The joy of the garden

We live in one of the most densely populated cities in England. But, for all the people it has, there is a surprising amount of green land around. A good sign of this is our garden. We have an abundance of wildlife in and around our garden and we haven't had to do much to encourage it in. We live pretty close to a river and a canal which means we seem to get an awful lot of frogs and toads. I think this is great as they are possibly my favourite animals with butterflies coming in a very close second.



We also get a lot of bugs. Having the veggie plot out the back probably contributes to the variety we get. I have seem everyday average bugs, bees and wasps, hover flies (below), dragonflies and I think I spotted a Sabre Wasp Rhyssa persuasoria yesterday.



The only problem with our garden is the lack of flowers. We have 2 sycamore trees and 2 medium sized conifers and they sap all the moisture from the ground. Plus our soil is quite clay based anyway. Not ideal by any stretch of the imagination. We have successfully grown a peony, several buddleia, some teasels, many fuchsias and some lilies. And the ubiquitous roses of course.



Next year I am going to plant lots of things in pots so I can control the soil and drainage. I miss flowers and would like to encourage more bugs into the garden. We have also turned a small corner of our garden into a wild patch which I have named "Where the Wild Things Are". We have put in lots of poppy sees, wild grass seeds and a Lush seed bomb so far.