Where Do I Start?

Wildlife-friendly gardening

- By Alan Titchmarsh. Photographs by Sarah Cuttle, Getty, Jason Ingram, Antagani, Tim Sandall, Mypurgatoryyears

For beginner gardeners, getting to grips with the fundamentals can seem daunting. But in this 12-part exclusive series, Alan Titchmarsh is sharing his wisdom to help you master the skills that really matter. This month, discover ways to garden that benefit wildlife and, ultimately, you. Follow Alan's advice and you will learn to see your garden as a valuable ecosytem where pests and pollinators all have their place.

You'll learn about:

• Making your garden a wildlife haven
• Identifying creatures
• Separating pests from pollinators

Wildlife-friendly gardening

You walk out of your back door to the sound of silence. The air is still. There is no movement. No birdsong, no stirring in the leaves. No greenfly on your roses; no slugs munching your hostas. It is the perfect garden. Oh no it isn't! This isn't a garden; this is a lifeless desert. Gardens are living organisms that can - and should support many forms of wildlife. Each living thing in your patch is part of a complex food chain that gardeners have a duty to maintain, and that duty comes with many rewards: you will marvel at the blackbird's song, the whirr of a dragonfly across a garden pond and the earthworms that incorporate organic matter into your soil. Greenfly feed ladybirds, slugs feed frogs and thrushes: we learn to tolerate the wildlife that irritates in order to have a vibrant, healthy garden.

The garden ecosystem