I'd not seen the gardens recently and was interested to see how the year was progressing for them.
One garden was following traditional lines and had moved on from the Spring/early summer of bulbs, anemones and alike and was now sporting the summer bedding of geraniums, lobelia and pansies. It looked lovely and it was clear by the perfectly weeded borders, the owner took great pride in its appearance.
Next door was a different matter. It was clear from the jumble of small scooters and footballs, there were young children who used their front area as a parking/dumping point for toys when the were called in.
The grass was unkempt and the borders overgrown; the contrast between neighbours was great.
Further on, another house had replaced the whole space with paving and had an electric charging point installed. There was one car parked already but it was clear another also parked and that was the electric one.
Varying degrees of usage became apparent, from car parks to children's play areas to formal gardens. Only one or two had what I would call a more ecological garden.
Mine is ecological. Dont get me wrong, these can be the toughest, most intense gardens to maintain as it's so easy for the thuggish plants to turn a well balanced plot into a monoculture.
Springtime is ruthless, pulling up countless seedlings where a particular plant has gone mad to allow others to establish.
Soil structure has to be considered the priority knowing the more enrichment I give it excludes species which prefer poor soil.
It's a constant balancing act.
So why do I do it?
Its certainly not to save effort on my part but the joys of the natural wildlife returning is delightful.
A case in point. I looked out of the kitchen window and within the space of 5 minutes I saw the following butterflies;
Large white, Small white, Red admiral, Small tortoishell, Painted lady, Common blue, Gatekeeper
For a small, suburban garden that's good going I think.
On the less pretty level I have moths, spiders, leaf cutters, beetles, centipedes, woodlice.....
And the birds?
Well, I don't feed them, the garden does, so I get the fledglings, the parents food hunting and the sparrow hawk chasing it's own food. I've seen bats too.
For me, I have apples, pears, black currants, red currants, strawberries, raspberries and loganberries. I get blackberries from the neighbour who doesnt get rid of his brambles. In every dark cloud there's a silver lining.
My space is a small space for nature but also for me.
So what's your green space for? How do you use it? Is there any room for the natural world or is it a monoculture of grass, brambles or concrete?
