Creating a lizard garden

Outcomes

Students will build lizard gardens by planting indigenous poa grasses. Students can also learn how make artifical rocks to place in their lizard garden.

Background Information

We are so busy cleaning leaf litter, bark and other natural debris from our gardens that there are few homes remaining for lizards. In fact, lizards are disappearing from our suburbs.

Small skinks eat tiny invertebrates. They require a wide selection of hiding places and can often be found under logs and rocks. They also need rocks in the sun to warm themselves.

Materials

Wildscape plan, sunny planting site (weeded), mulch, Poa Grasses and other indigenous plants, gardening tools, bits of bark and logs. To make artificial rocks you will need: cement, sand, stone and concrete colouring.

Let's begin

Locate an area of garden in your schoolground that receives morning sun. The ground should not be rock solid.

Either use your Wildscape plan to guide where to place your plants or set your plants out in the pots on the ground. The plants should be spaced at one plant per square metre. Spread a thick layer of mulch around your plants. If you are adding trees or other taller shrubs, make sure the area will still receive morning sun once the plants are mature. Poa grasses (tussock grasses) are ideal plants for skinks and other lizards. They provide homes to many of the insects eaten by skinks and provide perfect hiding spots. Spread leaf litter, bark, rocks and logs through your lizard garden. These will provide other homes for skinsk and insects.

Rocks are important for your lizard garden as they provide sunning platforms for your lizards. Students can make their own cpncrete rocks. These look natural, are good for sunning and the lizrds can hide under the flat surface. To make your rocks: dig a hole in the ground and create the desired shape for your rock. Mix cement, sand, stone and concrete colouring. Pour this mixture into the hole and allow it to cure. After a day, remove the concrete from the hole and position it in the garden.

No matter what kind of sunning platforms you end up using, plant some poas next to the sunning spots so that the lizards can quickly disappear when there is danger.

It's best not to try and catch lizards as the smaller skinks and dragons are fragile. The larger lizrds also bite! Once your garden is established, sit quietly nearby and watch out for skinsk and other new residents.

links

The Gould League: http://www.gould.edu.au