Having had a break from writing on these pages, I felt it was as good a time as any to return with transformative news, both in reinstating the original name of this blog 'SuburbanGaze' but also of the outside space. Over the summer months of lockdown I began researched ideas around renewing the patio. We had spent so much time concentrating on plants and nature that we had forgotten our own basic needs. So many options to choose from, so many trawls through Google images to find inspiration. I knew we needed a large flat area with a built in pergola for shade but all off-the-shelf models lacked the bold clean and dark masculine straight lines that I was looking for. I realised quickly that our needs were not catered for and I would need to design something from scratch. So the process began, like so much in the outside space a lot of thought and planning has gone into it. The problem: A hideous eighties patio, hiding a revolting fifties concrete patio beneath with an en
Last year I promised the garden that I would bring new gardening practises and refinement, new plants and cohesion. I'm not sure if I managed the refinement and cohesion but I definitely kept my other promises. I didn't use any chemical pesticides in the garden at all. I had thought that this would be really challenging. There are aisles full of various killing products in the garden centres, they've even made their way into the supermarket. They are so easy to just pop in your basket. Well it's been a simple adjustment. It has meant thinking differently about the garden and its place in the wider ecosystem where one creepy-crawly eating a leaf is feeding a frog, that is feeding a bird and so on. During 2019 I opting for two types of nematodes to combat my biggest issues in the garden, namely slugs/snails and vine weevils. I also brewed some nettles and made a concentrated spray that helps with aphids. I've noticed a big difference, mainly more birds
This is a lazy post so that the photographs can speak for themselves. Over the last few weeks we have been visiting National Trust gardens as the lockdown phase begins to ease. It's been an absolute joy. Often being the first few people to be let in to enjoy the vast, diverse and beautiful spaces. Baddesley Clinton Croft Castle Hidcote
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