Readers’ gardens
Plenty of planning and planting…
My husband and I have agreed on a garden design after months of research and planning. We're going to make an ellipse lawn to create the stylish illusion of a larger space. Then we’ll use the new surrounding borders that cutting it out will produce to grow a variety of small shrubs, herbaceous plants and plenty of flowers.
We’re moving a couple of medium-sized trees to the back of the garden, including ornamental cherry ‘Accolade’, to create a woodland feel in that area, and are still undecided on whether this part of the garden will have a round lawn or a different ‘floor’ altogether. Getting this done will take time and so, during the year ahead, we plan to make these changes bit by bit.
I've plenty of new seeds to sow for the year ahead, including purple carrot and seeds I’ve collected, such as calendula, hollyhock and poppy. I’ve just bought some Brussels sprout ‘Evesham Special’ seed, which I’ll plant this month for a September to December harvest.
During the extension works, plants had been temporarily moved into pots and, this month, I was able to refresh the emptied border by the back door with some springtime cheer now the work is completed.
There’s forsythia, photinia, buddleja and what’s left of our wellpruned euonymus at the back of the border. I added some new plants and used some from the temporary pots to create a border, which I love.
It has yellow, red and white primroses, cyclamen in deep pinks, geraniums, ‘Tête-à-tête’ dwarf daffodils, heuchera, various hyacinths, white and blue muscari and a delicate white hellebore ‘Christmas Carol’. I also put a row of Centranthus ruber (red valerian) and hebe in, all produced by successful propagation.
We took part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch and were delighted to record an increase in visitors from last year. As the hedging matures and provides appropriate shelter, along with careful planting, putting up nesting boxes and leaving out food, we feel our efforts are paying off as we see more birds.
Our next wildlife-friendly project is to make a sheltered boggy area at the back of the garden with stones, log pile and an old washing up bowl in the hope of attracting and seeing frogs or toads.