Tag: garden

Making a work of art

From one garden to another. Building a garden is a long term work of art. Here I am at the start with a blank canvas waiting to be filled. Let’s make a start.

Gardens that are portrayed on television are created in an afternoon. Nice.

However in reality it takes an awful lot longer to produce a garden, and just as in any art form requires a lot of planning, thinking, constant changing of mind, and repositioning items so they fit just perfectly.

My previous garden in our old house took me about 8 years to get to a seasoned level, where all planting looked authentic and had been specifically chosen to season in a garden that was north facing. Believe me, winter months were like an episode of Game of thrones, winter came and stayed in our garden for immense periods, whilst our neighbours South facing gardens experienced a much improved and sunnier outlook. I had to plant accordingly and this is what took time. An awful lot of trial and error and sacrifice of a number of plant species.

My previous garden

Having now moved to a new build property you will understand the challenge that now faces me. In new builds you are presented with a stamp sized piece of turfed property surrounded by walls and fencing, and some people like to keep this look. Some go for the “Landscaping” option, basically just putting in place loads of paving stones and decking, to create a low maintenance garden. Each to their own I say, but this option is not for me. I want to recreate my previous garden. I have the time. I want to see wildlife in this garden, I now have an easterly facing garden, and good light from early morning until mid afternoon, it couldn’t be more different to that cold northern facing garden I had previously.

My blank canvas and a lovely rainbow

There are a lot of birds flying around, the majority of them being wagtails, interspersed with a few pigeons, blue tits, robins and a few other small to medium avian visitors. First thing I did here was to put up a bird house on the rear wall before I’ve planted anything. I purchased a house with a blank garden, maybe there is a bird family out there also looking for a new build!

A small birdhouse on the rear wall

The bird bath is in place, brought in from the previous garden, I’ve yet to place it in the best position, I’m just awaiting a few other items prior to this happening.

First thing I want to do is to get some miniature trees in place, and in this case I have five of them lined up to go across the rear fence, these will be the main structures of the garden and everything else will be planted to complement these trees.

The first three smaller trees are the first to go into place, I have two small Salix Kilmarnocks, one of these will be planted either side of a Ceanothus, otherwise known as a Californian lilac. This will create a nice contrasting centre piece, in about three years the Ceanothus will be about 5 or 6 feet tall blooming with beautiful lilac colours, probably peaking in size at about 8-10 feet tall. They can grow taller but it’s my plan to top it out at about 10 feet maximum. The Salix along side will both bloom like miniature weeping willows growing no higher than about 5 feet in height but they will also grow in width displaying lovely foliage as well as furry catkins, its perfect for the smaller garden.

The Ceanothus, with the Salix Kilmarnock on either side.

I have shopped around for the remaining two trees and I was prepared to pay a good price, for two good examples to complete this part of the garden. I discussed my plans with a chap called Jack at a garden centre in the Rutland area and as a result the following two trees were delivered, they are a nice size, too big to be transported in a car.

Amelanchier canadensis (sugar plum)

On the right of the fence is the tree that will be the tallest, this is a Amelanchier canadensis, also known as “Sugar plum”. I purchased this one as the name “Sugar plum” was the nickname given to my wife by her late Father, it seemed wholly appropriate and was just a nice touch. This tree should top out at about 14 feet, it has a lovely mixture of berries and beautiful snow flake type flowers, it will spread well and blend in lovely with the whites, greys, purples and greens beside it. It’s a beautiful tree.

Prunus ‘Accolade’ (Flowering
Cherry)

To the left of the other trees we have an absolute beauty, it’s one of the finest ornamental cherries that you can buy. Even as it was being delivered and moved out of the delivery van, it had a small, appreciative army of bees and pollinators surrounding it, even as I was planting it they remained there, it was a pleasure to see and the tree is a tonic for the eyes, it’s gorgeous. This tree will not grow any higher than the 5 or 6 feet it is already at, however it will bloom outwards creating a cascading display of pink blooms in the spring before showing a display of dark green foliage prior to turning Orange later in the year. It will then lose its foliage before starting all over again the following spring.

