Gardens throughout the year

Unknown said:

I thought it my be interesting to have a thread showing our gardens and the way they change throughout the year.  Here's mine looking a bit of a mess at the moment -

I di leave most of it uncut over winter to give the insects more places to spend the winter - well thats my excuse - I was probably just being lazy.

 

Best wishes

 

Stoat

Hi stoat My excuse too ;o)

Shane

Hey Stoat,

When you said in your last thread that your garden wasn't that big, I gulped! it's much longer than ours we've only got at the most a 45ft deep by 40ft width garden and most of that is taken up with ivy on either side!

I'm the same, our garden is a mess too, we don't clear either until Spring time - I can be often heard saying in a loud voice to anyone who will listen " Oh it's more beneficial for the insects" but I wonder if it's actually more beneficial for me! LOL

I love looking at other peoples gardens. I was out the other day cleaning out the pond and moving a few perennials. I haven't  taken many photos recently as the garden looks so bare. I have a large garden but this is how the pond looks at the moment. (Note the piles of leaves around the edge, proof I have been doing some gardening LOL)

On a brighter note, the snowdrops are out!

 I still have loads of clearing up and planting to do. I leave my garden over the winter, I have always preferred to clear up in spring.

it is a pretty good size for a town garden but the one behind is much bigger and the garden for the house i grew up in was massive.  my dad was a farm manager so had to live in the farm house.  my brother had a chicken pen about the same size as our garden!

I'd love a bit more room for a bigger pond but otherwise I'm pretty happy with it. 

 This is where I'm planning to put the raised wild flower lawn.  Didn't realise quite how bad that bit looks!  There are a few primroses in there that I think i might have to transplant before i put the weed matting down as there one of my favourite flowers.

 

Cheers

 

Stoat

this was ours on new years day ..........

jo re-stocking one of the feeders..yeah i'm indoors.........brrrrrrrr

Hi Stoat. What a brilliant idea for a thread, I love looking at peoples gardens. I don't think I can upload photos but I will describe mine: its a small, urban garden bounded on 3 sides by a 6' wooden fence which I have covered with ivy. I have squeezed in 4 birch trees, a rowan tree, an ash tree and a willow tree as well as a small pond, dry stone wall and a patio. The gaps are filled with a variety of shrubs, bird baths, containers and small gravelled areas for the dogs convenience. I use a lot of recycled materials, partly to save money but mostly because I like them. I too leave my tidying up till spring, I say its for the wildlife but its mostly because I don't sit out so much when the weather's cold so I can ignore the mess! My biggest challenge in the garden is protecting things from the attentions of my dog! I could not imagine living without a garden. Best wishes, Ness.

Hi Drexl,

I'd forgotten what gardens looked like in the snow - very nice until it all turns to slush.  Having said that I bet your garden looks great in the spring/summer too with all those trees around.  Also, it looks like you've got Jo well trained too (only joking if you read this Jo).

 

Ness,

We have to try and keep everything in our garden safe from something called Charlie (our nearly 3 year old son).  He's into everything!  I lived in a first floor flat for a while and hated not having a garden.

 

Cheers

 

Stoat

Lovely thread this. Wish I could show you mine but no camera, no technoskills, no hope - big sigh! We're developing ours as previous residents were not big gardeners and in some ways it's a difficult site being on a hill with some of it having solid rock beneath thin top soil - this area is about a thrid of the garden and is mainly moss (blackbirds and thrushes love it), white clover (bees love it) and fungii in winter. This area forms a sort of natural glade with a dry stone wall (lots of things love that including slow worms) topped off with a Devon bank with lots of ivy. Someone in the past has banked some soil around the edges and various shrubs have grown to form a barrier to the lane. We've added pots with Japanese acers, a pieris, a stone bench, some statues and this is a lovely place to sit and eat.(Which we did yesterday) At the top of the hill is an old brick outhouse with mature ivy-which provides good cover for birds, berries and I expect lots of insects. Behind the outhouse there's a view of the country house park, the rookery and lots of wonderful mature trees including oaks - nice. That's where I see roe deer occasionally (there seem to be 3) and I have seen a hare and a huge dog fox. There's a ridge with trees, which look lovely when skeletal and skylined in winter - the rookery is up there. Watching the rooks come into roost is a wonderful in winter. Coming down from the outhouse and the view of the park there's a scrubby bit of woodland forming a third boundary, this has blackberry, alder, hawthorn, blackthorn and various other trees beyond that I haven't as yet identified (too busy moving in and anyway, I'm not red hot on trees).This is a great area for birds to eat, nest, roost or just hang out keeping their beedies on the feeder situation, it is rarely disturbed. The fourth boundary has the neighbour's largely native hedge, heavy on the honeysuckle that weaves in and out of the shrubs and trees, there's an old apple in there too - birds love it. Himself ha built a pond at the top of the garden in front of the outhouse and coming down the slope beside the wood, we've dug various beds for veg, perennials and my beloved wildflowers. The turf we've removed is stacked in various places to form loam piles. As there are steps up into the garden, buying in compost, manure and so on is tricky because getting it up into the garden would be very hard, hence the turf piles to produce nitrogen rich loam, eventually. As the surrounding area is variously scrubby woodland and soft, rounded hills, the beds we've dug are geometric not only to contrast but because it's easier to edge them, because with no edges the soil would drift down the hill.

So we've been blessed with lots of natural advantages when it comes to wildlife and birds and I've had visitors I've never had in previous gardens, nuthatches, treecreeper and brambling. I've never had as many tits and siskins either but am missing collared dove, starling and sparrow - odd.

1. winter looking down the garden [chickens kept over to the right behind green fence ]
2. maytime my fav month looking up the garden 
3. ongoing project base laying with me son for summerhouse [hopefully]

i to love looking into other peoples gardens ...spose im just a nosey bugger lol

Lovely pictures Chavinch, and who is the hairy coated helper in picture 3 - looks a poppet - hard to tell if son is also a poppet from this angle, but the hairbag looks a sweetie.