wildlife garden

Common or Black Knapweed Centaura nigra, showing diverse leaf shape and typical spherical, purple flowering heads.

Hedgehog Erinaceus europaeus with log-pile, bracket and other fungi, nettles, and a small tortoiseshell butterfly.

Spine cross section from a hedgehog Illustration from “30 Animals that made us smarter” by Patrick Ayree (BBC Books).

European Hedgehog Illustration from “30 Animals that made us smarter” by Patrick Ayree (BBC Books).

Honey bee worker Apis mellifera illustration from A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough

Milkweed Asclepias syriaca sketchbook study page with written notes and info on seed pods, flowers, roots, and seeds

Milkweed Asclepias syriaca habit drawing showing two plants in flower

Cucumber plant drowing up a support showing tendrils, leaves, and young cucumber fruits and flowers alogn with companion planting of nasturtium

How to build a raised bed from planks showing attachments of horizontal planks to the vertical uprights, and how to secure the bed in the ground

Safely pricking out seedlings from a seed tray

Diagram showing how to do double digging of a flower bed or vegetable plot

Iris in gravel with blue petals

Garden border in spring with tulips, crocus, daffodils and daisies abutting a carefully tended lawn and edged with concrete slabs

Raised bed growing chives, nasturtium, lavender, chili, cabbage, lettuce, rosemary, parsley, and violets

Lasagna garden cross section showing the layering of paper, organic matter such as compost, topsoil, and crops

Study of leaf litter showing dead decaying leaves

Pepper seedling in a lump of soil, held in the hand of a gardener

A hand pinching out the growth tips on a cucumber plant to encourage lateral growth and more cucmber fruit

Brownstone house with back yard full of a diverse array of containers all of which are growing different edible food crops from herbs to fruit thorugh salads and vegetables.

Corner of a raised bed showing how to attach the plants to one another when building the bed

Three illustrations showing compost as it degrades into organic matter, from recognizable leaf litter through to earth like mulch

Set up with two compost bins in rotation

Vegetable garden in a raised bed showing taller crop plants behind the shorter ones in the front including beans, borage, chives, and salad crops

Cucumber plant drowing up a support showing tendrils, leaves, and young cucumber fruits and flowers alogn with companion planting of nasturtium