Thursday 20 August 2015

Planning Ahead of Myself

A few weeks ago, in my excitement at the thought of finally having a garden of our own, I drew up an initial plan for its potential layout in my 'Little Red Book'. I kept it simple, & only included the main features. Not having any proper photos of the space, I based the design on my memory of the garden's existing permanent 'features' (trees & shed) with help from a tiny blurry image on Google Maps satellite view! I will continue to use the 'Little Red Book' going forward for any planning, ideas or designs for the house & garden, so I always have all the info I need in one place.

Tuesday 18 August 2015

Love Your Wild Garden

On ITV at 8.00pm tonight there is a one-off wildlife garden special of Love Your Garden with Alan Titchmarsh, as part of Wild Britain 2015.

Love Your Wild Garden with Alan Titchmarsh (photo ITV)

ITV says: "In a special wild episode of Love Your Garden, Alan Titchmarsh and his team are at Keech Hospice in Luton creating a state of the art wildlife garden that is modern in style."

Monday 17 August 2015

Increasing Diversity of Life, The Cambrian Way

So, in the next few weeks we will be leaving our first family home, a first floor flat in Valley Green, Woodhall Farm, to move to our first owned house, with a garden, on Cambrian Way, Highfield.

The locality names paint a picture of a rural setting, but I'm in fact talking about the town of Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire. With a population of over 90,000 it is one of the most highly populated towns in Herts, & part of the Greater London Urban Area.

As towns go, we are lucky that even the most developed areas are green, the roads lined with trees, & neigbourhoods scattered with small parks, woods & wild areas of 'waste' ground - all great for supporting urban wildlife. But, the habitats with by far the greatest potential for supporting a myriad of species are much closer to home, right on our doorstep in fact... our gardens.