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Tennessee Gardening

Backyard Habitat

18 years ago

We have been working on having a backyard habitat for little 'creatures' in our backyard. It's a small backyard, but you don't need much space. We have a small pond back there, and we let the grass get a little higher than normal because the animals seem to like it that way ( the neighbors don't though lol ). the kids sit out on the back deck alot with their cameras and take pictures of what they see. We've put various bird feeders out there, and have everything from bluebirds , grackels and woodpeckers visit. They have identified and photographed 6 different types of frogs and toads , and there is even a little garter snake that we've caught come from the grass to take a drink from the pond. The rabbit hutches are also back there, and in one that is empty a sweet little wren has built a nest, so she is seen flying back and forth with nesting materials in her mouth. We've also got a little nest of Robin babies in a little space in between the fences. The other night to our amazement, we saw a wild baby rabbit back there ( now how it got into our privacy fenced in backyard I'll never know ). I think it's an amazing learning opportunity for kids to have a backyard habitat. Does anyone else have one, and can anyone give us some tips or advice on how they keep theirs ?

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katiedidcottage
18 years ago
We are in the process of a back yard habitat. We have gotten a bunch of trees from the state forestry commission that are supposed to be the best to attract wildlife. They were freebies, but of course real small. They gave us nutall oaks, sawtooth oaks, red buds, pines, tulip poplars. These are growing fine except for the pines and tulip poplars, but that's another story. We are going to cover up the grass in that large back corner with newspapers and pine straw so we won't have to mow it, we hope. We have an area that we will have to terrace some because of a steep drop off.

Some day we hope to make a little waterfall at the gently sloping area and also a pond there but that's a while away.

When we get finished we will have a naturalized area with pine straw and trees and shrubs with a waterfall and pond. Then the area with the raised vegetable gardens surrounding by the pine straw. Another area will be for entertainment with our barbecue grill, swing, chairs & table on a concrete tiled patio. We also have beginning flower gardens all around the yard. We are trying to get back on all the bermuda grass and mowing that we can so we don't have to be mowing all week long to get the yard finished.

I have a bunny that sneaks through my chain link fence in the evening. It is so cute, but he is eating my impatiens so far and who knows what else he will get hold of when my veggies come in.

Katie
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Backyard habitat
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Comments (31)
I've so enjoyed reading through this tread. My thanks to all who contributed and who take time to plant for the wildlife. Sherry, couldn't help but relate to your story regarding your blackberry canes. I, too, have been fighting the spread of Blackberry canes. I don't know if they were planted by the prior owner or by the neighbor behind me but even with me cutting each cane over and over during the growing season, they had spread so badly they were even beginning to show up all over my small grassy area in the backyard, not to mention the garden beds. Strong canes with terrible thorns that catch at fabric and skin, no matter how carefully the canes are handled. Last year I could see I was losing the battle so I purchased brush killer and carefully sprayed in the spring with the first spring flush of growth, everywhere I could spray without hitting other plants (I used a tall hollow cone to try and contain the spray to each cane). I managed to set back the growth somewhat but couldn't eliminate everything and managed to also kill spots in my lawn. Didn't want to attempt that process again but with this spring's blackberry cane again sprouting all over, I decided to try something new. I cut each growing cane I could reach down to about 6 inches above ground, soaked a cotton ball in full strength brush killer, placed the cotton ball on top of the fresh cut, covered it with a plastic sandwich baggie and used a rubber band to hold all in place. I am proud to say the cane's are dying, even the ones growing up into my neighbors flower beds, where I couldn't place cotton balls. I'm hopeful that with a season of doing this, I can get rid of the underground roots that spread so far and wide. Blackberries are wonderful but for a small city lot, some can be terribly invasive and destructive. Of course, I would not place these covered, soaked cotton balls in an area where pets or small animals might roam. I don't know if wild animals would sense the danger but I doubt if domesticated pets would know to leave them alone. I've wondered if an inverted flower pot placed over each cut cane, with a heavy rock on top, would be enough of a deterrent to keep animals from investigating? My hope is this season will see the end of the blackberry canes on my property! :-) Mary
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Hi Soo Bee, I'm a member of The National Wildlife Federation. I have a smaller prairie started behind my house. I have just added more grasses and I'm going to expand it by about double this year. It has alot of Iowa native flowers too. I've placed bird houses in the bordering trees. I also put in about 150 High Cranberrie buses as a back border. I got them about 3 years ago from the State. We live on a farm, so I do have spaces I can use. We keep a brush pile at the very back of the property also. I went to the National Wildlife Federation web site to find out how to qualify. I am getting more birds than ever. Along with this habitate comes the gophers, moles , voles, and alot of other things you have to manage. All in all, it's great.
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Hooray!! And maybe, just maybe, your ideas will filter through the rest or the government and they'll start using such practices at other sites!! Way to go!!
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I like it. The different appendixes answers a lot of questions in a series of good graphs about many native species. Most of the book is appendix. It also tells you what types of soils, Habitat, sun exposure, height, flower and fruit and the ecological regions a plant grows well in. If they are good for forage, deer resistant, larval food. I use it in conjunction with other books like Sally Wasawski's book, Hill Country Landowners guide by Jim Stanley. Most of the info can be found online but it is in a book all in conjunction with itself and I like that. The book does not effect how I treat my land in the restoration process, but it helps in my choices for revegitating some trees and shrubs.I do not irrigate so things need to be able to thrive in adverse conditions. I have a small bird preserve west of Austin abut 30 miles. I try to attract butterflies so the birds can have dinner. I do wildlife management also. I have gotten much useful info by going and attending seminars with Holistic land Management, A seminar at Bamberger Ranch "Selah" and some that are put on by the county. I am trying to set aside time to do a Master Naturalist class in Hays County.
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