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We bought our cottage in its large garden in Spring 1993, wearing rose-tinted glasses. The house needed structural repair and sympathetic attention, while what had once been the garden needed complete redevelopment - our friends referred to it all as a tumbledown shed in an unkempt field.
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We were not professional builders or gardeners, but alongside our day jobs we both worked on taking the cottage apart. Tim then began rebuilding our home and I started on the garden - establishing a nursery bed for all the plants I found irresistible on my many forays to NGS gardens and hidden nurseries.
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We made a vague plan to begin with, measuring the site and marking out the hedges which we planted first, using yew and hornbeam for the boundary and for internal screening. I put in 12" - 18" plants progressively from 1994, beginning with the front boundary hedge. Almost all established well, and now the initial plants have reached their desired height. We only trim them once a year, after the wild birds have finished nesting and raising their young usually from September onwards.
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The soil is neutral to mildly acidic badly-draining clay. It needed copious amounts of grit, sharp sand and organic matter initially to break it down. Now nothing is added and the leaves from surrounding trees are left on the borders to provide a mulch. Our compost is used for the vegetable garden beds which has resulted in many plants settling in and decorating the emerging produce.
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There were few mature trees or shrubs here, but the mature Pedunculate Oak tree Quercus robur has proved a great attractor of wildlife including Purple Emperor butterflies, bats and various birds which use it to survey the garden, surrounding woodland and farmland landscape.
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Apart from newly planted and potted plants nothing else is watered in the garden and we have plenty of vintage wine barrels used as water butts if a plant needs a drink.
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The plants in the main have been grown from seed or infancy and as you can see have matured well. Included in the planting are the prettiest of our native plants to provide nectar and larval food for our insect visitors. Maintenance is mainly editing and I find weeding is more a matter of pulling out over-enthusiastic self-seeders. In the main borders I practice the chop and drop sustainable practice in late early spring which provides the plants with nutrients and a mulch. This method leaves the dead material standing providing shelter for insects and food for birds.
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The beds around the meadow 'lawn' have been planted with Hornbeam Carpinus betulus which provides a contrast to the evergreen Yew Taxus baccata hedges. The meadow surrounding the formal pool was originally a weekly mown lawn. After the appearance of Cowslips and Oxeye Daisies the grass was allowed to grow and is now colonised by Lady's Smock, Common Knapweed and Betony providing colour, nectar and breeding sites for insects.
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All the plants in the pond are British natives providing cover for the frogs, newts and toads spawning efforts.
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We do everything we can to support the local wildlife, providing nesting and hibernating sites for birds, mammals and invertebrates. Dead hedges (deadges) have been created to provide habitat and are also a useful way of disposing of shrub prunings in winter.
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We have also left an area of the garden, where the summerhouse is, to return to nature and this prevents any disturbance to the nesting Barn Owls and also allows the visiting small mammals to thrive and provide food for the owls.
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After 32 years of management our meadow now has the National Vegetation Classification (NVC) of MG5 grassland, which is defined as a meadow with high, diverse, and with relatively fine-leaved grass cover. The key indicator grasses are Common Bent Agrostis capillaris, Sweet Vernal Grass Anthoxanthum odoratum, and Crested Dog's-tail Cynosurus cristatus. With the following typical species in Common Knapweed Centaurea nigra, Yellow Rattle, Lady's Bedstraw, and Meadow Vetchling.
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We are very fortunate to live here at Rustling End Cottage and really appreciate the diversity of fauna and flora which surround us, and the many birds which visit the pond and feeders. We would ask that you too respect this and hope you will enjoy your visit here.
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