Sunday, November 08, 2009

Critters In The Winter Garden~


Do you ever just walk around your property, garden, or yard in search of critters ?

The summer season usually brings an abundance of critters in all forms...snakes, lizards, frogs, bugs of all description, butterflies, bees, rabbits, birds, hawks, and some I can't recall at the moment.

Do you know where they all go for the winter ? Have you thought about and do you make your area inviting for the overwintering of garden creatures.

One easy way to accommodate many of the friendly residents is to build a habitat that makes them feel safe and protected.

This can be done with old logs or garden timbers, some brush, tree limbs, a few large rock pieces and some leaves for warmth.

Stack the logs/timbers crosswise until they are about about 24 inches from the ground.
Cover with all the other materials and secure with loads of leaves around and on top of the fort.

Build this as far from the day to day activities as possible.
Make sure there is a fresh water supply somewhere on the property.

This will attract all manner of lizards, and salamanders.

Rabbits overwinter in my Rosemary shrubs.

We make certain to keep seed in the bird feeders all winter and they never fail to give us a beautiful show every day.

With a small amount of preparation the spring will greet us with a ready supply of critters to start the new year in the gardens.

Now...make sure you enjoy the wild turkey and the deer during the November month.

Happy Fall~

Bea Kunz

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Bea, in the urban area where our apartment is located - fortunately among many mature trees, our very evident 'critters' are squirrels. It seems that they are well able to survive winter because there always appear to be twice as many around when Spring and Summer return. No doubt they survive the adverse elements because they are so active, and according to legend, they bury enough during the summer to get them through the winter. (A good example for all of us?)

BeaK. said...

Good Morning Richard,

You are absolutely correct, the squirrels need no help in surviving the winter, and it is a fact that they bury food just for this purpose...in fact, they love using my herb beds for this project.

I see them all winter digging up breakfast, lunch and dinner.

They are destructive and we discourage them all we can....but, they are not easily intimidated as you no doubt already know.

I suppose squirrels have to live too~

Happy Day~Tea is on the way !

Bea Kunz