1. Start with the Soil — It's Where Everything Begins
Look after what's underground and you'll help everything above it.
A handful of healthy soil can contain an extraordinary community of living organisms. Earthworms, fungi, bacteria and other soil creatures work together to break down organic matter and make nutrients available to plants.
And when your soil is healthy, your plants have a much better chance of being healthy too.
You don't need to dig everything over or add lots of products. In fact, some of the best things you can do are surprisingly simple.
Add compost, keep the soil covered, grow a variety of plants and avoid disturbing the soil unnecessarily.
Even leaving fallen leaves to break down in your borders helps feed the soil life underneath.
Choose this if: You want to build a healthier garden that naturally supports more wildlife.
Pairs well with: Wiggly Worm Compost, SOIL & SENSE Compost Culture and our worm composting range.
2. Turn Your Waste into Wildlife Food
Your kitchen scraps can help bring your garden to life.
Instead of sending peelings and other compostable material away, why not turn them into something useful?
A wormery transforms suitable kitchen scraps into rich worm compost. Bokashi lets you ferment a wider range of food waste, including cooked food, ready for the next stage of composting or soil processing.
And a traditional compost heap is a wonderful habitat in its own right, supporting decomposers and other creatures as garden waste breaks down.
Whichever method suits you, you're keeping valuable organic matter in circulation and helping build the soil that wildlife depends on.
Choose this if: You want to recycle your food and garden waste while improving your soil.
Explore: Wormeries, Bokashi Composting and Compost Culture.
3. Make Room for the Bugs
Little creatures do some very big jobs.
Beetles, woodlice, solitary bees, spiders and countless other invertebrates help pollinate plants, recycle organic matter or provide food for other wildlife.
Our Bug Box offers additional shelter for some of these useful garden visitors.
But don't forget the free accommodation! Old logs, fallen leaves, hollow stems and undisturbed corners can provide excellent habitats too.
Choose this if: You want more beneficial insects and a garden that's full of life.
4. Feed the Pollinators
Give bees and butterflies something to visit throughout the year.
Grow a mixture of flowers, herbs and shrubs that provide nectar and pollen from early spring into autumn.
Even flowering clover in the lawn can help. And leaving some stems and seedheads standing over winter provides extra shelter.
Choose this if: You want to encourage bees, butterflies, hoverflies and other pollinating insects.
5. Bring in the Birds
A garden full of insects is already a great start for birds.
Many garden birds rely on insects and other invertebrates, especially when raising their young.
Add trees, shrubs, seed-bearing plants and safe nesting opportunities, and you've begun creating a proper habitat rather than simply somewhere to hang a feeder.
You can also offer supplementary bird food and fresh water to enjoy watching your visitors up close.
Pairs well with: Farmer Phil's Bird Food, Seasonal Mix and Wiggly Live Mealworms.
6. Help Birds with Their Nest Building
A little help when there's a lot of building work going on.
Our Nesting Wreath provides suitable natural materials for birds to collect when they're building their nests.
Hang it in a sheltered position and enjoy watching to see who comes to investigate.
Choose this if: You want to help nesting birds and enjoy seeing what they get up to in spring.
7. Make Your Garden Hedgehog-Friendly
If you've got healthy soil and plenty of invertebrates, you're already helping hedgehogs.
Hedgehogs naturally forage for beetles, worms and other invertebrates, so a garden that's alive underneath is a good start.
Help them further by leaving safe, sheltered areas, making a small hedgehog highway through your boundary fence where practical, and putting out fresh water.
You can also offer suitable hedgehog food as a supplement to their natural diet.
Choose this if: You want to make your garden more welcoming to hedgehogs.
WHY WIGGLY?
We've been bringing gardens to life since 1990, and here on our Herefordshire farm we're putting many of the same principles into practice on a much bigger scale.
Healthy soil, fewer unnecessary inputs, more organic matter and more room for nature.
Because whether you're looking after a window box, a back garden or a whole farm, the principle is the same.
Look after the soil, and the soil helps look after everything else.
