G’day readers,
We’ve just added a ‘Home & garden‘ section to the DOC website. It’s one for all you green thumbs out there, that would like to see more of our native species in your backyard (well who wouldn’t really, apart from those whining people that complained about tuis in their backyards).
A local backyard. Photo: Sam O'Leary
We’ve got all sorts of information for you here, and I hear there’s more to come. What we’ve got at the moment includes:
- Plans for building weta motels
- Weed and pest identification sheets
- Plans for making your own pest tracking tunnels
- Tips on how to tone down your feline so that it’s impact on native animals is minimised, and
- Printable lists and charts of what plants you can plant at what time of the year, to attract native species.
Kowhai flower photographed in my backyard. Photo: Sam O'Leary
A couple of valuable sections are the ‘Attract birds to your garden‘ and the ‘Attract lizards to your garden‘. Some people don’t realise we have native lizards, let alone that they can attract them to their backyard. They’re some special little creatures that are only found here, and are an important part of New Zealand’s biodiversity.
A Wellington green gecko, photographed in a friends backyard. Photo: Sam O'Leary
These are some great resources if you’re into photographing our native wildlife. I’ve got no green thumb, but I do take a few photos. There’s nothing more satisfying (and convenient) than getting that great shot in your own backyard.
A native flower in my backyard. Photo: Sam O'Leary
Thanks for reading, and let us know how you get on with your garden. I’ll be printing this stuff out and taking it home to the flatmates, no doubt about it.
