"He who plants a tree, plants a hope." -Lucy Larcom
Bat Boxes: If you are considering erecting a bat box, it is important that you have a sunny location in mind with reasonably tall trees (or a building that you do not mind mounting the box on) and a water source nearby. Once these conditions are met, building a bat box (or, for that matter, several bat boxes) is a good investment: it will both give bats a home and help lower the population of insects, such as mosquitoes, around the area. They are also very small (two feet or so wide) and low-maintenance once bats have actually inhabited them. One can either buy a pre-made bat box, or construct one. If you choose to build one, it is important to carefully choose a design and location to ensure that bats will actually settle there. Below are some website with instructions for building bat boxes, as well as general information that is good to know: http://www.batmanagement.com/BatHouseManual2010.pdf http://www.nwf.org/pdf/Garden%20for%20Wildlife/SingleChamberBHPlans.pdf http://www.batcon.org/pdfs/BHBuildersHdbk13_Online.pdf
Coming soon: -lists of nature-friendly plants to put in backyards -instructions for building a compost pile