The little people preparing for the big day.

 

It is less than a week now to our Open Garden day for Amnesty. Although we have lots to do still, today we decided to help the little people in the garden, by building them a summer house and putting up some bunting. We know they are shy creatures and that they may be a bit startled by all the visitors to the garden on Saturday, but we still think they want their place to look the best.

As the little people are fond of all small insects and bugs we decided to make the summer house with this in mind and after we had cut off an old post to a suitable height, we drilled holes all around the edge, for solitary bees and other small inhabitants.

We had an old metal plate and a lamp shade, both from the charity shop and we decided that they would be suitable for the summer house. The plate was too smooth so we hammered it with a ball and peen hammer until we liked how it looked.

We attached it to the top of the post and filled the old lampshade with straw, creating a cosy and relatively dry place for more insects.

Then it was time to drill holes for windows and paint the whole house with a linseed oil based product, for colour and durability. We made up tiny crosses from match sticks and stuck them in place. We took an old ornate metal bowl and cut it off, painted the middle brown and stuck it on as a door.

We hope the little people and the small insects will be equally delighted by the creation and to finish off the day we planted lots of small flowering plants, some annuals and some perennials like Ajuga and London pride.

We created a path from flat stones and bunting from small diamond shaped fabric cut outs glued around garden twine.

In the spring we wrote about making the door and washing line with small perfectly camouflaged clothes. You can read about it here.

Down by the pond our other house for little people is just starting to be covered in roses, the time in the year when it looks its best.

We do hope to see you on Saturday if you live close by, you can read all about the Open Day here.