Creating Your Ideal Garden by Attracting Wildlife and Planting Vegetables

TAKING YOUR GARDEN TO NEW HEIGHTS

If you live in an apartment, your only opportunity to garden may be on a balcony or roof garden — and both can provide a wonderful retreat from the grayness and stress of urban life. Clearly, if the area where you intend to make your garden has not been used for this purpose before, it is vital to have the site examined by a contractor who can tell you whether it is sound and suitable for the purpose. Once you have the all clear, you are ready to begin the transformation. There are only two practical limitations to your flights of fancy: use lightweight containers and soil mix to keep the overall weight down, and, since everything will need regular attention – especially in summer – include a convenient access point in your design.

On a balcony, adorn the walls with hanging baskets, windowboxes on brackets, and mangers all planted for year-round interest, and encourage climbers to grow up the walls or spill over the front. Choose scented varieties so you can enjoy the bonus of perfume wafting in through open windows. Cluster smaller tubs and containers into attractive groups, moving them around to bring each plant to the fore during its season of glory, or simply to alter the overall effect to suit your mood of the moment.

Roof gardens can be treated in a similar fashion as balconies, with combinations Pof plants in containers. But, since roof gardens tend to be more windy, you may need to erect a windbreak or grow hardy plants around the outer edges. Using tall plants to filter the wind will also screen the garden from the envious stares of your neighbors! See also "Balconies," and "Room at the Top".

A WILDLIFE GARDEN

Gardening with the local wildlife in mind is increasingly popular in these environmentally aware times. Some may see this as a convenient way to let your garden run wild without having to feel guilty about it, but in fact a successful wildlife garden demands considerable planning and maintenance – although the diversity of wildlife it will attract more than compensates for the amount of time and effort involved.

Many of the wild plants suited to this style of garden are not as compact and upright as their cultivated cousins; this fact, coupled with their tendency to seed freely, gives a relaxed and tranquil feel to the garden and encourages wildlife to hide and feed undisturbed. However, it also means that the whole system must be kept in check by a firm hand if it is not to get completely out of control.

Wildlife garden essentials include at least one area of dense cover planted with native species and a selection of shrubs and trees to provide berries and nuts through the lean winter months. A pond is also important, since it provides breeding, drinking, and bathing sites for a huge number of creatures. And if you can create boggy areas around the margins, then so much the better, since this increases the diversity of available habitats even further.

Wildflower seed mixtures selected to suit your soil type can be used to add some color while the rest of the garden is developing. Let the lawn grow slightly long, then allow wildflowers and clover to seed freely. The effect will be as attractive to humans as it is to insects and animals. See also "A Wildlife Garden,".

FOOD FROM YOUR GARDEN

Nothing beats the taste of homegrown vegetables picked fresh from the garden. Though it needs a lot of attention, a productive garden proves very rewarding.

Making the site ready for planting is often hard work, but you needn't tackle the whole area at once. Establish the heart of your productive garden, and then expand gradually when you need more space and have the time to clear it.

Whatever the size of your plot, you will certainly need at least one compost pile, or preferably several, and an area set aside for a leafmold pile. Intensive cropping takes a heavy toll on the soil, so digging in lots of well-rotted organic material is essential to keep it in good shape.

Another useful addition is a greenhouse. preferably supplied with power and heat. Though this will add to your initial expenditure, it does mean you can grow some exotic crops as well as raise your own vegetables from seed and produce early and late crops. A selection of cloches and frames also helps stretch the growing season and provides winter protection.

With these basic items of equipment, you should be able to grow a good range of staple crops and a few of the more unusual varieties as the fancy strikes you. See also "The Edible Garden," .