It was a lovely spring day yesterday. Still some snow on the ground and quite a bit on the hills, but the sun came out, the birds were singing, the winds were light and I ended up starting on the tasks that are needed to get the garden in shape after the winter.
It is still a little too cold to do many things but I was able to cut back last years dead growth and see the shoots of new growth appearing below. I also cut back the ‘hedges’ to tidy them up and generally checked on everything in the garden. Despite the cold winter most things seem to have survived OK, although we may have lost the red Cordyline.
There are a few plants that I want to move around as they have outgrown their current spots in the garden and there are plenty of plans for new beds, borders, seating areas, sheds and wildlife areas. We also need to get the grass looking a little nicer, but considering the state the garden was in just a year ago it isn’t looking too bad out there.
Plenty to do but it feels good to have made a start so that I’m on top of things.
As well as attracting lots of wildlife to your garden, a wildlife garden also gives you an excuse to be a bit lazy with the gardening from time to time! It isn’t just about bird boxes and ponds; just as important are areas of unkempt garden and piles of logs and sticks.
We don’t have huge garden here, but it is always nice to see wildlife in it so we do various things to attract wildlife. We have several bird feeders offering peanuts, seeds and fat balls. We have a few areas of unkempt garden with wild flowers and grasses growing in them. We have a little nest box on one of the trees at the bottom of the garden.
As far as maintenance goes, then we try to leave dead seed heads and such like for a while before cutting them back. In fact we try to leave most cutting back until spring. We keep the use of pesticides and other chemicals to a minimum. We also have piles of dead wood, compost bins and heaps of sticks all of which help attract wildlife.
It does work too. We have had 24 species of bird to the garden, frogs, toads and newts, numerous butterflies and moths, grass snakes, and as far as mammals go, hedgehog, rabbit, squirrel, mice, bats and even a ferret!
If you want to know how wildlife friendly your garden is and get more hints and tips then Natural England have set up a website called the Big Wildlife Garden. You can add you garden to it and list the features that you have. Our garden is on there and the latest few things we have done mean we have 53 points and a gold certificate! I think I need to build a bird bath next.
How does your garden fare?
Summer is here (I wonder how long for). Friday was gloriously sunny and reached 24.6ºC (A May record since the weather station records began). Yesterday was similarly sunny and reached 23.8ºC. Today looks as though it will be a scorcher too.
As usual I got up early (5am ish), answered e-mails and did a little bit of work and then made the most of the cooler morning and got out in the garden to do some gardening. I got a little carried away and did loads of weeding, mulching, moving of plants, mowed the lawn, and even turned the compost in the compost bins. I sowed some seeds too. A little late really, but better late than never and hopefully they’ll germinate. All in all I spent about 5 hours gardening and the garden is beginning to look a little better.
We then had a lazy day in the garden. Morgan played in his paddling pool, I pottered around the garden as I can’t sit still and Anna read her book. Dave and Sarah then came over and we sat under the gazebo trying to shade from the sun.
We did of course have the obligatory BBQ as well, along with some very refreshing lager shandy for me.
All very nice and very relaxing, but I really needed to DO something, There wasn’t quite enough wind for windsurfing, there wasn’t any surf and it was too windy for playing in the canoe. I think today I shall go for a MTB ride, although it will be hot out there, so maybe a longish, easy ride will be the order of the day.
Iris
I haven’t mentioned the garden for a while. It was looking lovely last year, but for various reasons that I won’t go into here (not yet anyway) it was destroyed over the winter. The Pergola was ripped down, most of the grass has gone and many plants were uprooted, squashed or otherwise met an untimely end.
Not to worry though as it (once again) gave me something of a blank canvas to work with!
Things are beginning to look a little better. The pergola has been reinstated, the grass is beginning to grow, although the ‘lawn’ is far from level, some new plants have been added and others are beginning to revive. It seems to be going through a blue patch at the moment with some lovely blue irises and the Ceanothus taking centre stage amongst the bluebells. The purples and pinks of the chives, Geraniums and lilac compliment these blues too and the the whites of the Olearia are just beginning to take over.
I’m not too sure if the Pampus Grass has survived its hacking back and repositioning but we shall see. I’ve also planted various shrubs that will hopefully grow well this year to start providing some much needed shelter once more.
Soon we should see a transfotmation from the blues and purples of May to the yellows of June and July as the Yellow Flag Irises, loosestrife and Innula are all to start flowering soon.
We may have had to start again, but I think we’ll manage to regain control over the next few months.
Ceanothus
Geranium
Iris
The latest addition to our garden are some Goji Berry Bushes. Apparently they are very drought tolerant don’t mind sandy soil and can cope with wind and coastal conditions… We’ll see as we do have slightly extreme coastal conditions here.
If they survivie then we may be able to create a nice little fruting hedge from them and benefit from the health giving properties of their berries too.
They looked a little sorry for themselves after sitting in the postal system over the Easter weekend but hopefully with a little TLC they will do us proud. If they do well it will make a change from the usual Escallonia edges around here.
Goji Berry Bushes ready for planting
When you think of the problems affecting coastal gardens the first issue that springs to mind is the wind. Living on the coast means that there is an uninterrupted flow of wind from the sea straight into your garden and the affects can be dramatic.
Very few people live right on the coast and it only takes a few obstacles such as trees, buildings or small hills to provide some protection. However, we do live on the coast and there is nothing between us and the beach so we experience the full force of the winds. You only have to go inland a little way to see how things change with a little bit of protection. Gardens just a short distance away are awash with colour and have a wide variety of plants and flowers thriving in them. Things aren’t quite so rosy in most gardens here.
