Victorian Railworker’s Cottage, Back Garden, N22

This tiny garden had become unruly and dispiriting to maintain for the bee-keeping owner who wanted the garden to be a haven for pollinating insects. London clay soil and the orientation of the garden exacerbated the situation - in winter the sun hardly appearing over the roof tops leaving it dank and dark, whereas the high summer sun blasted unrelenting heat. A simple solution - to raise the planting in parallel sleeper beds with free-draining soil. A robust summer mix of  Erigeron karvinskianus and Origanum laevigatum Herrenhausen is planted in the gravel softening the sleeper edges and ensuring that even the paths are alive with pollinating bees in summer. The existing zinc seat was re-established on a rectangle of Staffordshire blue brick in front of a new Hornbeam hedge, Carpinus Betula.  Although similar to Beech in retaining its winter leaves, it is more resilient to drought, heat and water-logging.  These challenges are typical as we adapt to the new weather patterns in climate change.