The Garden Year: September

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
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The Garden Year: August 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.

My gardening is still dominated by the ‘green bin collection dates’ - and as I’ve plenty to cut back and tame from our time away earlier in the year, it’s becoming a bit of a challenge. I’ll get there though, and it’s been great to reclaim the view from the window as the new growth is tidied up!

#ThinkBirds

This month, let’s think water - and water worries. Here in the UK we’ve had a drier than usual start to the year and several regions are officially in drought, with many of those introducing hosepipe bans. But it’s not just us and our plants that need water, the birds do too so keep those bird baths topped up in the warmer summer months.

If you don’t have a bird bath, consider putting out a shallow dish for birds to drink from. I use one of those under-pot ‘saucers’ which I place underneath one of the bushes I know the birds visit - it’s amazing how quickly it dries up when the weather is warm, so remember to keep it topped up.

And also allow seed heads to develop on sunflowers as a treat for the birds.

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.

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The Garden Year: July 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.

I’ve not done a huge amount in my garden in the last month - we were away for half of the month, and when we got home there were two heatwaves, so I’ve mostly been trying to keep everything watered - including some new plants, more on those soon, hopefully!

#ThinkBirds

This month, let’s consider the top plants for birds:

  • Long grasses provide cover for wildlife and make good nesting materials - they look great, and help wildlife.

  • Brambles are loved as nesting sites by songbirds, but they also provide places for them to forage the fruits. Moths lay their eggs on the underside of the leaves and insects visit the flowers between May and September.

  • Honeysuckle attracts insects from all around through its smell. June to August is the prime time for flowers, with fruits following.

  • Sunflowers they look great whichever variety you grow, and leaving the seedheads makes a great treat for finches and long-tailed tits.

  • Nasturtiums are a favoured plant of many caterpillar species. Butterflies lay their eggs on the underside of the leaves and the nectar attracts bumblebees.

  • Rowan trees are hardy and require little maintenance, but provide a home for many insects. These insects and the rowan berries are a favourite of starlings.

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.

A cluster of orange berries on my young rowan tree

A CLUSTER OF ORANGE BERRIES ON MY YOUNG ROWAN TREE LAST JULY

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