Why promote biodiversity in your garden?
A garden rich in biodiversity is a living, balanced, and more resilient garden. By welcoming insects, birds, and small amphibians, you create an ecosystem capable of naturally regulating pests, pollinating your plants, and maintaining soil fertility.
Good news: there's no need for a large plot of land or big resources. With a few simple actions and a bit of creativity, you can transform your garden into a natural refuge.
1. Build an insect hotel using recycled materials
Pollinating insects (solitary bees, bumblebees, hoverflies, ladybirds) play an essential role in the reproduction of plants.
Materials: pallets, hollow bricks, bamboo sticks, pine cones, straw, pieces of drilled wood.
Time: 1 to 2 hours.
Tip: place it out of the rain, facing south or south-east.
Impact: a shelter for hundreds of beneficial insects for your flowers and vegetable gardens.
2. Create bird shelters
Birds help to regulate populations of insects and slugs.
Ideas: install birdhouses, hang fat balls in winter, and leave some natural hedges for nesting.
Tip: avoid trimming hedges before the end of summer to avoid disturbing the nests.
Impact: more diversity, fewer pests.
3. Create a shelter for bats
Bats are excellent allies in limiting mosquitoes and harmful moths.
Materials: untreated boards, screws, saw, dark natural paint to attract heat.
Time: 1 to 2 hours of DIY.
Tip: fix the shelter more than 3 m off the ground, on a south-west facing wall.
Impact: up to 2,000 mosquitoes consumed per night per individual!
4. Create a pile of stones for amphibians and small reptiles
The piles of stones are genuine refuges for toads, lizards, and slow-worms.
Materials: reclaimed stones, broken tiles, pieces of concrete.
Tip: place them in a shaded and damp corner.
Impact: amphibians regulate slugs and other small pests.
5. Leave a pile of wood or logs in a corner of the garden
This pile will shelter wood-boring insects, hedgehogs, and decomposing microorganisms.
Tip: leave the logs half-buried, sheltered from the wind.
Impact: accelerates natural decomposition and enriches the soil.
6. Create a "dead hedge" or branch fence
A hedge of branches piled between two posts is an ideal shelter for small wildlife.
Materials: branches, hedge trimmings, wooden stakes.
Time: 1 hour to 2 hours depending on the length.
Impact: refuge for birds, hedgehogs, insects and fungi.
Ecological bonus: an elegant way to recycle your green waste on-site without removing it.
7. Create a small water feature
A simple buried basin or a mini pond attracts insects, birds, and amphibians.
Tip: install a stone or a board to allow the animals to get out.
Impact: promotes the reproduction of amphibians and the hydration of wildlife.
8. Planting nectar-rich flowers
Pollinators love nectar-rich flowers: lavender, sage, echinacea, cosmos, clover, verbena from Buenos Aires…
Tip: spread the flowering from March to October to feed the insects throughout the season.
Impact: maintenance of local bee and insect populations.
9. Reduce mowing and let it grow
A lawn mown every 3 weeks instead of every week allows microfauna and wildflowers to thrive.
Impact: more plant diversity, and meadows that shelter butterflies, bees, grasshoppers, and insectivorous birds.
10. Ban chemical products
Pesticides destroy soil fauna and beneficial insects.
Alternatives: natural manures (nettle, horsetail), mulching, compost, and crop rotation.
Impact: a living soil, more fertile and resilient in the long term.
In summary
Developing biodiversity in your garden is primarily a matter of common sense and observation. Every action counts, even in a small space. By transforming your "green waste" into shelters, your stones into refuges, and your flowers into sources of food, you create a sustainable natural balance.