container garden illustration

How to create a container garden for wildlife

Pots and containers are a great way of introducing wildlife features onto patios, or outside the front door. They are also perfect for small gardens or spaces like window ledges or roofs. Herbs, in particular, make good container plants and attract lots of wildlife.

Sow your own mini wildflower meadow in a windowbox, line a pot with plastic to make a potted pond or use walls to create vertical herb displays.
Runner beans growing in a old tyre ©Eden Jackson

Runner beans growing in a old tyre. Eden Jackson

Upcycle something into a plant pot

You can use anything you like for planting! How about... Watering cans, chimney pots, old kettles, holey boots, metal pails and buckets, paint tins, pans and colanders, old sinks - or even bathtubs!

Make a hanging basket

  1. Line the container or basket with an old woolly jumper cut to size, or choose a solid basket.
  2. Fill with peat-free compost.
  3. Start planting! Put in a tall, central plant followed by smaller plants around it, and trailing plants through the sides. Here are some ideas:
    Cool blues: aubrieta, lobelia, wild pansy, nepeta
    Hot reds: marigolds, fuchsia
    Neutral whites: sweet alyssum, erigeron, ox-eye daisy
    Tall central plant: knapweed, scabious, lavender, snapdragon, pot marigold
    Herb smellies/eatables: verbena, tomatoes, chives, thyme, rosemary, parsley, sage, strawberry, dwarf lavender
    Trailers: ivy, nasturtium, honeysuckle, sweet Pea, lobelia ’pendula’ 
  4. Continue building up plants and compost until about 5 cm from the top.
  5. Feed once a week and water frequently in summer.

Make a meadow pot

  1. If needed, make drainage holes in your container, drill 0.5-1cm diameter holes into the bottom of the pot about 15cm apart.
  2. Cover with rocks.
  3. Half fill with peat-free compost.
  4. Start planting! How about:
    Cool blues: cornflower, wild pansy
    Hot reds: poppy, corncockle, pheasant’s eye
    Soft yellows: corn marigold, corn buttercup 
  5. Continue building up plants and compost until about 5cm from the top.
  6. Feed once a week and water frequently in summer.
  7. Sow each year.

Sweet violets in tea pots

Sweet violets in tea pots

Petunias in a hanging basket

Petunias in a hanging basket

Hanging basket ideas

Hanging basket ideas

Plants potted into old tin cans

Plants potted into old tin cans

Long hoverfly on cornflower

Long hoverfly on cornflower

Hanging pots on a painted pallet

Hanging pots on a painted pallet

Container pond
Edda Dupree

Make a container pond

How to create a mini pond

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More ways you can help pollinators

shrub garden illustration

How to make a shrub garden for wildlife

Information page

Woody shrubs and climbers provide food for wildlife, including berries, fruits, seeds, nuts leaves and nectar-rich flowers. So why not plant a shrub garden and see who comes to visit?

Make a hedge illustration

How to make a hedge for wildlife

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Hedges provide important shelter and protection for wildlife, particularly nesting birds and hibernating insects.