful what you plant:
If you know that you have or are going to have problems of some sort with wildlife, then you should think carefully about what you are going to plant in your garden. Things like fruit trees and other vegetables are usually very attractive to small mammals and birds, and should be avoided if you have a problem.
Embrace the wildlife that does come around!
If you know that you have wildlife in your area, and you enjoy having little animals around, then you should design your garden with them in mind! Rather than trying to exclude them, accomodate for them and expect at least a little damage. Simple things like installing bird feeders and ponds and planting native vegetation will ensure that you have a variety of native birds and animals visiting your backyard regularly.