Dear Readers, it’s been ages since I’ve done a garden post: we’ve been having our windows replaced and then painted, and in a moment of madness I also asked the painters if they’d paint our bedroom (so the screaming monk is now gone). It’s all lovely, but I’ve been mostly living in Caffe Nero on East Finchley High Road to try to get away from the racket, and the disruption, and the dust. Oh lordy, the dust. Anyhow, my thoughts have finally turned to the garden. The lilac is the best that it’s been in years, the scent in the garden is delicious. The plant must have known that I was giving it a sideways look, as I consider how hard to prune it. Maybe a little bit of a hair cut is called for, but nothing too drastic.
Now, I have plans for the pond. If you look at the first photo, you’ll see that the pond is surrounded by a ring of stones. This was all the rage a while back, but it’s actually not very good for wildlife – little critters can actually roast to death on the hot surface. So, my pal Matt at Green Ravens Horticulture is going to help me remove the stones (well, he and his new sidekick are going to do all the heavy lifting while I make tea) and replace them with wildflower turf – this will make a much softer, more friendly edge, and should provide a bit more cover for the little frogs when they enter/leave the pond. This is all going to happen in early June, once my exams are over for the year (4th June! Keep your fingers crossed for me!)
And the hawthorn and the whitebeam are finally starting to put out shoots and leaves, after an anxious few months when I was convinced that the very hard prune that happened last year had killed them. Fortunately not, but it will definitely take a couple of seasons before they’re back to their former glory. In the meantime, the woodpigeons and starlings are very happy, perching above it all like vultures in the Serengeti….
So, Readers, what’s happening in your garden? Do share¬
I always enjoy seeing your garden!
Apart from umpteen sacks of moss and several trips to the tip, 😌 our garden is starting to bloom and come to life. As we didn’t move in until last July, everything is ‘new’ and it’s quite exciting to see. Hopefully we haven’t managed to kill off anything! 🤞🤞
Not a lot going on in my back yard at the moment, I need to get out there and see how everything has survived the winter….
My tiny little pond in a bucket has started blooming. The marsh marigolds are so bright! I’ve also got my first crop of slime algae. Too be expected as it all settled down. I looked up advice on dealing with it and someone mentioned throwing in watercress. Well, I was actually rooting some leftover from a salad so I ‘threw’ it in this morning. Apparently it consumes excess nutrients and adds shade. Well will see!
I am really sceptical about stones being a problem. No end of natural water features are stone edged and I’ve never seen and pond life witlessly straying into a boiling hot rock. The problem you will have with turf, I suspect, is that it will rapidly suck the water from the pond and require you to top it up with tap water, because you’ll never have enough water butts to keep up. A better alternative might be random dead logs and branches which will break down, provide cover and lack the spongy nature of turf.
Morning Trevor! The turfs aren’t going right round the pond so I may well try your branch idea in one area. The pond is over a metre deep in the middle so hopefully the turfs won’t be too thirsty, fingers crossed! And a friend found some dead froglets stuck to the stones in her garden so there can be an issue…