I posted the first in this series of blog-posts exactly twelve months ago. (There are earlier posts in the blog referring to our old garden before we moved.) In that time I have put up 26 posts, many of them illustrated with not-very-good photos. I do not think they record anything spectacular. The main point was to show that gardening for "ordinary" wildlife can be most enjoyable.
This series of posts was inspired by a TV programme. It was "The Wild Gardener" by Colin Stafford-Johnson and included the splendid sentence: "Anyone who's got a little bit of land can make the land better for nature," I like to think that if we all made an effort the decline in species might be reversed.
When I was talking about habitats I mentioned my effort to grow a thicket of ivy, an excellent wild-life plant. Well it is making slow progress. Perhaps one day we will have nesting sites and berries.
The theory is that it will never be allowed to grow beyond the trellis; time will tell if I manage to keep it under control.
Part of the advice from all sides it not to be too tidy. Many invertebrates, most of whose names I don't know, spend the winter in seed heads, hollow stems and other such spots. I expect you are like us and simply have to do a bit of tidying and cutting back, otherwise the amount needed is overwhelming in the spring. But we try and leave some - like this sunflower.
If you provide enough "real" habitats you probably do not need artificial ones. But gardening surely ought to be fun. I have no idea what insects or other mini-beasts might like to spend the winter in here, spiders for sure, but it was entertaining to make. I am sure it could have been made better.
It may be that I do not continue this blog for the moment. There may not be anything new or exciting to say. If there is, of course, expect to hear about it. Here, as Christmas approaches, is some holly.
