Creating a Nature Garden…

David Dellow, from our senior support team at Redcroft care home, Bournemouth, has been on a mission to transform an area of garden behind the chicken run; to create something rather beautiful and interesting from a scrubby patch of untamed wilderness. David’s creative designer and grafting partner is S.

Here is S and David’s nature garden diary, kindly shared with the kind permission of both.

“Nature Garden Creation, First Session:

Today we started on the Nature Garden, our first task is to clear all the loose vegetation on the floor and all the loose branches on the ground.

We are disposing of all the loose vegetation and branches into our large compost heap, this way we are recycling all the organic debris, which eventually we will distribute around our new garden.

All the other objects that have been collected over the years will also be recycled/upcycled for use in the garden. We will have a garden that is not only inviting and encouraging to wildlife but also environmentally friendly. 

Our aim is to create a garden that is appealing to a wide range of wildlife as well as creating a space where we can go and relax when we desire some relaxation.  If we are successful in encouraging wildlife we are planning to set up cameras and capture pictures of our wildlife visitors and even possibly create a calendar of our wildlife friends.                        

The work is very physical and is on a grand scale, so we are planning on completing the work over the period of several months. But we fully intend to have the work completed in time for BBQ season!

We are disposing of all the loose vegetation and branches into our large compost heap, this way we are recycling all the organic debris, which eventually we will distribute around our new garden.

All the other objects that have been collected over the years will also be recycled/upcycled for use in the garden. We will have a garden that is not only inviting and encouraging to wildlife but also environmentally friendly. 

Our aim is to create a garden that is appealing to a wide range of wildlife as well as creating a space where we can go and relax when we desire some relaxation.  If we are successful in encouraging wildlife we are planning to set up cameras and capture pictures of our wildlife visitors and even possibly create a calendar of our wildlife friends.                                                                                                   The work is very physical and is on a grand scale, so we are planning on completing the work over the period of several months. But we fully intend to have the work completed in time for BBQ season.

Second Session:

Our second session saw us continuing with the clearing of the excessive debris from our proposed nature garden site. It was a hard task but we were aware that once completed we would be able to make progress on the garden easier.

We completed the session with a trip to a local garden tools supplier to collect some heavy-duty tools to help us with the next stage of our work.

Third Session:

Session three saw us starting to cut out a footpath to allow easy access around the nature garden for everyone. Eventually the path will be created by turning all the discarded branches we have uncovered into wood chip.

We finished the session by placing the discarded wheelbarrow in position at the end of the path. We are looking for unwanted/old paving slabs to create a firm base, as the wheelbarrow is going to be turned into a bird bath.

Stay tuned for our next progress report!” — David Dellow, Redcroft.

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