Create wintering places for beneficial insects

Make the garden animal-friendly and not too tidy

The first motto in autumn is: Don't cut back too much and please don't clean everything up. Hollow stems and dead wood in particular are natural retreats for wild bees and other insects. In addition to this, you can use a Insect hotel(€ 11.83 at Amazon *) set up in a protected place.

Piles of leaves and brushwood, tree bark and dead wood serve as shelter for ladybugs. the Aphid hunter overwinter here in large groups and should not be disturbed.

Shelter for hedgehogs

Hedgehogs not only look cute, they also destroy many pests such as Nudibranchs. In winter, however, they are dependent on our help, because the natural winter quarters have become rare.

Do not remove all the leaves in the garden, but pile them up in large piles with pointing. Also a thick hedge or the protected space under the

Garden shed(€ 60.76 at Amazon *) serve as a welcome hiding place for the spiny animals. If these options do not exist, you can alternatively build a hedgehog house or purchase it from a specialist retailer.

Feeding birds - the right way

In some gardens the feathered friends are in a bad way with natural food. It is therefore advisable to give the animals additional feed. When setting up a bird feeder, make sure it is cat-safe. It should be constructed in such a way that the grain cannot spoil or be soiled by the animals.

• Use high-quality feed mixes from specialist retailers.
• In addition, you can offer fatty food.
• However, you should do without Tit dumplings(€ 9.99 at Amazon *) in the web. Feed spirals and silos in which the dumplings are placed without being wrapped are better.

A suitable place for toads and amphibians

Frogs and toads have become rare in our gardens. Since the animals eat a lot of pests, it is worthwhile to offer them suitable hiding places. A frost-free pile of leaves or compost and caves in the ground are the preferred winter quarters.

If the garden pond is more than a meter deep, it will be populated by frogs even in winter. Underwater plants, overlying reed stalks or a running filter pump freeze the water surface not too and the oxygen saturation in the water remains so high that the amphibians enjoy the cold season survive.