Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Wishing all readers of Diary Of A Wild Country Garden a wonderful time over Christmas and a very Happy, Healthy and Peaceful New Year.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog this year. It is lovely to know there are so many of you who care about gardens and wildlife, birds and animals and I look forward to sharing more with you.  
Location: United Kingdom

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Can You Attract Wildlife If You Only Have A Patio Garden or Window Box?

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Some people may say that it's all very well talking about gardening and attracting wildlife if you have a large garden with many different areas but what if you have a patio area or a window box, is it still possible to be a wildlife gardener?  To this, I would say Yes absolutely! Every person in every type of garden can attract wildlife  and can grow something that some kind of wildlife will see as a great food source or shelter. If you have a patio garden, no grass, no shrubs or trees literally all paved over, you can still have a wildlife haven. A Bird Bath In A Small Garden . A birdbath on the patio will provide water for birds and a place for them to bathe and keep their feathers clean which is incredibly important. People often talk about feeding the birds but a birdbath is just as important if not more so and fewer people have them in gardens. So yes even in a tiny space you can have a birdbath, there are many different designs and sizes.  A Bird In T...
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Joy Of The First Snowdrops!!

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So happy today as I stepped outside to go shopping I saw the very first snowdrop of the year in our front garden!!  I try to embrace every season but I do find Winter the hardest one to love! Snowdrops however always fill my heart with joy. I know now that nature is waking up and spring is not too far away. I don't see so many people growing Snowdrops in their gardens these days and I do not understand why. Snowdrops are undemanding plants and once planted out you can mostly forget about them. They happily multiply each year to give you a beautiful display, then once flowering is over they die down and that's it for another year until you suddenly find one on a cold January day to warm your heart.    I divide our snowdrops every few years simply so that I can distribute more around the garden. It also prevents them from getting too congested. Dividing them is easy, simply dig up a clump while they still have their leaves.  Separate gently teasing apart with your...
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Why Do I Grow Forsythia For Wildlife?

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If you walked into my garden you would see a burst of bright yellow sunshine from one shrub in particular.  Yet the forsythia shrub isn't one that fills most gardeners' hearts with delight. It is so very common and for much of the year is simply a green shrub. However, for me, it signifies one of the joys of Spring. It never fails, it has beautiful bright yellow blooms on bare branches, it lives happily and healthily with little attention from me in our mixed hedge alongside a lot of competition for food and water, yet it has never become a thug in the garden.  All I need to do is to prune it once a year immediately after flowering and for the rest of the year, I pretty much forget about it.  Why do I grow Forsythia? I have one forsythia we inherited with the garden and one we planted from my Mum's garden.    Well for the few weeks of that bright yellow bloom, I just love it and it shines out so much at this time of year, a beautiful burst of sunshin...
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Do You Ever Stop, Look And Listen in Your Garden?

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I went out this morning to fill up the bird feeders and to add a new one. It has been so cold here lately and we have had hard frosts and snow and high winds I am concerned for the birds. It was really cold so I did not intend to stay out long, although I was well wrapped up.  However, I walked back up to the house I was struck by the most beautiful bird song. I saw the robin high up on one of the shrubs clearly and proudly singing his little heart out. No doubt starting to re-establish his territory. I heard other birds, sparrows I think, a blackbird, a coo of a wood pigeon. As I stood still and silent I began to hear more and it was the most wonderful orchestra of birdsong. I thought people would pay to go sit in theatres to hear this most stunning of music and here it is all around me.  As I stood there silent and perfectly still I noticed a large male blackbird nearby. He was intent on kicking up the leaves and searching for food underneath. He looked at me but ...
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What Do You Do With The Old Christmas Tree?

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First of all Happy New Year! I do hope you had a wonderful time over the holidays and are refreshed and ready for this year.  Now that the Christmas and New Year celebrations are over for another year most of us have taken down our decorations and they are all packed away.  The last to come down tends to be the Christmas tree. It has looked beautiful for the past few weeks, all decorated and glistening but now its time is over.  If it is a real tree what do you do with it?  I have just come back from a walk and seen a few sad trees laid out on their sides in front of gardens. I wonder if the owners are waiting for the council to take them away or if they will be loaded up in the car and taken down to the communal tip...   However, maybe there are uses for the old tree that wildlife can benefit from more. Here are some ideas. Chop off the branches from the trunk. Lay them over some old logs and cuttings and they will provide a really protective and...
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Are We Too Tidy In Our Gardens?

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I was thinking about this, are we too tidy in our gardens? I love to see a beautifully neat and tidy garden, everything with a place and everything in its place. I have a friend whose garden is like this and I have to say it is very restful - for people. You can walk across the lawn- not grass- a proper lawn, and even barefoot you would not sting yourself on a rogue nettle sapling, or hope to meet with a bee or wasp.  Each flower is in its place and as soon as it fades the seed head is plucked off and replaced by another beautiful flower. My friend loves her garden and I love her garden...but the wildlife... they don't love it so much.... We discuss this and well the debate is ongoing! I also have to say my garden is, somewhat sadly, not like that! It is not by design it is just the sort of garden that does not lend itself to over tidiness, it would not look or feel right. It is intrinsically for the wildlife and it is theirs.   We have left some of the leaves that...
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Garden Centre Plant Rescue!

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These days I cannot walk past a garden center without checking out the far end of the plant section where they usually put all the discounted plants. These poor plants are generally tired, limp and dry as a bone. All jumbled up together unloved and unwanted. Frankly, I find it very sad that had they just been watered regularly they would probably be just fine right now.  Anyway, usually heavily discounted, I search through them all to find ones that have a chance of survival. Often I find ones with good root systems and given a little tender loving care I take a chance on reviving them.  Today it was the turn of three Rosemary plants and a French Lavender. In particular, the French Lavender was a sorry looking plant half dead and very limp, I wasn't sure, but it had a good root system and urged on by my hubby (a recent gardening convert !) decided to take it home. An hour later after a good watering and re-potting and light pruning, it stands up proud in its new pot o...
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Where to Site A Bird Table Or Bird Feeder.

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In between lots of things in life things going on I have still enjoyed our garden. In fact, a garden is often a place of solace, of peace and quiet for me.   In the winter, I have to admit my time in the garden is much less, usually to fill up the bird feeders!! So when I emerge in the Spring the birds do chatter at me and my hubby. It is as if the garden is theirs and we are intruders, but of course, it is really their garden after all.     So it is good to take in the Spring garden, to look, to listen, to evaluate and we have been doing all of that and doing all the necessary after winter work. It is lovely to enjoy the Spring, the new shoots, the blooms, the new life emerging from the earth. In the trees and shrubs, birds are busy nesting and the beautiful sound of birdsong fills the air from dawn to dusk now. A Bird In The Bath Postcard by RaintreeDesigns Make your own postcards custom at Zazzle We continue to feed the birds as it is a busy t...
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