Further help and inspiration
The specialist gardening suppliers will all provide varying degrees of information about their products on their websites and in their catalogues.
- The Conservation Volunteers runs practical training courses in various outdoor skills including wildlife gardening.
- Garden Organic (the working name of the Henry Doubleday Research Association HDRA) – generations of experience of organic gardening: the first port of call for organic gardening in the UK. Their Guides and Factsheets are available online to members or can be bought for modest sums.
- The National Federation of City Farms helps those who wish to set up a community garden.
- The Natural Gardener website contains detailed information about the products they sell.
- The Organic Directory is a comprehensive directory of organic produce and services hosted by the Soil Association.
- Organic UK is a site for independent advice and support for UK organic gardeners.
- Don’t forget local organic gardening clubs – experienced gardeners are a mine of information.
- Permaculture is a design approach and philosophy which appeals to the growing movement towards thinking in terms of integrated systems and of working with nature, rather than imposing piecemeal upon what is naturally there.
- The Pesticides Action Network offers online gardening tips, and detailed factsheets on dealing with common pests as safely as possible, plus advice on safe disposal of unwanted pesticides, including a database of local council facilities.
Wildlife gardening help and inspiration
- Space for Nature wildlife gardening forum – a website for people interested in the wildlife in their gardens and for gardeners who want to actively encourage wildlife. Packed with information and inspiration, including timely information about what to do and what to look out for.
- Wild About Gardens – a thorough look at the hows and whys of wildlife gardening, from The Royal Horticultural Society and The Wildlife Trusts.
- The Bat Conservation Trust gives advice on attracting bats to your garden.
- The British Dragonfly Society sell a booklet called Dig a Pond for Dragonflies.
- The British Hedgehog Preservation Society is dedicated to helping and protecting hedgehogs native to the UK and provides advice on caring for and encouraging hedgehogs in the wild and in your garden.
- Ernest Charles Wildlife Gardening Catalogue – includes a wide range of bird feeders, bird food, and wildlife gardening products as well as branded products raising money for The Wildlife Trusts.
- Flora locale is a registered charity that encourages, across Britain and Ireland, the wise use of wild plants for planting schemes that have wildlife in mind. It provides guidelines on planting for biodiversity and its website includes, among much other information, details of suppliers of native plants and seeds, including native trees and shrubs.
- The RSPB are an invaluable source of information on wildlife gardening for birds in particular, and also on the controversial issue of pet cats and wildlife.
- Wiggly Wigglers sell an imaginitive and practical range of wildlife supplies, from bird boxes and books to live meal worms, bug houses, and hedging plants.
- For armchair inspiration, check out Wildlink, where webcams bring the wild residents of a Devon farm straight to your screen.