These five small trees will supply colour, cover, and hopefully a place of trust for the local birds. The planting that will then take place below them will Hopefully attract bees, butterflies and other insect life that will also support the food chain.

The five trees in place

The trees have supplied the undercoat to the artwork, everything will now be designed and worked around them. I have a couple of good Rhododendrons, one that came from the old house as well as a lovely Magnolia called “Susan” and a young Wisteria planted to climb the rear of the property. Add to that a couple of young Verbernum “Snowball” bushes, I think we have enough to be getting on with, it’s a work in progress.

I have a vision of how this will look in a few years from now and to be honest I’m quite excited about it. And yes, I’m keeping as much of the grass as possible. At the moment it is a beautiful green carpet of loveliness, something I’ve never had before and I intend to keep it.

I will update this post as things develop and get added, but I know this is going to be a lengthy drawn out process. Believe me, it will be worth the wait.

Patience is necessary, and one cannot reap immediately where one has sown.

Soren Kierkegaard

Have a great day.

Cat versus hedgehog

As I’ve written before we have a lovely old non domesticated cat that we inherited with this property. She never enters the house even with all the doors are wide open, she loves the wild and that’s how she lives, I’m sure she is on the title deeds of the house as no one has ever owned her. As I’ve always said she staunchly defends her garden from everything including the foxes of which there are plenty around here. Her name is “Tabs”.

But there is one prickly customer who she has no defence against and that is our hedgehog visitors. When they want food, nothing, including Tabs gets in their way.

Here is a small video as proof, of when I got home this evening, taken through the window after I put some cat biscuits down.

Get out of my way Cat

We are so fortunate to have these visitors, Tabs just sits back and lets them finish their eating, then resumes where she left off.

Have a pleasant and quiet night everyone.

What a beautiful noise..

Just as Neil Diamond serenaded us in 1976 in the middle of a summer heatwave, it was the first song that came to my head when I awoke around 06:30 this morning.

A nice amount of water above us

It was raining. The UK, or at least our little bit of it up here in the East Midlands has been under heatwave conditions for a few weeks now. We haven’t seen a good rainfall for a couple of months now, only the occasional spot of rain, but not sufficient to fill a hollow tooth….of a mouse.

It has been proper raining today, and it reminds me that in one of the upper gutter systems i have a joint that needs attention as it leaks a constant metronomic amount of water on to the downstairs conservatory roof, giving a constant, tap, tap, tap that is somewhat comforting to listen to. My water collection butts around the house are all nicely filling as a result with good fresh water that the plants and baskets love and crave.

It’s a beautiful sound.

I know there are parts of the world that probably only hear or feel this kind of weather on very rare occasions, and for those people, when it does finally arrive it must be super special and spectacular.

But they manage.

Where as here in the Uk or any other part of the so called developed western world, a week without rain and the whole nation starts to panic, water companies that are ripping us off with their inflated prices are telling us to cut down, and then the nanny state kicks in with its list of things you must and mustn’t do. It’s crazy, we’re in a crazy world.

But my part of that world just lays here quite content, I have my metronomic drip to comfort me, I have a cup of tea beside me, and my whole world lays beside me in a comfortable and cool slumber, totally unaware of the weather situation developing around us. She will be happy when she awakes. The plants are happy, the birds are content and for a brief moment the world is good.

Then the weather report comes up saying we are in for another heatwave next week. Oh well, that didn’t last long did it. A brief reprieve from the intense heat was nice, but I can’t complain at seeing the sun, as to be honest that will soon be gone and we will go through a long autumn and winter all praying for its swift return. We can’t have it all, can we?

But it is an absolutely beautiful noise isn’t it?

Have a super day, enjoy the rain, sun or whatever you have in your region. Just stay safe.

