Deadwood within the Backyard | The Peterborough & Space Grasp Gardeners
By Lois Scott, Grasp Gardener
It was my sister that put the notion in my head that I would love a snag in my backyard and the current ice storm supplied the chance. A regular Serviceberry cultivar was too damaged to save lots of but it surely left an inexpensive and protected trunk for my smallish backyard. It additionally left some small logs to tuck below shrubs.
Lifeless wooden offers optimistic impacts to biodiversity as many helpful species are on the seek for useless wooden. ‘A few of these species embrace cavity nesting birds and mammals, beetles, fungi and different vegetation and helpful bugs. Decaying wooden positively impacts soil maintaining your backyard sustainable for years to return’. https://ecologicaldesignlab.ca/web site/uploads/2024/12/04_good-garden-practices.pdf
Ecologically talking a snag refers to a standing useless or dying tree, usually lacking a high or a lot of the smaller branches. A snag is also called a den, cavity or wildlife tree. The next hyperlink (Ottawa Area Naturalists’ Membership) offers a superb description of the significance of wildlife timber to wildlife. They supply meals, protected cavity nesting websites and platforms, roosting and denning websites, looking perches, show stations and foraging websites for all kinds of species. https://ofnc.ca/conservation-how-to/the-importance-of-snags-and-downed-logs-to-wildlife.
Security first so have an authorized arborist advise you on the appropriateness of a possible tree.
Lifeless wooden that’s mendacity in your backyard is a wonderful addition. It will likely be shortly colonized by pure decay fungi generally known as saprophytic fungi, my new phrase of the day! These fungi assist recycle the carbon and vitamins saved in woody tissue again into the backyard soil which advantages your vegetation. A small pile of logs can assist many alternative bugs and supply shelter for small mammals, reptiles and amphibians and shelter for over-wintering and hibernating wildlife. https://www.rhs.org.uk/wildlife/dead-wood-compost-heap-habitats This may increasingly not make everyone’s coronary heart sing however I like the thought.
The small snag I now have could also be extra ecologically helpful as a go browsing the bottom however I’ve some concepts for it. I plan on offering some assist on it for a vine, perhaps a Apios americana (American Groundnut). There’ll most likely be a small birdhouse connected. The brand new logs have joined different decaying wooden that I exploit as backyard edging and backyard ornament.
One man’s rubbish is one other man’s treasure!
