h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Today is G for gardens.
I count myself a gardener but I also want my garden to be wildlife friendly, so I'm content to let the grass get shaggy and leave a pile of wood sitting in a corner to encourage insects. This is a good excuse to be a bit lazy. When people come and offer me lawn care services, I say no, I prefer my biodiversity (also known as weeds) to their plain green grass.
We have small front gardens front and back and a strip down the side, which is North facing. There we planted bushes and now have overgrown shrubbery. At the front we have lawn, , rhodedendron and buddleia, which ought to encourage the . At the back, we have a camelia, a small magnolia and a small vegetable plot.
In the autumn, I cut back many of the shrubs and compost the small vegetable plot. In the spring, I'm enthusiastically planting spinach and courgettes (zucchini). But my enthusiasm doesn't last, as I lose plants to slugs and birds . The soil is heavy clay and, at this time of year, my lawn resembles a paddy field. I also have a complaint with the local authority which glibly tells people how easy composting is. We get rats.
A bit further north, there is a string of famous gardens: Nymans, Sheffield Park and Wakehurst Place. They are, I think, on the sandstone ridge and they're famous for their rhodedendrons, camellias and trees. Wakehurst Place hosts the Millenium Seed Bank and also claims the country's biggest Christmas tree.

heheh I love that. Biodiversity (also known as weeds.)

I've been to Sheffield Park, it's amaaazing.

Yes, how do people keep rats out of compost? What's the secret I wonder? Where we lived one time we had a communal compost bin, and the rats liked that. They reckoned they were part of the community. .

You need chickens--they'll keep down the slugs, and, if they find baby rats...

Deb

Chickens? Someone said and someone else said snakes.

I'm on the same wavelength as you, Minorvogonpoet. I would never pull up a single dandelion or clover or wildflower of any kind. I have a mix of flowers and garden vegetables, though my soil is not the best. I try to mix in some organic fertilizer, with mixed results. I got four zucchini from five plants this past year. My bean plants produced pounds and pounds of green beans, and my Swiss chard has given me dozens of salads, but the carrots are disappointing. At least I can let carrots overwinter and see if they've gotten bigger next Spring. if nothing else, they will provide gorgeous bunches of white blossoms.

I risk blowing my own trumpet here but if you've two or three minutes you might like to read my Entry "Zen and the Art of Compost Making" A246971 - it does mention how to avoid rats.

When I lived in Cheshire I had a long strip of grass by the side of the house which was pointless as far as I was concerned, so I put some plugs of wildflowers in it and scaryfied it and sowed a few wild seeds too. And let the grass grow.

I came home one day to find it mowed flat and a smug looking neighbour telling me he was 'helping' because obviously I didn't have time to keep the place tidy. Not everyone understands do they?