Garden therapy

Currently I’m in the west of London in the Sunbury on Thames area. I’ve brought my wife down to spend ten days with her friend as I’m about to embark on a long stint of night shifts. It will allow them to spend good time together. I shall be heading back to the East Midlands later today on my own.

Anyone who reads my posts will know that last year we spent a lot of time down here as her friend went through quite a bad episode of poor mental health. My wife assisted her through that, and helped put her on a care plan and arranged for her to have visits, so she could be checked on regularly to ensure she was receiving the necessary care and attention that she required.

I’m pleased to say all that worked out well, her friend has recovered and is back to her old self, confident and strong willed, you’d have thought nothing had happened. She has been weaned off her medications by the doctor, the welfare visits have ceased and it is so wonderful to see her back to her old self. We all need a little care and attention at times, and it certainly helps. And it’s good to have such a friend as my wife.

Azalea

And the above picture from her garden sums it all up for me. Last year there was none of this, the garden, though well kept lacked colour. This year it is so different and is ablaze with colour. This is what she is capable of, producing things of beauty just like this fantastic Azalea plant.

I’m lucky if my Azaleas get just a few flowers each year. She is so talented when it comes to gardening.

As I’ve always stated, never show envy, always turn that into appreciation and that’s what I have done here, she has such a talent, she is so capable and knowledgeable and I can only appreciate that I will be a better person, a better gardener by listening to the wisdom of those such as her.

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Woo hoo! They’re back…

I was expecting them to come, April is the month that they normally come out of hibernation and at 01:08 this morning the garden cameras picked up the movement of one looking for some grub.

Yes the hedgehog..

Our first hedgehog of 2025

This one is quite a sizeable one so I suspect it’s one of last years batch. We normally have the youngsters visit so I suspect they are yet to come, and this is one of elder lads and lasses that know where the food normally is, so they are doing their rounds to check what’s about.

We’ve a lot more cats visiting the garden now so I will have to put out a shelter where only the hogs can access, as the bloody cats will eat the lot.

Hogs return

Good to see them back, we are so fortunate to get them year after year and we are lucky as we are on a busy main road not far from the city. The garden has been developed for them with easy access, so I guess they know where a safe haven can be found.

Now time to get the hog cam up to monitor them.

Are you busy?

This is the first prompt for days that I’ve been able to answer as I’d already answered those others previously. I’m going to make a slight change to this prompt and remove the word “Hate”. I never use this word as it’s such an awful one, and unfortunately it’s too prevalent in our world at present. I’m going to use the word “Dislike” as dislike can always be improved upon rather than the other word that is just so final. Once Hate is in place. There really is no turning back. So here we go.

What is one question you dislike being asked? Explain

Anyone that keeps an eye on this blog and reads the content will know I’m an individual who likes to keep himself busy. Just look at the projects and stuff I’ve posted recently, and the fact I still have 18 posts still in draft mode and you will see I’m a busy guy. On top of that I am a full time employed individual with a house to run a garden to look after and a wife who loves spending (Bless her x)

My time is quite well planned, so when that phone call comes in asking me, “Are you busy?” That’s when I have a sharp intake of breath. Normally it involves fulfilling tasks for friends and family, giving time that is precious to me and in many cases already accounted for. Now don’t get me wrong, I do not mind helping anyone, there is no greater pleasure in seeing someone’s face light up at the end of a well done project. The thing is I take so many on, that it normally means the same job at my own home is being neglected, it’s always more fun doing the job at someone else’s property for some unknown reason though.

The reason I dislike being asked is that I just can’t damn well say no. Saying no makes me feel guilty but that’s just the guy I am. I guess to me it’s just like that word “Hate” it’s just not in my vocabulary.

So that’s why I dislike being asked this question as I’m just not wired to say “No”.

One day I’ll learn to say it. But that’s not today. And probably even tomorrow.

Hey ho.

Happy days everyone.

The humble Hedgehog

What are your favorite animals?

