Towards the end of summer

It feels like the sunshine has only just appeared, but for many plants and animals the summer is already over. Some of our flowers are coming to the end of their flowering season and annuals such as the pot marigolds are beginning to look a little past their best!

We won't be cutting many of the dead stems down as insects such as ladybirds and lacewings use these for hibernating in. Also many of the plants' seedheads will be providing food for animals for a while to come yet!

The pond is the only place where we will remove most of the dead vegetation and this is because we don't want too much of it falling into the pond. Too much rotting vegetation causes the pond to become depleted of oxygen, which isn't good news for the pond animals.

During August it has been more difficult to see the birds as many of them go through their moult. However this period has nearly past and we are starting to see the wrens and dunnocks looking for food again in our flower beds.

Pond comes to life

The pond is starting to come to life. It is now full of oxygenating plants which are keeping the water clear and the floating leaved plants are starting to cover the water surface. Dragonflies are flying around the top of it and pond skaters are skimming the surface.

We are now getting a water supply linked from the nearby lake to the pond so that we can always top the pond up as the water level drops. This will be great when we get periods without any rain.

Today a dunnock was spotted using the pond to drink from and a wren was spotted in the flower beds using the denser plants as cover at the end of last week.

Flowers of the garden

These red flowers, on plants called sneezeweed, are proving very popular with bees. These are in the circular raised bed that we built which has been planted with nectar-rich flowers. The purple flower is a cardoon which is like a giant thistle. The flowers of these are also full of nectar but the seeds produced later this year will be eaten by birds.

More rain!

More rain fell on the garden this week; we have certainly saved time in watering effort this year! The garden is flourishing with the mix of sun and rain and more flowers are appearing all the time.

This week the Angelica gigas came into bloom and its red flowers are proving highly attractive to bumblebees.

The bog is back filled with water again and some of the plants are struggling a bit as they are spending too long covered with water, rather than just their roots being in water. However we can hopefully rectify that later in the year by putting some more earth into the bog and raise the plants' crowns above the water level.

Summer in the garden

Newt-tastic

We finally finished our earth sculpture this week after many hours of hard work and it is looking great. Even if we do say so ourselves...

The eyes will be finished with mosaic and we will also plant some wild flower plugs later in the year when the grass has established.

Just as long as these storms don't wash the whole sculpture away!

At the weekend, the head of the newt turned green! It was clad with a clay and straw mixture before being turfed. We are now ready to cover the rest of the newt this coming week!

Rain makes garden flourish!

A whole different range of plants are now coming into flower. Our clematis on the obelisk has come out and will hopefully produce lots of wonderful seed heads in the autumn.

Also coming into flower are the Echinacea and the Echinops both of which have nectar for bees and butteflies. The red hot pokers are also good for nectar, which not only insects love, but birds love to drink too.

The pond is starting to look a bit more established and the floating leaved plants are beginnning to spread. And the new bird feeders are providing regular food for the great tits and also spotted on the feeder has been a great spotted woodpecker.

A giant newt!

It poured, the wind blew and the sun shone, yet a determined team of volunteers battled on to create a giant earth sculpture of a newt in Regent’s Park over the weekend.

First, the shape was cut into the existing turf. Next, the profile was created with clay and straw before bags of earth were used to form the three-dimensional body of the giant five metre long amphibian. Time defeated us in creating the sculpture over the weekend, but this week, we will be cladding it with clay and turfing it.

Summer in the garden

Garden looking great

After the rain of May the garden is growing extremely well and blossoming in June's sunshine. Volunteers have put in lots of hard work to keep it looking tidy.

The birdfeeder has only been up a few days and already a family of great tits are feeding on the peanuts. We have also put up 2 bird boxes ready for next spring when we hope that something will make use of them!

Plenty of bees and butterflies are flying around the garden and we have seen our first broad-bodied chaser dragonflies around the pond.

Water, and more water

The bog is now starting to look mroe like a bog again and the plants are enjoying the rain. We have planted some more pond plants and these are starting to help the pond look established. The grass between the two areas will become thicker and longer linking the bog and pond habitats, and making it easier for animals to travel between the two.

The oxygenating plants are now growing well so the water will start to clear and the higher oxygen content in the water should allow the animal life to flourish. The stones at the edges of the pond are great hiding places for animals to live and as the floating leaved plants grow and create more shade, we hope that the pond will be an ideal home for dragonflies, frogs and the smaller animals such as water snails.

Rain at last

Some welcome rain came at the start of this week and as I am writing this it is raining again. The plants need the rain at the moment after this dry period.

We have put a couple of tubs out in the front garden now. Plants in tubs can attract wildlife such as bees and butterflies if they are planted with some nectar rich plants. Any plant though is better than no plant - something will use it to live!

Spring planting complete

This previous week has seen the completion of all the planting to be done this spring. A group from the Centre of Filipinos came in to plant the remaining empty raised bed. Some of the plants they put in were ones that they had sown the seed for, nearly a year ago.

On Saturday the remaining plants were put into the two beds by volunteers and some of the marginal plants were put around the ledges of the pond. We will be buying some pond oxygenating plants such as hornwort and water violet now they are into the nurseries. These plants grow in the water and keep the water high in oxygen content, allowing animals to thrive.

Raised bed planted

A fine day last week when the raised bed was planted by a local Chinese community group. It was great fun finishing off the bed and the group also planted some seeds in pots to take away for their own window ledges.

This raised bed is full of scented plants including those whose night-time aroma attracts moths. We are looking forward to the rest of the planting being completed this week.

We are hoping still for some rain as the garden is becoming dryer and the shrubs and hedges in particular will start struggling. There is a posibility of a shower later in the week - we'll keep our fingers crossed!

Sunshine in the garden

Many of the flowers are out and blooming already and the sunshine is making everything look wonderful. Already Holly blue and Speckled wood butterflies have been spotted.

The rest of the planting is due to be completed in the next 2 weeks and then the garden will start to look finished with the pond and raised beds being the final areas to plant.

We are hoping for some rain this week, though the forecast is predicting sunshine, so that our plants can really settle in. Watering is more important for plants during their first year planted out as their roots aren't established.

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.