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Kitchen Garden Blog : Lavender Flowers

Plans for getting the kitchen garden growing again.
Through a lack of general garden maintenance, something wonderful was emerging...



Lavender in Kent. Wildlife and kitchen garden blog.
Lavender in the Kitchen Garden. Kent.
This photograph was taken several years ago. The lavender quickly outgrew its space but looked all the prettier for it! A small butterfly was caught amongst the flowers but no bees - usually there were hundreds!


Much of the garden had become a natural wildlife habitat, attracting foxes, badgers, hedgehogs, squirrels, toads, newts, frogs, slow worms, birds, butterflies, bees and bugs.

As the garden lingered in its state of in-betweens - seemingly lifeless and lacking energy - weeds had grown up around fruit trees and wildflowers replaced the garden blooms; even a couple of leeks appeared amidst the wild grasses and a few determined nasturtium draped themselves over a broken flowerpot or other small structure left lying around the garden. The garden was thriving as a wild, wildlife garden!

A kitchen garden and a wildlife garden.

With thoughts on developing the wildlife garden further, it seemed there was no room for a kitchen garden, no matter how small – and so the garden was dedicated to wildness and wildlife.

One plant from the old kitchen garden, that stood the test of time (and neglect), was the lavender, as though providing hope for a gardener during a time of change. As an easy-growing, bee-friendly flower - perhaps dreams of a prettyish kitchen garden could happen alongside a wildlife garden!

That lavender has now disappeared, crowded out by sedum (another excellent source of nectar for bees and butterflies!) but revised plans for creating a kitchen garden include a return of the Kitchen Garden Flower! 

Every kitchen garden has its flower!

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