Hard landscaping finished

A great day yesterday when the hard landscaping was finished. Once the bench is secure, we can take the fencing down and the area will be open to the public. Now all it needs is the finishing touches: more hedge to be planted, plants to be put in the new raised bed and the water butt to be fixed! Roll on next Thursday when some of this will be completed...

Second raised bed built

The second raised bed has been made out of wooden roundels and is now nearly finished. It is in a fairly shady and dry situation, so we will be planting it up with shade-tolerant plants which can withstand periods of dry weather. We are hoping to grow plants that will be beneficial to insects and other minibeasts and we have some night scented plants which attract moths.

The bog we planted last week is now drying out after a very wet February. With the liner underneath it should stay damp throughout the summer but we may need to top it up from the lake if we have a drought.

Bogged down

We all got rather wet and muddy on Saturday when it was time to plant the bog area of the wildlife garden. We were joined by a group of 12-13 year olds who helped us plant a range of water-loving plants like water avens, meadowsweet, purple loosestrife, ragged robin and rushes.

Although we put boards down to protect the surrounding grass, by the time we had finished for the afternoon, it wasn't just the bog that looked a bit of a quagmire! We weren't too worried though as grass recovers quickly.

The bog is adjacent to the pond and provides shelter and cover for a range of animals such as frogs which might for example, use our log pile to hibernate under.