Nathanville's Wildlife Organic Gardens

With tadpoles and newts in the pond, Spring gets off to a good start for this organic mediaeval style vegetable plot and informal, almost cottage-like garden. By not using chemicals in the garden and working with nature the wildlife finds its own natural balance.

The back garden (30ft by 100ft) is divided into two main areas, lawn and utility. The former consists of a 20ft by 12ft patio which leads onto a lawn of about 25ft x 50ft. On the lawn is a miniature pear tree with three pear varieties grafted to a root stock and to the side of the lawn the garden path and a raised flowerbed. At the end of the lawn is a trellis of plants dividing the two garden areas. On the other side of the trellis is the utility area comprising a greenhouse, brick garden shed, patio (10ft x10ft), wildlife pond and fountain, a raised mediaeval style vegetable plot (12ft x 20ft) following the original practices of the English Cottage Garden, and at the end of the garden a raised flower bed, with compost bin and water butt behind the shed.

The front garden (30ft by 20ft) is a mixture of a formal drive and raised beds with informal planting of native and non-native plants to provide a cottage garden feel.

Robin making a visit to the vegetable garden

It is the beginning of a new growing season, the gardens are coming along great and the advent of so-called global warming has dramatically extended that season. Not too many years ago there was a distinct difference between Summer and Winter crops. The growing season then was mid-April to mid-September. Now our Summer gardening runs from early March to late November. The Winter months now being so mild an increasing number of Summer vegetables and flowers no longer die in the Autumn but continue to grow throughout most or all of the Winter and sometimes on into the following Spring/Summer. For instance we're still harvesting the same Spring spinach in April 2007 that we first harvested in May 2006.

There are tadpoles in the pond, the newts are back too, and an increasing number of young birds from nearby trees are frequenting the garden. Other wildlife includes a family of three hedgehogs spotted last autumn, the occasional urban fox and squirrel, and rare glimpses of a bat or two.

The vegetables grown in the garden are organic as is the whole garden. The prime reason for growing organically is for the benefit of the wildlife and it's paying off. I've found nature to be very resilient and given a chance it will find its own natural ecosystem. Over the years I've found that working with nature makes gardening easier in that it finds its own natural balance and thus tends to look after itself, so most weekends I need only spend a couple of hours in the garden to manage and maintain it e.g. cutting the lawn, tending to plants, trimming the hedges etc.

The vegetable plot is grown more in a mediaeval style of informal planting with companion flowers mixed in rather than the Victorian style of wide-spaced regimented rows and separation of vegetables and flowers in different plots. This is mainly because it's sited next to the wildlife pond, water fountain, small patio and BBQ area and as such is more attractive and natural looking than the usual vegetable garden. Apart from the vegetables being grown closer together than usual and amongst flowers the same general crops are grown as one would find in any typical vegetable plot and the standard three year crop rotation is followed. Although individual plants may be a little smaller (no show winners), the yield per square yard is comparable to conventional gardening. Compost used on the garden is made from garden and kitchen waste and used potting compost from the greenhouse.

The unheated greenhouse is in use all year round, in the Winter months for storing the geraniums, late Winter and Spring for bringing on seedlings for the vegetables and flowers, and the Summer/Autumn for growing tomatoes, lettuce and marrows. The few herbs grown include several varieties of mint for cooking and feverfew for herbal tea.

The wildlife pond, with toads, frogs and newts (no fish) pays dividends in keeping pests down without the use of chemicals, in particular slugs in ours’ and our neighbours’ gardens are very scarce. Planting in raised beds throughout the garden provides for warmer and better drained soil which favours flowers and vegetables more so than weeds. Apart from a spring clean early in the year there is little weeding to do. The birds, other wildlife and fresh organic vegetables are beneficial side effects to this style of gardening. There are no fish in the pond simply because they would take oxygen from it and would not contribute to it thus upsetting the pond’s ecosystem. With fish the pond would require a lot of maintenance whereas without them the pond requires little maintenance. Although most of the raised beds are man-made bricks two walls, one near the pond and the other behind the greenhouse, are of dry-stone to allow the frogs some shelter during the colder winter months.

A Family Garden - The son, Nathan specialises in flora and fauna while his mother enjoys and admires it.

Garden Wildlife

Our garden is fully organic and the reward is that it is full of wildlife which family and friends alike enjoy watching. Not just the permanent residents of our pond, toads, frogs, newts, but also other creatures of nature like the slowworm, hedgehogs, foxes, bees and birds. Below are just a couple of these creatures of nature, as seen in this garden, and so much adored and appreciated by the gardener.

The European Robin (Erithacus rubecula), aka Robin redbreast

Many British gardeners well know the Robin as a friendly visitor to the garden. Relatively unafraid of humans the Robin will often come close when the soil is being dug to look out for earthworms and other food freshly turned up. When the gardener stops for a break the robin is also known to use the handle of the spade as a lookout point.

On this occasion the Robin pictured here stayed within feet of me (sometimes only a foot away) for the two hours I was in the garden clearing and tidying it. This Robin was even happy to wait for me while I got my camera and then happily posed for me - July 2007.

Hedgehogs

For the three nights we were in the garden burning the old hedges (felled to make way for a new garden fence and raised herb garden at the end of the garden, autumn 2006) we had nightly visits from our neighbours garden of a family of three hedgehogs, one adult and two youngsters. Therefore, to help encourage the hedgehogs to our garden we added access for them on either side of the garden and built a hedgehog fodder for them. And a year on the hedgehogs have been spotted wandering our garden.

Hanging Baskets - A novel approach

Traditionally hanging baskets are a ball of blazing colour throughout the summer months, using a variety of colourful bedding plants that require a lot of constant watering, and then during the winter months are redundant. Consequently, because I like working with nature hanging baskets are something I have resisted using in Nathanville's Mediaeval Wildlife Organic Garden.

However, my son (working part time for Fonthill Garden Centre, Bath Road, Bitton, Bristol, while studying at college) came up with the novel idea of using Alpines rather than bedding plants. The advantages should be obvious, they require less watering, are more tolerant of dry conditions, are evergreen, flower during the summer months and when established provide colour and variety all the year round.

In this experiment we've used Alpines Acaena microphylla 'Copper Carpet', Artemisa schmidtiana 'Nana', Pholox (subulata Nettleton Variation) in the middle basket, Frankenia thymifolia, Sedum spathulifolium (Cape Blanco) in the bottom basket with Nepeta (Trailing Variegata) and Lysimachia nummularia (Aurea) commonly known as 'Golden Creeping Jenny' trailing underneath; and Dianthus (Devon General) for the top basket.

In fact almost any plant suitable for small containers should be suitable for hanging baskets. On this occasion we've used wire baskets lined with moss but these days plastic hanging baskets not requiring lining are available which may be more suitable for this type of planting arrangement.

Photos for this basket arrangement can be viewed in the Organic Mediaeval Garden Photos Album.