I thought maybe that I’d answered this question in the past. But a quick search though my history confirms that is not so. I have spoken about them many times in the past (as well as our dogs that are always my very favourite domesticated animal) so my favourite wild non domesticated animal would have to be the humble little hedgehog.

Hedgehog in our garden

I have to make people understand that we do not yet live in a countrified part of the East Midlands, it’s very much the opposite. We live on the Far Eastern edge of the city, ten minutes east and we are in a more rural setting, but then ten minutes in the other direction and we are in the centre of a decaying lawless city that has seen better days. And we have hedgehogs visit on a regular basis, they are urban city dwellers and that is unusual.

We’ve lived in this house for around seven years now and I was always aware from the start that there was something out there at night snuffling around. You could always hear their presence and installing cameras around the house confirmed it, we had hedgehog visitors. We also had them in our previous house down in Hertfordshire so they were very much a welcome visitor.

Another smaller visitor

My garden has been a constant challenge to get right, it is North facing, it is extremely cold in the winter months and has developed over the years into a wonderful little haven for these guys with lots of perennial cover and wildflowers for their delectation. Yes it’s fair to say that when the garden was designed they formed a big part of the consideration as to how it was laid out.

We have hedgehog highways that allow easy access throughout our garden into neighbouring gardens, we have ramps to allow them up the paving as well as small water features around the garden that allow access to water. We also leave cat biscuits out every night to give them extra feed, because as you may well know their natural food sources are dwindling due to decline of wilded environments, yes, another animal the good old human being is killing off probably unbeknownst due to ignorance.

Hedgehog highway signs around the garden. I know they can read but it shows the way to human visitors

It is estimated that in the UK there are less than two million of these animals in existence. They are high on the endangered species list here, considering back in the 1970’s there were estimated to be in excess of twenty million in existence, that’s a decline of almost eighteen million in fifty years. Horrendous.

This is why I try to help and educate people of this animal. It is wonderful when we have guests, that I know we can all sit in our conservatory and at pretty much the same time, they can sit and watch our prickly friends come to visit and eat. It’s lovely to see and they are always happy to see them. Some have even left here and gone and set up similar environments in their own gardens. That’s a win in my eyes.

I believe we have the same family circle visit our garden as they know they are welcome. At the beginning of the year we have them come in and feed in twos and this year we even had three at the feed station at the same time. As they all get older we have the usual territorial huffing and puffing and only one at a time, but they can all be identified due to their differing sizes and attitudes. It really is wonderful.

Three at the feed station

I love these little creatures, I love all wildlife but these guys are different as they need a helping hand. And that’s the very least I or you can do. It’s no sacrifice. Be a friend not an enemy. It’s your choice. Just choose well.

One frightened lady and a lot of Hedgehogs

If you had a million dollars to give away, who would you give it to?

At this very moment it would be going to help a very frightened lady in my family, my niece bless her. She’s had problems all her life and has pretty much won every fight despite the odds being against her. She’s now fighting the toughest fight of her life as the Big C has entered the ring, she doesn’t fully understand, and he doesn’t fight fair. I think a million would go quite a way to get her the best treatment possible.

But I haven’t won it, I can’t pay for that treatment so unfortunately the fight goes on. But we’re fighters and we will be beside her all of the way.

Hedgehogs. 🦔

There are so many little hedgehog sanctuaries around the Uk constantly fighting a battle to save and protect this wonderful little creature of the night. They won’t hurt anyone, they do wonders to your garden, however we as a population are killing them just by going about our daily lives, butchering their environment for crappy estates and making their existence intolerable. Now I have regular hog visitors to my garden as it has been built around them. They have easy access to water and food and a section of the garden that I have classed as the wild part where I know they live. I see them in the garden as youngsters in the early part of the year and only last night I saw one of them in the garden and he is now a lovely fully grown male, quite a lump. Earlier this year I had three at the food bowl at the same time, a first for me, probably all from the same family, I believe I posted the video here: And then we had three..

