Project: Bird Feeders

Well where does this one start..... This part of the garden has gone through many phases of development over the last few years. Originally a bird feeder pole just knocked into the ground as you can see from the picture below. Not very exciting and to be honest. Boring. So thought that I would make it into something a little more pleasing on the eye.

So what was I going to do? I looked online to see what I could do. Well I wanted to do some kind of feature, what I was not so sure. I did some looking on the internet for ideas and nothing really jumped on me. I like to have the birds coming into the garden along with any wildlife, although the resident Hedgehog is no longer with us. I decided to begin with that I wanted some kind of raised bed that was easy to maintain to stop the bird seed growing in the grass. 

Above another view prior to the work being carried out. Early in the season. 

Above, The first result of the evolution of the bird feeder. I bought a raised wooden bed from a local garden center, £18 which is not too bad. Firstly treated with a preserver to protect the wood. Whilst that was drying I took the grass off the surface of the ground to leave just the earth. Before placing the raised bed I placed a weed stopping membrane to stop the weeds coming through the stones that I was laying afterwards. After laying the membrane I constructed the now dry raised bed on top. Once together I put the poles in for the two feeders securely into the ground then placed stones on the top of the membrane. 

Above, now completed and the bird feeders assembled. Around the edges Rudbeckia placed around the edges to add some base level colour during the summer months. I did think about putting in some Spring flowering bulbs but at this stage decided against it. 

Rudbeckia
Plant

Rudbeckia is a plant genus of 23 species in the family Asteraceae. The species are commonly called coneflowers and black-eyed-susans; all are native to North America and many species are cultivated in ... Wikipedia

Scientific name: Rudbeckia
Rank: Genus
Higher classification: Heliantheae
Lower classifications: Rudbeckia californica, Rudbeckia laciniata,Rudbeckia occidentalis, Rudbeckia maxima, Rudbeckia hirta, Rudbeckia pinnata, Rudbeckia triloba, Rudbeckia alpicola, Rudbeckia fulgida

Now completed and looks quite good and the birds seem to love it. I was very happy with the result and check back again to see how it changed again at the start of this year.