Turning your garden into a haven for wildlife

‘I needed to make a pact with the voles. They can eat what they want after it has flowered, not before,’ says Beth McFarland. Photograph: Stephen Miller/Alamy

I couldn’t agree more with your article on bringing wildlife into your garden (Build a hedgehog highway! 33 ways to welcome more wildlife into your garden, 26 June). If all of us who own a garden or other outdoor space could do one or two things to encourage wildlife, it would have a huge impact. There is a difference between gardening for wildlife and rewilding, and that is scale. I don’t have a large garden, so planting needs to earn its place. The trees I planted have blossom and fruit; I have three ponds, birdhouses and bee hotels; and I make sure I plant open flowers for pollinators. I was amazed how quickly the wildlife came.

Elliot Lane

Brighouse, West Yorkshire

• I live in Germany and have a garden that was a haven for my daughter and her friends growing up. I can’t bear imposing a hierarchy of my own devising on it, so I only subdue the real bullies such as ground elder and ground ivy. There’s wildlife, and I needed to make a pact with the voles. They can eat what they want after it has flowered, not before. Once they have munched their way across the garden, the ground is perfect for replanting.

I’ve given up buying fancy stuff; we know what works and what wouldn’t last a night of slugs. I wholly recommend listening to your garden and all its inhabitants.

Beth McFarland

Karlsruhe, Germany

• I do almost everything suggested in your article. I compost, grow vegetables, have a log pile and a little pond. But I also have a large rat living in my shed, judging by the piles of rat dropping every morning. I block all holes, wash all evidence away, disinfect etc, but back he comes daily (my ultimate nightmare is that he is a pregnant she). Nothing discourages him. Any thoughts of how to get rid of him?

Geraldine Blake

Worthing, West Sussex

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