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

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“TheGardenYear

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

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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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The Garden Year: June 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 past month I’ve really been enjoying working, or more accurately pottering, in my garden - though earlier in the month I had a scare when I thought I’d lost a couple of my potted roses and the astrantia, but thankfully moving them to a more sheltered spot and giving them a more regular water has helped them through. One of the roses has even flowered - yay! The other has recovered so much that it’s grown new leaves to replace those it dropped.

My hardy fuchsias were looking very twig-like and so once I thought the frosts had passed I braved it and cut all the dead wood out, but being careful to leave enough of the sticks to support the new growth which up until now had relied on them. It seems to have worked so far…

#ThinkBirds

Songbird Survival suggest that we should aim to include five essentials in our gardens for a wildlife-friendly space, they are:

  1. Shelter - this is important for birds and small mammals to escape predators; trees, hedges and shrubs all provide places they can hide.

  2. Food - an assortment of flowers and vegetation will attract insects and berry bushes or fruit trees also provide a great source of food.

  3. Nesting - nest boxes are a great way to provide safe nesting environments for birds, but also think about planting long grasses or cardoons which supply birds with good nesting materials.

  4. Water - provide a space, such a s a shallow bird bath, which is cleaned regularly.

  5. Be natural - ditching the pesticides will help wildlife thrive!

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