Regular readers of The Compost Bin will know
that, after 16 years of living here and renovating the house and doing
all sorts of work in the garden and wood, we are having a major rethink
about all the aspects of the garden and grounds. How they are laid out;
where to put a greenhouse, whether to have another polytunnel, where to
put any new vegetable garden and soft fruit cage. Nothing is set in
stone here, all manner of things are possible. Especially as we have a JCB!
When we first moved in to Compost Mansions one of the
things which made us fall in love with the place was the pool in the meadow (the other
was the wood!) One of the jobs we are part way through doing at the moment is clearing some trees to make a bigger meadow area around the pool and a few months ago I talked about how we were planning on rejuvenating the pool .
Having a body of water in your garden creates so much
scope for enjoyment; attracting wildlife, helping birds drink, bathe
and collect mud for nests, the joy of watching the changing plant life
as the year progresses, the sound of moving water if you have a fountain arrangement, actually the list is probably endless.
At the weekend I went on a Master Composter training course at the Shropshire Wildlife Trust Visitor Centre , which was to do with minimising water use, especially in the garden. The SWT building is amazing and has the most wonderful gardens - you can read the visitor guide leaflet here.
The gardens there gave me so much inspiration and ideas for what I want to do here. I
am in the process (slowly!) of redesigning the main garden so there is
less lawn and more flower beds, but with flower beds which are a bit easier
to manage (and less filled with bindweed!) than the existing
arrangement. I have actually got a lot of herbaceous perennials ready to
go in to one new bed, some I have dug up from elsewhere, some I have grown
from seed or cuttings. This, like all the planting here will be "cottage garden" planting with lots of insect attracting flowers.
.JPG) |
| Shropshire Wildlife Trust Visitor Centre |
I also really liked the solar powered water feature I saw at the weekend and it got me thinking. Water adds a whole new dimension to a garden and, though we are still planning on digging
out the large pool and re instating it again, I now find myself really
wanting to have a pond in the garden area, as well. After all, why can't
we have more than one pond? I want the new pond to be more of a moving water feature though, than a full blown pool.
.JPG) |
| Shropshire Wildlife Trust Visitor Centre |
Although I could make this new pond by just digging a shallow hole I would prefer to have a pond liner of some kind. So, I have been looking at flexible liners on line again but this time in a much
smaller size than for the wildlife pool. One thing I don't want to have to do is spend too much money (we have
lots of other things to do here and a very limited budget). I was therefore very interested to read about SealEco Greensea EPDM Pond Liner. This is apparently a new high quality alternative to butyl liner. It is the same thickness as butyl making it just as flexible and tough but it made from a different type of rubber meaning the price is much
lower.
I went and had a look online at a few suppliers and was pleasantly surprised to find that I could get this sort of liner for a good price at Joe's Aquatic World.
They also seem to be good value for all the other bits and pieces needed
to go with a pond, so I am in the process of costing up how much a
smallish pond would be if I ordered from them.I have also been getting inspiration from all sorts of online sources; photographs of what other people have done; ideas both large and small and have put some on my Pinterest "Dream gardens" board. One of the things I have found are water feature blades which create a moving sheet of water into a garden pond and give a reflection from the water. Another idea I really like and which fits in with the water saving theme is a pebble pond, where water moves over the surface of pebbles and is continuously pumped round by a solar pond pump. I must admit I did not find a lot of the statue water features I came across very attractive, though!
So it looks like I may be using the JCB to dig out a small pond in the near future - I had better get digging up and splitting some of the pond plants in the meadow pool to put in it :)
If you are thinking about making a pond you can get lots of advice about wildlife pond making and planting from the Wildlife Trust here , from Pond Conservation here and The RSPB here.
And if you are anywhere near Shrewsbury I strongly recommend visiting the Shropshire Wildlife Trust Visitor Centre - its brilliant.
Hi, I don't know much about composting, even though I have two bins on the go, the little one, which is fabric and has a zip is a waste of time as it keeps falling over but the big one is much better.
ReplyDeleteCan you please advise me what you do if you get Horses Tails please? They are forming an army in my garden and have gone from one side to another, in the course of a few years.
I must admit to using a special product to attack them but wonder if there is a kinder way that will kill the roots.