Tag Archives: Garden

Garden Design

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I had a really relaxed weekend after a bit of an annoying week. You see; I have been trying to get some sample urls from a client for three weeks now, to see what kind of design they would prefer and to get an appointment with them to go there and discuss things. I never received a response from the person who was supposed to contact me until Tuesday night, last week when JG. –her boss and friend of AS. who’s really eager to get things done- forwarded her email to me because she’d sent it to him instead of me.

So I read the email just after midnight when I was on my way to bed and noticed that she expected me to be in the office the next morning [I don’t think so!]. Ever since, I have sent emails, have been on the phone every day and left messages to call me back. No reaction… Here I am thinking: I’m doing you a big favour -I am actually- and you can’t find two minutes of your precious time to respond to my email or give me a call back? What on earth is your problem, do you want this deal or not?

In the meantime I’m getting more work in and I’ve about four websites to design so time is running out since this particular client needs to have it all done by the end of August. I’ve installed the software, played with it and I realised while checking it out that this is not going to be a simple job. Normally with this amount of work at least one developer and designer would be assigned and be given three or four months. I’ve been given less than two months, while other work needs to be done as well. See my point?…

To stay focused on the serious clients I arranged to meet up with K. over the weekend to get some input from him about what he would like. He’s a landscape gardener/designer and he is extremely creative so after our brainstorming session I left having all these ideas and images in my head and I couldn’t wait to get started. He showed me some amazing gardens that he did for these millionaire clients: owners of huge old Victorian houses with huge gardens in the West End and South End of London. Truly inspiring!

K. was extremely enthusiastic about having his website done and came up with really nice ideas. I took his portfolio with me so I can scan some of his drawings and I’ll have to do some research later today to see if I can find some leaves and stone structures. I’ll also have to redesign his business card once the website is done. K. was so enthusiastic that he had told a friend about it and this friend -who’s in education- is really interested in having his website done as well. So… things are picking up!

After the meeting with K. I went over to CS. to work in their garden. We’ve been cutting and trimming down a large bush to clear the path while enjoying the beautiful weather. Their garden is amazing but it’s all growing wild now since they haven’t done much maintenance. I helped cutting last year but they neglected it ever since while I offered my help so many times. I really love working in the garden, so I had a bit of a gardening theme going on all Saturday and a nice BBQ to end the day *hehe*

I was totally knackered when I came home, knackered but relaxed and Sunday… well… Sunday was just a typical Sunday…

P.S. CS. made a really interesting remark, she said: ‘those who are sincerely busy will always make time for you, those who are not busy at all need to pretend to appear to be busy thus won’t make time for you…’ I think she has an excellent point there!

Urban Foxes

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The foxes have been restless for days and keep me awake at night wandering around in the gardens… I wonder what is going on, why they make such noise, I think it’s probably a territory thing but I can’t find any info. What I did find was very interesting to read:

Wildlife facts: Urban Foxes

Foxes have made a success of living with people. This is not based upon their mythical cunning, but rather their ability to adapt to a range of changing conditions.

The Move to the Cities

Foxes moved into urban areas after World War I due to a change in people’s lifestyles. The new transport systems allowed people to work in one place and to live in another, leading to the building of suburban housing in one rural areas. Rural foxes quickly urbanised, taking advantage the food and shelter provided in these new relatively large gardens, from compost heaps, bird tables and garden buildings. Now accustomed to living so near to people, successive generations have spread inwards towards the city centre. Today there are more opportunities of food and shelter for foxes in towns and cities than in the surrounding countryside, with the destruction of hedgerows, woods and wild field margins.

Family Life

They live in family groups – a dog fox and vixen producing one litter of about 4 cubs a year. It is also common for one or two other vixens to help raise the family – usually either the daughters or sisters of the breeding vixen. They communicate through calls, which may be very loud in the breeding season, scent marking, facial expressions, and body postures that are very similar to dogs. Hunting throughout the family territory, these opportunist feeders, have a varied diet ranging from fruit to mice. On average, scavenged food forms some 36% of their diet, with a large amount of this deliberately put out to attract them. It is commonly, but wrongly believed that urban foxes feed largely on the contents of dustbins which they have raided – these are more often disturbed by cats and dogs.

Threats to Foxes

The number of urban foxes remains about the same despite approximately 60% of the population dying in a year. Nearly half of these deaths are due to car accidents. However, injured animals often survive, lying under a garden shed until the bones start to knit together. Once the fox is able to feed again it will soon regain its lost weight. Generally it is best not to move an injured or sick animal, rather to put out food for it each night. A fox taken in for treatment has only a slim chance of survival. It will probably be driven out from its territory by a new tenant. This “do not disturb” policy is true for supposedly abandoned fox cubs. A vixen normally leaves her cubs for long periods of time, especially as they get older. The rearing of truly orphaned cubs may be taken over by other members of the fox family group.

Friend or Foe?

Most people derive pleasure from having foxes in their neighbourhood and they are certainly a benefit, feeding on rats, mice and feral pigeons. Most encounters with other large animals, such as cats, result in the two animals ignoring each other, or the cat coming off best. They are only a threat to small family pets such as rabbits. Most fox diseases are not transferable to pets or people. Should rabies enter Britain, The Wildlife Trusts would support the vaccination of foxes, and not their killing, as an appropriate means of control.

Spotting your Fox

You are most likely to see foxes at dawn or dusk as they are often night hunters, spending their days in a sheltered, secluded spot either above or below ground. Male foxes, called dog foxes, are not much larger then cats weighing about 6.5kg (14lbs) and standing about 35cm (14″) at the shoulder. Female foxes, called vixens, are slightly smaller. Their colours may vary slightly form those shown, and during the spring and summer months they may look extremely scruffy as they moult.

These wild animals provide a welcome reminder in our urban world of the realities of nature. They hunt, breed, play and die in the “wilderness” of our “backyard”. Adaptable opportunists, they have learnt to cope with the world that we have changed.

© Wild London