Where’s the line between a wildlife garden and a mess? When does it stop being a garden? I guess it’s like the definition of a weed – you decide for yourself. But I’m still finding where my line is.

When we got back from Norfolk, the garden looked terrible. The comparison doesn’t help! But every thing is too big – I have this problem as a lot of things that survived the kids & the neglect have outgrown their space. And there aren’t many flowers in my garden this time of year, and it has been raining so much, the green has shot up. The fuchsia, which mostly I love so much, has bushed out, and put the whole of the back bed in shade. And in this funny stormy light, it looks a horrid salmony pink.

Turning things from a mess to a garden seems mostly to involve cutting stuff right back, tidying stuff up & killing things. I’ve started in this photo, and also cut the edge of the lawn with shears (I will mow the middle). I like the right-hand side more than the left because it’s still wilder….

So I know like it messy, but I think there is still some way to go to make it look like a lovely garden. The trouble is, as soon as you cut things back, you find things living there. Frogs in the grass, caterpillars in the bushes and the fuschia is so full of honey bees, it buzzes. The old dilemma about gardening for wildlife. When do you stop gardening if you really want the wildlife to flourish?

As I am thinking discontentedly what I need to do to this week to rebalance the garden, I should remember… while Chris and I were sitting in the kitchen today after lunch, a BIG beautiful frog hopped across the garden. It sat by the pots for a bit and then it did a massive jump into the cranesbill. That is worth lots of mess!