woodland garden in the rain

The newly planted boundary border of our woodland garden needed a good drink .. and the rain has come today in just the way that gardeners like; softly but at length.


 We've planted native primrose (primula vulgaris) and also added foxgloves (digitalis purpurea). This latter planting may have been a mistake. In the allotment, the varied shades of pink and white look sensational. I am afraid that the variety of colour will lose impact for us and realise now that we should have only used white. Perhaps next time.


We would have also planted lots of allotment nurtured transplants of Harts Tongue Fern (asplenium scolopendrium) but we expect operatives from Western Power to come and trim branches in the next couple of weeks so these will have to wait.

We have stacked lots of logs and sticks and used logs to mark boundary edges. Chipped privet has been stacked for a year before being used to cover paths. Encouraging saproxylic organisms (those that depend upon decaying wood) is a key part of our work on site and we hope that this volume of decaying wood will have an impact over the coming years..

Birdboxes will join our solitary bat box at the weekend. I hope to make lots of bat boxes in the coming months if I can find a source of salvaged untreated, rough-sawn timber.

Snowdrops (galanthus nivalis) are also being brought on at the allotment and they will be planted after flowers have finished.

Our attention will next fall to what we call the 100m2 border in the woodland garden.