Sixteen Rosebarn Avenue

Sixteen Rosebarn Avenue Our garden in Exeter as it changes and evolves over the seasons and the years

We have a small stumpery and coppiced viburnum on the edge of our kitchen garden and it’s got a small (30cm) terracotta ...
07/09/2026

We have a small stumpery and coppiced viburnum on the edge of our kitchen garden and it’s got a small (30cm) terracotta dish placed in amongst its leaves. We have put some pebbles in there and we keep it topped up with rainwater from our water butts. I wasn’t sure it was doing any good so set up a trail cam to see what visitors we were getting. To my surprise we have a mouse who visits every night along with a robin and what I think is a juvenile thrush who regularly pops in for a bath.

It just goes to show that even the smallest effort our part will always be gratefully received by our garden neighbours.

Our garden passed a little social media milestone today 🥳 we passed 100,000 views over the last 14 days! Huzzah! Who’d...
05/09/2026

Our garden passed a little social media milestone today 🥳 we passed 100,000 views over the last 14 days! Huzzah! Who’d of thought so many people would be interested in seeing our pond being built and admiring the nephew’s handiwork with a B&Q gabion!

Look out Monty Don, there’s a new kid on the block!

Whilst the nephew wasn’t helping me dig the pond out over the weekend he completed our latest high rise bug hotel. It’s...
03/09/2026

Whilst the nephew wasn’t helping me dig the pond out over the weekend he completed our latest high rise bug hotel. It’s a £40 gabion from B&Q (other retailers are available) and measures 120cm x 30cm x 40cm. We cut the logs into 30cm and 40cm lengths so we could alternate across the cage. We topped them off with pine cones collected from our local woods whilst walking our Jack Russell, Liam and buried the bottom a little into the soil.

We will be drilling holes on the south side for solitary bees but we are undecided about filling in the gaps with bamboo. I read somewhere that the gaps are good for spiders so I’m pondering.

As the wood rots down there should be plenty of material for woodlice and centipedes whilst at ground level we should be creating habitat for stag beetles so it should be thriving by next Spring.

So £40 for materials, a bit of sawing and about half an hour to put it together. I have to say we are really pleased with its aesthetics and it fits in perfectly in our contemporary garden. Looking after nature doesn’t always mean looking scruffy!

So the pond has been in for a day and we have our first damselflies mating and laying all around the pond. I did video ...
01/09/2026

So the pond has been in for a day and we have our first damselflies mating and laying all around the pond. I did video them but it’s really hard to make them out so this picture is all I’ve got.

Ta Da! We have surrounded the liner with mature, dried logs and planted up the pond with plants from the old one. Beli...
30/08/2026

Ta Da! We have surrounded the liner with mature, dried logs and planted up the pond with plants from the old one. Believe it or not the old one was completely clogged so we have divided the plants up and placed them around their new home. We created planting pockets in amongst the logs to allow us to plant around the margins. Lots of cobbles have gone in to create beaches and areas where critters can climb in and out easily. There are some steeper sides so we have submerged a log just inside the pond to enable creatures to scramble out if they fall in. As the logs continue to rot down they should provide an ideal habitat for stag beetles and the bullrushes should be ideal for dragonflies and damselflies as they emerge from the pond.

The garden robin has been perching on the logs and surveying the new addition and our neighbourhood frog has already returned, had a dip and quietly watched me as I’ve pottered about fettling things.

All that’s left now is to tidy up the pond margins and plant it up with meadow perennials that are sitting in our mini meadow at the other end of the garden.

Following on from the last post.Great progress on the pond front. Gone from cutting turf to testing for level and leaks ...
28/08/2026

Following on from the last post.

Great progress on the pond front. Gone from cutting turf to testing for level and leaks all in 2 days. We’ve rescued one frog, two newts and lots of larvae to put back in once the water chemistry has settled down and tomorrow we start dressing with old logs and replacing the lilies and other plants then off to our local pond centre for more plants, pebbles and gravel.

Great Bank Holiday project! We’ve increased the surface area and depth of the pond substantially and will now be able to creat some bespoke habitats within the pond to bring even more wildlife in the coming months.

This is our wildlife pond and wild fringe which has been doing very well for the last five years. We have newts, frogs,...
26/08/2026

This is our wildlife pond and wild fringe which has been doing very well for the last five years. We have newts, frogs, damselflies, dragonflies along with a variety of birds that visit for a wash and brush up. But now we are upgrading it! The pond is only 2mx0.9m and has a maximum depth of 60cm to give its residents a warm place in Winter.

The plan is to increase its size to around 3mx3m and provide a deeper well of 90cm with various depth shelves all through it as well as shallow banks and gravel beaches. We will be surrounding it with rotting logs and then letting the wild area grow back again to provide cover for our amphibians.

I thought I’d share a picture of the pond before we start work and then post progress as we hit some milestones as work progresses. It’s just me and my nephew doing the work so hopefully we may encourage a few people to have a go themselves as, believe me, if me and my nephew can do it anyone can!

The passion fruit that we planted at the entrance of our kitchen garden looks like it’s about to give us its first edibl...
23/08/2026

The passion fruit that we planted at the entrance of our kitchen garden looks like it’s about to give us its first edible harvest. Never thought we would see that down here in Devon. It obviously likes the heatwaves we have been experiencing.

Inspired by a feature on BBC Gardeners World we decided to spruce up our garden with some rebar grids more normally foun...
16/08/2026

Inspired by a feature on BBC Gardeners World we decided to spruce up our garden with some rebar grids more normally found on building sites. We’ve made wall supports for our clematis, blackberries, and rose bush as well as loads of supports for our herbaceous beds and a retainer for one of our log walls.

If we had bought the equivalents from specialist retailers the cost would have run into 4-figures but we got away with less than £225 and that includes buying the angle grinder that we used to cut everything to shape.

06/08/2026

We have added a day spa to our high rise bug hotel. A solar panel on the roof powers a small pump to keep the water fresh. The pond has pebbles laid on river gravel to provide shallow pools for birds to drink and bathe in whilst bugs can fly in and settle on the pond sides or pebbles which stick out of the water. We will be planting around the pond to provide cover and food sources. A few logs dotted about the place may also encourage frogs to come and check the pond out as well. Pond, solar panel, pump, gravel and pebbles all came in under £100 and we are really happy with the finished result

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Exeter

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