Welcome Back To Susie’s Garden
We all want our gardens to be kinder to the environment and wildlife friendly – here’s how...
WELCOME BACK TO SUSIE’S GARDEN
Welcome back to Susie’s Garden! I’m starting the year with a special look at how we can all make our gardens kinder to the environment. This is the way that I have gardened for many years so I have lots of experience. My reward has been to create a place that is beautiful to look at and full of wildlife.
I live with my husband David in a small hidden valley in the North
Pennines, surrounded by woods, fields and pasture. It’s not without its challenges. When Joe Swift came here to film BBC Gardeners’ World, it was to show what could be created despite extremes of temperature: we’ve recorded a swing of fifty degrees between the coldest winter and the hottest summer. That means the plants have to be tough!
In front of the house is a large flower garden, planted in big drifts with very few paths so that it’s an undulating sea of colour, texture and movement. There are just five huge borders with topiary where the paths cross to give it structure, especially in winter. I’ve chosen nectar plants for insects so it’s full of bees and butterflies and also lots of birds.
Behind the house is a vegetable garden where David grows a wealth of delicious produce using no-dig organic methods. Around the four vegetable beds are narrow borders of flowers to attract beneficial insects and pollinators.
Stone paved terraces wrap around the house, with pretty flowers such as the Mexican daisy growing between the slabs. There are fruit trees, shrubs for nesting birds, a lawn edged in wildflower meadow, and a couple of trees from which to hang my hammock! Everything we do is sustainable and environmentally friendly, harmonious with nature and full of season long colour.