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I've recently bought a house (after 25 years of council tower blocks) and am now the very proud owner of a long, narrow, south facing garden (roughly 20' x 110') that i want to turn into a wildlife garden. The plan is to have the first part of the garden as dappled shade, shrubs/hedges/small trees and the bottom part more open, sunny meadow/wildflower/pond type habitat. There is a sycamore about two thirds of the way down the garden on the west boundary. It's currently about 30' high. I gather it is likely to get much bigger. I hate to remove any established tree but i'm concerned it may end up doing more harm than good. Do i remove it and plant a different tree or leave it alone?
Hi ameliajane, my sycamore is about double the size of yours! It is obtrusive in some ways, and it's a pain getting the leaves up every autumn - but it's home to Cyril the Squirrel and his family plus Rodney the Rook and his family so I guess I'm stuck with it!
From my experience although they do grow very big the rate of progress is very slow, so you'll hardly notice it until one day in 20 years time you'll suddenly look at it and think 'Blimey - that's grown big!'
Hi ameliajane, well done on the house! I bet its much better than tower blocks in terms of wildlife. It would be interesting to post pictures up as you progress and see the difference :)
Cheers, Jason
Having your own garden is so exciting. Its a great time of year to have a wee look round + see what you have inherited + whats worth keeping.
If you are concerned about the sycamore getting big (+ it will) but you don't want to take it out you could get it trimmed every few years so that it stays roughly the size it is.
As Jason says we love to see photos of how you are doing.
'In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks' John Muir.
Excuse wobbily dyslexic spelling!
Thanks for replies and encouragement. I think i'm going to keep the Sycamore and maybe have it trimmed if necessary. The great thing about the garden is that it's been quite neglected for a very long time, so it's already quite wild and natural looking. There are 2 Goat/Pussy willows (at least, i think that's what they are!) and a very small Ash - both of which, i gather, are good for wildlife and a few shrubs.
It had been used by the previous owner as a rubbish tip and i've already removed 77 (yes 77 - i counted!) black bin bags of rubbish; we've done 12+ trips to the tip with car loads of junk, 1 van load to the scrap metal dealer and the council collected 12 large items including matresses, beds, cupboards and a toilet..!
Still have a long way to go but i've already counted 15 different species of bird (including a black cap!) and my initial single chaffinch and single house sparrow have turned into flocks.
Only problem now is having to tear myself away from the garden and the binoculars to sort out the house - which is also a tip...
You will enjoy your new garden, and have fun getting it how you like it. A long term project me thinks,but well worth the effort.
As you have said, keep the Sycamore, ad lop when necessary. After all , the birds need to land to view your garden.
Good luck in your new home, and if you take photos, we all love seeing them.
A T B, Steve.
Take care all, Stich.
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