I love to see them grow and I am so proud of myself that I’ve developed an environment that they feel safe in. And that’s the problem. I’m not in the country, I’m in a city with two horrendously busy roads and occasionally I see them as victims. However I’m really surprised that the majority thrive, and seeing now that the suspected hedgehog population is now less than 2 million across the UK (it was 5 times that only a few years ago!) we need to protect them.

Humankind in its worst form wipes other species out without a thought. If a million dollars, pounds or whatever currency you use could help stop this rot then there would be no second thought, I’d do it.

But again I dont have it so I’ll just keep doing my little bit to help these beautiful little beasts.

And a lot of praying 🙏

Spontaneity

We had a lovely lunch out yesterday, it rained as it always has of late, it was so damned wet that we didn’t get to look around the 38 gardens at Barnsdale created by Geoff Hamilton off of BBC Gardeners world.

As we were pretty miffed at this we made the spontaneous decision to bugger off to Devon a day early so we could benefit from an extra day on the coast.

We left the East Midlands about 16:00hrs and arrived at our destination at around 20:15, a good journey with the only real traffic experienced as we circumnavigated Birmingham’s rush hour.

My god, it’s dry!

It was obviously dark on arrival, very windy and you could hear the waves crashing on the sea walls, the hotel is comfortable and we have had a cracking nights sleep. Just had our first cuppa and the sun is rising, it looks gorgeous out and guess what….it is dry!

Hallelujah

Have a great day all…

Peaceful and fresh air

What does your ideal home look like?

We’re looking at making our final move within the next 18 months. We’ve purchased new in the past and though the house was lovely we weren’t really happy as it was so “perfect” and needed nothing doing to it. We wanted a project, and 8 years later we have a nice house, though it’s not ideal and has been a drain on us both physically and financially.

We’re now exploring the new route again, this time more thought is going into it, we’re looking to move probably only a few miles from where we are as we have family here and we like the general area and I happen to work nearby and don’t want to increase my commute too much if I can help it.

Tabs protecting the garden

Believe it or not, one major issue for not moving just yet is the feral cat we have in our garden, Tabs. When we purchased this house all those years ago, one feature in all the exterior pictures of the sale brochure was this cat posing in all the garden shots. That was “Tabs”. She wasn’t owned by anyone, and all the neighbours had a hand in feeding her, as the neighbours have moved on that has become our responsibility, and she is fed regularly by us in exchange for her living in and protecting our garden. And boy is she good at that. She is getting old now, dosen’t leave the garden much and is very much into her senior years. We don’t want to put her through getting a new set of “Carers” and leaving her to potentially getting neglected by new owners, so we have committed to care for her and see out her final days being looked after by us. Should she then pass away we will be here, we will attend to her and see she is looked after. Only then will we continue our search for an “ideal home”

Tabs

Anyway, what is our ideal hone? To be totally honest we’re not looking for something outrageously expensive and inappropriate for just two people, we don’t want a ten bed mansion we simply want a nicely built and practical house. Three beds would be fine, one of those rooms to become a hobby / office type space. A small to medium garden that is currently a blank canvas for me to develop into a seasoned garden. The garden I have at the moment has taken six years to start reaching a maturity where it is kind of looking after itself and it is beautiful, I would like to do that again. We currently live on a main thoroughfare and the dust and pollution that creates would certainly not be missed. Yes a quieter area, more rural would be nice, and as this is a major route for emergency service vehicles, somewhere quieter without 24hr a day wailing sirens would be appreciated.

Quieter, peaceful, new, nothing more to be done apart from basic maintenance maybe with a garage would suit us down to the ground. The house we currently have I’m sure would be a good project for someone who has the time and money, but it’s not for us. We took the challenge on, and we learned a lesson. Been there, done it and got the tee shirt as they say.

The ideal home for us involves a simpler and more relaxed life. I think we deserve that and to be honest we are fortunate to be in a position to be able to do it. We’ve worked our collective butts off for it and we deserve nothing less.

But first off Tabs is our concern. There’s no rush.

It’s her house and garden as well as ours.