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A garden a few streets back from the sea is a particular kind of challenge. Salt-laden winds scour exposed foliage, the soil often drains too freely or bakes hard in summer, and anything tender gets shredded by the first westerly gale of autumn. Yet those same conditions make a coastal plot a superb habitat. Seabirds, waders, bees, butterflies and the odd passing hedgehog all need the same things any inland garden offers — cover, water and food — and the plants that cope with salt and wind are usually exactly the plants that wildlife wants.

You do not need a large plot or a big budget. A border, a couple of pots and a shallow dish will do. The trick is to work with the coast rather than against it, choosing species that have evolved on cliff tops and shingle for generations.

Choose shrubs that shrug off salt and wind

Wind is the defining force in a coastal garden. It strips moisture from leaves, bends stems and carries salt that burns tender growth. The answer is to plant a shelter belt of tough, dense, native or long-naturalised shrubs on the windward side. Once established they will protect everything behind them, including the wildlife-friendly planting you actually want to look at.

Good, dependable choices for exposed UK coastal sites include:

• Sea buckthorn — silvery, wind-proof and carrying orange berries in autumn that hungry fieldfares and redwings will strip in days.
• Blackthorn and hawthorn — spiny, dense nesting cover in spring, sloes and haws later, and blossom that early bees rely on.
• Gorse — spectacularly tough, flowering for much of the year and a lifeline for early bumblebees. Keep it clipped if space is tight.
• Wild privet and elder — both cope with salt spray, and elderflowers and berries feed insects and birds in turn.
• Euonymus japonicus — glossy evergreen foliage that stands up to the worst gales and provides year-round shelter for small birds.

Plant in autumn or early spring while the soil is still warm or warming, water well through the first two summers, and resist the urge to prune hard for a few years. Wildlife needs the bulk of a shrub as much as you need the shelter.

Plant for seeds, not just flowers

One of the most useful habits you can adopt is to stop deadheading and stop cutting back in autumn. Seed heads left standing through winter are a larder for finches, sparrows and tits, and the hollow stems shelter overwintering insects. In a coastal garden this is doubly valuable, because winter food can be scarce on bare, windswept ground.

Plants that earn their keep well past their flowering peak include teasel, whose spiky heads are a goldfinch favourite; honesty and its translucent seed discs; globe thistle, which dries beautifully on the stem; and fennel, whose feathery seed heads catch the light and the birds alike. Native grasses such as tussock grass and sea thrift are worth having too — thrift is a coastal specialist, forms a neat cushion, and its pink flowers are visited by a surprising range of small bees.

Leave the tidying until late February or March, once the worst of the weather has passed and the birds have moved on to nesting. Even then, cut stems into a loose pile in a quiet corner rather than carting them to the tip.

Add water, however small the space

Water is the single most effective addition you can make. Coastal gardens can be surprisingly dry, and birds, hedgehogs and insects all need to drink and bathe. A shallow dish is far better than a deep, steep-sided birdbath, which can be a drowning hazard for smaller creatures.

• Use a saucer, a glazed pot base or a low planter tray, no deeper than 5 cm at the centre.
• Add a few smooth stones or a piece of slate so insects and fledglings can climb out safely.
• Place it in the lee of a hedge or shrub, where birds feel safe from sparrowhawks and the wind will not tip it dry.
• Refresh the water every day or two in summer, and float a small stick in it to stop anything drowning.

If you have room for something bigger, a sunken washing-up bowl or a small pre-formed pond will bring in dragonflies, damselflies and frogs. Even a buried bucket with a ramp of stones out will be colonised within a season.

Build in cover and leave a little mess

Wildlife needs somewhere to hide. A dense shrub, a pile of logs, a stack of stone or a patch of long grass at the back of the border all do the job. Coastal winds are relentless, so anything that offers a calm pocket is precious.

Try to leave one corner genuinely untidy. Let the grass grow long, allow nettles to stand if you can bear it — they are the food plant of several butterfly species — and leave leaf litter and dead wood in place. A small log pile in a sheltered spot will attract beetles, which in turn feed the birds that visit your seed heads and water dish.

If space allows, a native hedge of hawthorn, blackthorn and wild rose will do more for local wildlife than any amount of exotic planting. It gives nesting sites, autumn berries, spring blossom and, crucially on the coast, a windbreak that lets everything else grow.

Feed the soil and the insects follow

Coastal soil is often thin, sandy and low in organic matter, which means it dries out fast. Digging in well-rotted compost or leaf mould each spring improves its ability to hold water and supports the soil life that underpins everything above ground. Avoid peat-based products and heavy chemical fertilisers, which do little for insects.

Skip the pesticides entirely if you can. A garden that tolerates a few aphids will soon fill with ladybirds, hoverflies and lacewings. Those insects pollinate your flowers, feed your birds and make the whole plot feel alive.

Start small. One shrub, one dish of water and a decision not to cut everything down in October is enough to begin with. Coastal gardens are generous once you give them the right plants, and within a season or two you will notice the difference — more birds at the water, more bees on the thrift, and a garden that feels like part of the shoreline rather than a battle against it.