Garden for insects

We have started a completely new area of garden. We removed a wooden structure and cleared everything. What we wanted to do was create an area of garden that produced food for us and habitats for insects.

This project started in April this year . We planted six small Apple trees . Next we added currants and gooseberries.

These are the structure of the area, they produce food, they have flowers and the trees offer perches to birds.

The next planting was perennial flowering plants such as lavenders, species geraniums and oxeye daisies, as well as hollyhocks and tall verbenas.

To increase the food productivity we planted climbing beans edame beans, red kidney beans and also sweet peas.

The last job was to scatter wild flower seed.

The results have been wonderful-

This strip of garden is alive with bees, butterflies, hoverflies and spiders. This morning there were damselflies as well. The sparrows and blackbirds are using the trees.

In just three months the area has been completely transformed.

We have eaten strawberries, redcurrants and gooseberries from this garden and there are courgettes,tomatoes, beans and apples to come.

The variety of plants and flowers and the different levels of plants has created an insect paradise.

This has been a really enjoyable ( and tasty project) we are really pleased with the wild flowers that have just started to flower. We will continue to develop this area and think of other ways to garden for wildlife.