Wildlife Lovers, Here are the 3 Reasons Why You Should Leave a Patch of Bare Soil in Your Backyard

It can be tempting to create a perfect garden, with every square inch tended and cultivated. Not only is this level of perfectionism difficult to achieve, but it’s also not great for your native wildlife. If you can think of a part of your yard that is currently a little weather-worn and dry, it’s hardly surprising now that early flowering annuals are starting to die back. So what if I were to tell you that you can do your bit for Mother Nature simply by leaving a patch of that soil bare and empty?

The elements you need to create a wildlife garden don’t have to be complicated, and they don’t have to detract from the aesthetics of your outdoor space. They can be as simple as one or two bare patches that easily blend into cultivated areas. You might be surprised at how much this small concession can help native bees, butterflies, and birds thrive in landscapes that are often unfriendly and sterile for wildlife.

With midsummer still baking hot in many places, our backyard creatures face a grueling daily battle for survival. Scorching sun and drying water sources create challenging conditions. Any gestures of help you can give your wildlife matter, but one of the most powerful gestures you can offer is simply leaving a small patch of raw dirt untouched. Find out why exposed soil is vital for native bees, butterflies, and birds this summer.

How to Create the Best Patch

You don't need fancy landscaping or expensive soil amendments to prep your spare wildlife patch. In fact, keeping it simple is the best way of giving key species what they have relied on for hundreds of years. Native ground-nesting pollinators prefer unimproved, natural soil over rich, heavily composted potting mixes. A dedicated patch just 2 feet by 2 feet (60 cm square) is all you need to make a huge impact. Whether sandy, loamy, or clay-heavy, this soil is fine, as long as it isn’t compacted by heavy foot traffic or treated with synthetic fertilizers.

While you don’t need to do much to treat the soil itself, it’s worth making sure you have some native plants next to your patch of earth. Grouping sun-loving perennials like purple coneflower, black-eyed Susan, or monarda nearby ensures that emerging pollinators have a source of energy inches from their front door. You can buy black-eyed Susan from Fast Growing Trees as pre-potted arrivals, plus American Beauties Native Purple Coneflower from Plant Addicts to support your patch. These vibrant perennials will create a nectar-rich perimeter around your bare earth.

3 Reasons Wildlife Needs Bare Earth

Even though many natural habitats are shrinking, our yards can be vital corridors of life for resident bees, butterflies, and birds. Leaving exposed earth is one of the easiest, most rewarding ways to sustain sensitive species during the brutal heat and extremes of summer. Here are 3 ways a simple patch of dirt can serve and protect your local ecosystem.

1. Helping Ground-Nesting Bees

When we think of bees, we tend to picture honeybees in hives. But most bees, including most native bees in your yard, are not communal and don’t live in hives. Iridescent green sweat bees, mining bees, digger bees, and cellophane bees live mostly solitary lives. The females dig tunnels in the soil to create chambers that hold pollen, nectar, and eggs. These burrows are essential for their life cycles.

Dense turf, mulching, weed barriers, and landscape fabric all stop native pollinators from building burrows. If you have covered every inch of your yard with barriers, these solitary pollinators will struggle to find shelter and will be less likely to visit your flowering plants. So keep that dusty patch of soil free. After heavy rains and heat, you might see a crust on the soil surface. Just scratch across the top few inches gently with a cultivator or hand rake, to help mining and sweat bees to dig their chambers.

To give them an extra boost, add a hydration station. Pretty Bee & Butterfly Drinking Flower from Uncommon Goods lends delicate color to your patch, while providing extra service to thirsty bees. Alternatively, fill a shallow water dish with a little water and some Natural River Rocks from Amazon. These are flat and gently textured to help pollinators drink safely.

2. Helping Butterflies with Puddling

It’s not just native bees that need patches of soil. Butterflies also benefit from little spots of bare soil in your yard. They use small, muddy spots for a behavior called puddling. If you’ve seen a flutter of swallowtails, red-spotted purples or monarchs in a patch of driveway dirt, you’ve witnessed puddling. This damp soil is being used to extract minerals and salts. Males are reliant on this practice to extract sodium and minerals, which they pass along to females during mating to help with eggs.

You can create puddling spots naturally by letting your patch of earth collect water after a rain, or after you’ve watered your beds or the lawn. To make a simple mineral station, find a 6-inch (15 cm) terracotta saucer, like the Pennington Terracotta Saucer Tray from Lowe's. Lay this level with the soil, fill it with a little earth and a splash of water, and keep it moist to create a puddling pool for swallowtails and monarchs.

If you like, you can sprinkle a tiny pinch of unrefined sea salt, wood ash or compost over this damp dirt. Keep this mud patch lightly moist throughout July and August. As summer winds down, migrating monarchs will rely on these quick mineral pitstops to fuel their long journeys south. They will also appreciate any late season nectar-rich blooms you can provide, like coneflowers and monarda. You can buy Sugar Buzz Grape Gumball Monarda from Plant Addicts. In late summer, butterflies also use nearby bare patches to bask in the sun and warm their wing muscles.

