The Bug Snug: An Easy DIY Insect Habitat by OmVed Gardens
Photography by Will Hearle, courtesy of OmVed Gardens, unless otherwise noted. Every so often a DIY project comes across our Instagram feed that stops us in our tracks–as was the case when Omved Gardens shared a video tutorial on building a “bug snug” for hibernating insects. John Gaffney, the landscape gardener at Omved, says inspiration for the bug snug came from a visit to the Royal Horticultural Society’s Wisley Garden last fall. Gaffney demonstrates how to create the frame for the bug snug. Choose a position for your snug in a sunny spot if possible. Gaffney tied the poles together informally; if you want to get fancy, you can use a clove hitch to create a proper tripod lashing. Step 2: Gather your cuttings. Gaffney gathers the materials to fill his frame. You can use almost any garden cuttings to fill the frame: lawn clippings, dried-out flower stems, small sticks, but anything with a hollow center is particularly good for insects. A completed bug snug at OmVed Gardens. Once you’ve gathered and cut all your material, you can start layering within the frame. He suggests you can try to vary the materials in layers (like a trifle or a lasagne) from sticks, stems, and leaves to grass clippings and dead flower heads. Photographs by Sarma Ozols. At Governor’s Island in New York, hollow stems of rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium) are among the clippings that fill its bug snug. If you make your own bug snug, you’ll be joining a host of other gardeners.