The Garden Year: November 2025

For this year’s Garden Year linky I’m continuing to share advice from Songbird Survival about how we can make our gardens the best they can be for birds.

This month is the final Garden Year linky of the year, and it’s been quite the year continuing to learn about my garden and to think about the changes we will make, and who we might use to help us design and deliver that. There is as always so much choice and the worry about not getting it quite right, or choosing well but as with everything the best thing to do is actually make a start.

Moving the pots around the garden this year has helped inform the plans that were starting to shape up in my mind, though of course with the colder weather ahead of us I’ll be needing to move those pots to more temperate parts of the garden.

The succulents will move into the garage, they’ll got some light there but mostly they will be sheltered. The other pots will retreat into the borders further so getting some protection from the bushes and the wall that surrounds them.

The seeds that I’ve bought this year will stay inside until its time to plant them, and hopefully before the weather chills down too much I’ll be able to grab some time to repot my bulbs so that when spring comes they’ve got the best chance of putting on that early colour which I love so much.

Thanks for joining me throughout the year for this linky, and I can’t wait until spring is with us once again…

A bunch of red berries

#ThinkBirds

This month, the focus turns to shrubs and bushes and the advice to plant them so they establish before any forecast cold snaps. Also to consider what you plant, remembering that hawthorn or elder are great for providing both food and shelter.

Advice, inspiration and places to visit

Leave a link below to share what you’ve been up to in the last month, or add a comment sharing your plans for the upcoming month.

“TheGardenYear

The Garden Year: October 2025

For this year’s Garden Year linky I’m continuing to share advice from Songbird Survival about how we can make our gardens the best they can be for birds.

This year we’ve managed to get all of our lavender bushes trimmed ahead of the winter, which trust me is no mean feat. We have eight large-ish lavender bushes which can be back breaking work to trim, though on the plus side my garden bin smells the best it ever has!

A path through a garden bordered with lavender bushes - not mine though, but it feels like I have as much as this!

NOT MY LAVENDER, BUT IT FEELS LIKE I HAVE SIMILAR QUANTITIES!

#ThinkBirds

This month, Songbird Survival advise that October is an ideal month for planting trees, hardy summer bulbs and herbaceous perennials, and remember to leave fallen leaves as they provide shelter for wildlife.

Advice, inspiration and places to visit

Leave a link below to share what you’ve been up to in the last month, or add a comment sharing your plans for the upcoming month.

“TheGardenYear

The Garden Year: September 2025

For this year’s Garden Year linky I’m continuing to share advice from Songbird Survival about how we can make our gardens the best they can be for birds.

This summer has been one of very little rain, which has meant quite a lot of worry for my potted plants, and the increasingly urgent need to get them into the ground - but where?! That’s still the great unknown, but in the past month I’ve started to put pots in places where I think I want the plants, which is small steps but it is helping. It’s also meant we see our plants, though clearly I waited until most of the flowers had gone, ah well…

#ThinkBirds

This month, let’s look at the top survival tips for songbirds in our gardens:

  • Forget pesticides and keep it natural. By providing lots of flowers and plants you’re helping wildlife, but your hard work goes out the window if you use a bug spray.

  • Create a pond, I’ll admit this is one I struggle with, but a pond is great for the invertebrates in your garden. You never know you may even attract some frogs, toads and newts to your new space.

  • No garden? No problem! However big, or small, your space is you can make it wildlife friendly. Consider putting up a nest box or grab yourself some potted plants, you’d be surprised at what wildlife you can attract.

  • Make a space for compost - a compost heap is a great way to recycle your garden and kitchen (non-meat) waste, and it creates more habitats for insects, as well as great compost you can use in your garden.

  • Don’t rush to cut back, wait until early spring to cut the garden back. Leaving seed heads and grasses over winter provides food and shelter for birds and it looks great too.

  • Enjoy it! That’s the most important advice for your garden, make time to soak up your hard work and enjoy the wildlife your garden has to offer. The mental health benefits of being outside are good too, soo relax, breathe and listen to your dawn chorus.

Advice, inspiration and places to visit

Leave a link below to share what you’ve been up to in the last month, or add a comment sharing your plans for the upcoming month.

sunflowers and a sunflower seed head
“TheGardenYear