Very little shelter from a cold North wind
I’ve worked for many years helping people out in their gardens and almost everyone seems to think their garden is exposed and windy, but until you’ve experienced living right on the coast you can’t understand the meaning of a truly exposed and windy garden. It isn’t just the strength of the wind but the incessant nature of it. We have a weather station in the garden that uploads live data to the internet every minute and it shows just how much wind we get. Whereas most people start thinking things are getting windy when the anemometer reaches around force 4-5 it is rare for us to ever have a day where it doesn’t reach this and more often than not it is much windier. Worse still, it just doesn’t stop blowing. We often get weeks on end where the wind just doesn’t drop.
Sounds bad? Well it gets worse. Most coastal gardens are affected to a greater or lesser degree by winds coming in off the sea. For people living on the west coast such as us this means that the prevailing wind is from the west so at least there should be a respite from the wind if it swings around and comes from another direction. Not so here. In fact, we have a special katabatic wind (known affectionately as Ivor) that funnels down through the Dovey Valley and blasts us with cold, dry winds from the East. This wind is stronger and just as persistant as winds off the sea and means that there isn’t a wind direction that doesn’t affect us. There is no getting away from the fact that this really is a windy place (which is why, as a windsurfer I wanted to live here).
Effects of the wind
The effects of big storms on your garden are easy to see. Broken plants, snapped branches, uprooted trees, overturned containers, broken panes in the greenhouse and such like. Lesser winds also have an effect, drying out plants and creating wind burn, the visual effects of which are burnt leaves and blackened stems. It can impede plant growth, stops young seedlings in their tracks, severely stunts trees and shrubs, and forms dramatic windswept shapes to larger trees. Many plants simply can’t cope with the extreme winds we experience here.
What can be done?
The obvious thing to do in order to protect from the wind is to create a shelter belt. Few of us have room for a full-on shelter belt consisting of a thick plantation of wind resistant trees, but just a single row of such plants can help create some shelter. Every little bit helps and as the number of plants you have in the garden increases you can produce your own little micro-climate in which the less wind-resistant plants can survive. Of course, you don’t want to go over the top otherwise your garden will soon feel over-shadowed and too enclosed. Another option is to build small banks that help protect from the wind. Again this may take up a little too much room in a small garden.
Fences and other garden structures can also be used to good effect to provide shelter. Open structures are better than solid ones as they dissipate the wind rather than deflect it. When wind hits a solid barrier such as a brick wall or panel fence it tends to deflect upwards only to descend with greater turbulence on the other side. Where possible several lines of defense are best. For instance an open fence with wind resistant hedging behind it.
The other thing is to choose your plants carefully and pick those that are more resistant to winds.
Wind Resistant Plants
Trees that will put up with the worst wind conditions and ones traditionally used in coastal shelter belts, include pines such as Pinus nigra, P. pinaster and the Scots pine (P. sylvestris). We have pines here and although they survive they are prone to wind burn and tend to be very lop-sided. It is also difficult to get them to grow straight as they tend to adopt the typical windswept look of a coastal tree.
Willow and White Poplar (Populus alba) also do well here. The willow grows well, but can look a little untidy once windburnt and can become a little too invasive. The Poplar again does well but the new growth is easily damaged by summer winds. If both are kept under control with some hard pruning though they do offer good protection from the wind. The willow has little ornamental appeal but the leaves of the Poplar are fairly attractive. Both are deciduous though so don’t offer much in the way of protection or decoration in the winter.
Cordylines such as Cordyline australis (Autralian or Manx Cabbage tree) fare well and add a tropical touch
When it comes to shrubs, Escallonia is the obvious choice for creating shelter, but it is a little common around here. Even this gets pretty badly windburnt and despite its pretty pink flowers in the summer can look a little ugly in the winter. The evergreen Griselina littoralis, with its glossy, lime-green leaves is a good choice. I’m also having success with Olearia sp. (Daisy Bush) which does well, but again can look a little worse for wear due to windburn in the winter.
Other shrubs that are doing well in the wind although not creating much in the way of shelter are various Hebes and a lovely Golden Elder (Sambucus nigra).
As well as creating shelter from the wind it is also worthwhile making the most of it and planting grasses and bamboos that not only tolerate the wind but are at their best when being whipped about by it. The movement and sounds created by these plants can bring the garden alive. We have a large pampas grass (Cortaderia selloana) that is doing well and adds just such life to the garden. As with many things that do well though it can become a little too large and needs to be kept under control. Stipa sp. and Miscanthus sp. are also likely to relish such conditions although I’ve yet to try them.
It takes time for smaller plants to grow large enough to provide suitable shelter so progress is slow but the results make it worthwhile. For those with deeper pockets then larger plants can be bought to speed up the process and more use could be made of the faster growing varieties. The willow and Poplar are particularly fast growing.
As you can see, the wind can be a problem for coastal gardens but with some careful planning it is possible to both limit its effects and work with it. As our garden matures hopefully it will become less of an issue. The addition of various tress and shrubs to create shelter has helped already and structures such as a pergola with some climbing plants is helping too. We’re now able to grow some less wind-resistant plants in the lee of these.
White Poplar and Golden Elder providing some summer shelter
Variegated Hebe providing all year interest
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This article is part of a series on Extreme Coastal Gardening
