Winter Garden Tips for Beneficial Wildlife

Five Ways to Recruit Free Help (aka Beneficial Wildlife) in the Garden

For gardeners, the winter season is often bittersweet. While it can be a relief to take a break, many of us miss spending time out in the sun with our hands in the dirt and harvesting the delicious fruits (and vegetables) of our labor. Winter can be a great time to set ourselves up for success by thinking about our behind-the-scenes helpers—the beneficial birds and insects that make our garden healthier and more productive. The best part is that most of the things these “helpers” need means less work for you now, not just during the growing season.

1) Leave the Leaves

If you haven’t raked up all the leaves in your yard yet, good for you! Consider taking the ones that are mucking up pathways or paved areas and using them as mulch in your garden, but leaving (pun intended) the rest. According to the Xerces Society, one of the most valuable things you can do to support pollinators and other invertebrates is to provide them with the winter cover they need in the form of fall leaves and standing dead plant material. The vast majority of butterflies overwinter as an egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, or adult and use leaf litter for winter cover. Bumble bees also rely on leaf litter for protection. Some gardeners argue that raking leaves controls slugs and root weevils. However, evidence suggests that it actually increases the populations of these pests by eliminating the hiding places of predatory beetles. Leaving the leaves can create habitat for a variety of beneficial insects and microbes, increases organic matter in the soil, and contributes to overall soil health. Read more reasons to leave the leaves here.

2) Wait on Cutting Back

When you look outside this time of year and see lanky, brown stalks with spent flowers and seed pods, it’s tempting to want to get outside and tidy things up. But there’s a benefit to waiting. It is important to remove tropical fruits and vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, eggplant, potatoes, and bush beans or any crops showing signs of disease. (Note: Avoid adding plants affected by disease to your compost pile to prevent bacterial or fungal issues from being transferred to new crops.) However, we often get a little overeager to cut back flowers, herbs, and perennial stalks throughout the yard. Letting plants to go to seed allows them to complete the growing cycle and shift into dormancy for winter, which helps them survive colder temperatures. Those seeds are also vital for birds like chickadees, finches, juncos, and bush tits. In addition, many native bees rely on stems for nesting habitat. Check out this article and the graphic below to learn more. 

 3) Embrace Some Clutter

Do you have any brush piles leftover from projects last season that you never had a chance to clean up? Or maybe the wind has brought down some new branches? Brush piles provide important shelter for wildlife and attract insects that provide food for birds, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals. So, what’s in it (literally) for your garden? Insect-eating birds can use your pile for a hiding place as they hunt, going from brush to garden and back again. Frogs, toads, salamanders and snakes often hide out in brush piles after eating snails, slugs and other pests. Beneficial predators like mantises and ladybugs also overwinter in brush piles. 

4) Evaluate Your Habitat

Winter is also a great time to take a look at some of the other elements you have in place for wildlife. Do you already have bird baths? Ideally, they should be shallow (no more than two inches deep) and near evergreens or shrubs. How about bird nest boxes? Now’s a great time to buy them as a holiday gift, or build your own for a fun winter project. Different birds require different sizes and openings, so be sure to use the right kind. The Washington Department of Wildlife has diagrams and instructions here. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology also has some great information on nest boxes.

5) Layer Up

Layers of vegetation are also critical for wildlife. Do you have corridors of continuous foliage with a range of different heights, including groundcover, shrubs, and trees? Native plants are one of the best ways to provide habitat for birds and pollinators. They’re also important for attracting beneficial insects such as predatory beetles. These beetles make homes in strips of native plants nestled alongside crops, often referred to as beetle banks. (Learn more about beetle banks here.) Fortunately, our Annual Plant Sale is coming up soon, so start planning and get your list ready! (More information on the plant sale next month!)

For more information on what you can do to prepare your garden for this spring, check out this Lawns to Lettuce webinar.