Garden Journal June 2026

I have not posted about our garden in a while. A couple of years back we had a rotting deck and an overgrown gravel patch replaced with new paving and a 'dry river bed' of pebbles. There is plenty of room for plants. When the corner of the garden was cleared we realised we had a lot of space.

You can just see our corkscrew hazel tree that we kept. It is quite productive with nuts. We have eucalyptus and plum trees in big pots. They may get planted out at some point. We had some old logs that we laid by the 'river'. It is not really meant to have flowing water, but it is a nice feature to build around.

Beyond the blue pot you may spot a very tall allium (onion family). We have a few of those and are waiting for them to flower. We also have teasels that are also tall and technically a weed, but birds like their seeds.

We had to get a little bridge. The blue sheet covers a big chair where we can sit and enjoy the view. Next to that is an old kitchen sink with a few plants and a space slab to act as a table. We had the old tin bath that became a pond with a solar fountain. Around that is our 'beach' with some grasses.

There is a bit of a mound between the chair and the river that is gradually being filled. We have some nice sweet peas there.

In the corner is our wildlife area with the pond and a bug hotel. We have planted a few things there including ferns. Other things, like the thistle, just appear. So far we have not had much animal life in the pond. I see some insects there including a damselfly that looked like it might be laying eggs.

Another uninvited guest is this hop that is climbing anything it can including our mountain ash tree. I guess we could use the fruit/flowers to make our own beer, but you can dry them for decoration too.

We build some raised beds up that end. This one had broccoli and peas that survived the winter. We have just planted some sweetcorn in there.

This one has beans, courgette (zucchini) and beetroot plus old potatoes and nasturtiums. We need something to keep the cats off it.

The garden next door has been wild for a while. Someone is interested in buying the land for building so they cleared it. There may be some houses there eventually, but for now these thistles are doing well.

It is mostly a sea of poppies in there. Before it was cleared there had been foxes and even a small deer living in there when it was a tangle of brambles. With all the building going on the wildlife is getting squeezed out so we try to provide places for them. We have seen a hedgehog in the garden this week.

There is always something to do in the garden. I tend to have a wander around most evenings to do a big of weeding and see what is growing. I am no great plant expert.

At the weekend we went to a plant sale at Benington Lordship, which is a big house built onto an old castle. We bought a few plants, but there was so much choice.

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