3. Helping Songbirds with Dust Baths

Many of your local birds also rely on areas of dirt. Sparrows, wrens, robins, towhees, and others use bare dirt patches for dust baths to remove parasites and clean their feathers. Watching a cheeky wren, junco, robin or sparrow fluffing fine, dry soil into its feathers is one of the most enjoyable sights in a wildlife-friendly garden. And all you need is a little bit of soil that is soft and powdery to attract birds to dust-bathe.

When birds are shedding and regrowing flight feathers, access to this powdery soil gives them great comfort. During summer, birds struggle with mite infestations that can compromise flying. Dust-bathing helps them absorb excess feather oil in humid weather, and it can trap cool air. Birds also ingest tiny bits of sand and fine gravel. These particles stay in their gizzard to help them crush hard seeds and beetle shells.

You can support your patch by making sure it is near a bird bath. Keep the bird bath filled with fresh water, and replace it regularly. It’s also a great idea to add a solar fountain or a water wiggler, like the Solar Water Wiggler from Walmart. Moving water attracts many more birds than standing water. One of the most efficient solar fountain add-ons is the Mademax Solar Powered Bird Bath Fountain Upgrade, available from Amazon. These little extras all help to create a safe, quiet retreat.

Where to Place Bare Patches

It’s beneficial to have these bare areas a little out of sight. Tuck them into back corners of the yard, or near the edges of flower beds. A bare patch in the middle of a turf lawn won’t be much help to wildlife, and it won’t look nice. Any old random patch of uncovered soil will help your local wildlife, but to help the animals while honoring the aesthetics of your yard, there are a few simple ground rules (so to speak).

Pick a sunny spot, so your bees, butterflies and birds can absorb heat and warm themselves. Aim for a south or east-facing spot that catches early morning sun rays. Ground bees need that initial solar warmth to warm up their flight muscles on cool summer mornings. Make sure it’s a quiet area that’s relatively undisturbed by people and pets. Also, make sure it is well-drained, and not completely soggy (allowing for a spot that you want to keep moist for puddling pollinators).

Avoid steep slopes, where summer thunderstorms might wash away loose soil or drown bee burrows. Tuck bare patches along gentle borders, under the lee of a shed, or beneath low-hanging native shrubs like serviceberry or arrowwood to give small birds quick cover if they spy a predator. You can buy Proven Winners Blue Muffin Arrowwood Viburnum from Nature Hills for extra canopy protection above your hard-working patch of soil.

Maintaining Your Patch

Yes, you can leave these spaces alone, but you’ll help wildlife more by maintaining them just a little. Check moisture levels regularly. Ideally, your bare patch needs to have a puddling area and a spot that always stays dry for dust baths and burrowing. Place a few small stones in the areas that puddle to help wildlife with access. Don’t let soil in dry areas get too compacted. When needed, give the soil a little raking to keep it loose. If you’re after a good soil aerator, the Fiskars Hand Cultivator from Amazon is great for gently breaking up soil for ground bees and birds.

Avoid using pesticides near these areas, or you’ll risk inadvertently killing your native guests. Ground-nesting bees spend up to 11 months underground in these burrows, making them exceptionally vulnerable to chemical runoff. Plant ornamental grasses or wildflowers to hide some of the bare dirt from view, while also supporting wildlife with cover and food sources. You can also edge the soil patch with stones or logs, like Amosfun Log Edging from Walmart. This gives your tiny wildlife habitat some natural looking definition, while offering daytime shade for beneficial toads.

Make sure you maintain that dual-texture in your wildlife-friendly patch. Keep one half loose, powdery, and sun-baked for dusting birds and mining bees. Meanwhile, keep lightly dampening the other half for puddling butterflies, frogs, and local toads, which will shelter under your edge logs during the day and feast on pests by night.

Shop Summer Wildlife Care

Round off your wildlife-friendly patch of earth with a few thoughtful wildlife treats. This handpicked summer bundle is tailored to nurturing a safe, comforting retreat for ground-nesting bees, fluttering butterflies, and dust-bathing songbirds. The perfect accompaniment for your bare soil habitat, these little upgrades will keep your wild visitors happy, hydrated, and nourished all season long.

Wildlife Trio

Making a little space for local wildlife doesn’t have to be a big chore, or mean that you leave things messy and untended. So, the next time you're tempted to fill that spot with one more bloom, consider leaving just one sunny area alone. That seemingly empty space could soon be one of the busiest and most important spots in your yard.

Need more ideas for timely gardening jobs and seasonal expert advice delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for the free Gardening Know How Newsletter!