Carol Freireich’s Ayrshire garden is a haven for nature

And when you do finally locate the single-storey cottage, the first in a row of three, there is no sign of the large garden tucked behind it.

“We used to live next door,” Carol says, “and I used to look out of the window to the garden at No 1 and think, ‘I want that garden’. Several years later, by the time her family of four children, were bursting out of their own space, No 1 came up for sale.

From that moment on, the Freireich children were free to roam in the 1.5 acre garden. They built dams in the fern burn that divides the garden in two, and made forts and tree houses in the strip of woodland that forms an effective windbreak to the east.

Meanwhile Carol, a passionate gardener, was planning how best to tame the neglected plot, while still allowing it to remain an exciting place of discovery and accommodate the family plus assorted geese, ducks, hens, bees and guinea pigs. A scientist by training, her style, surprisingly, veered towards the informal and semi-wild, but the ethos is clear.

“I like problem solving,” she explains, “using the materials I have and not wasting things.” Plants were mostly propagated from those donated by friends. “We started methodically, clearing bit by bit,” she continues, “tackling one area at a time. The chickens helped, they are good at scratching away at everything.”

Divided roughly in two parts by a horizontal hedge, the garden evolved to the right from a concrete terrace inlaid with brick. This was a practical move to ensure some mud fell off the children’s boots before they ran into the house.

The next step involved the creation of a vegetable garden in the sunniest spot, directly below the terrace and where it can easily be tended even if you only have a few moments. Repeat planting of salad mixes and rocket are sown here to make the most of the compact, free-draining space.

Here, height comes from bamboo tepees smothered in sweet peas and French beans, and the informal, curved edges are bright with patches of forget- me-knots, geraniums, foxgloves and lilies. Excess flowers are gathered up and put in the compost, allowing their seeds to mature during the winter providing colour in the vegetable patch.

Plants that grow well from seed in the compost include forget-me-nots, foxgloves, feverfew, teasels, pink and white Malva moschata, purple Polemonium and aquilegias. “These grow everywhere and I just move them where I want or weed them out. Potatoes are useful because they help clean up the ground,” she adds. “Leeks slot in after the potatoes.”

A small stone bridge leads over the burn towards a larger vegetable patch, where Carol immediately turns on the sprinkler. “If you don’t give your vegetables a chance when they are newly sown, they don’t come to anything,” she says. Further into the woodlands, oversize builders sacks are stuffed full of leaves, quietly broken down into leaf mould. “In the autumn when I gather leaves I put them in the bags. I leave them for two years: the weight of the bag clears the ground below.” When ready, the contents of the bags can be dug out; they are too heavy to move.

A semi-circular path leads past rhododendrons and azaleas, and back over the burn to the left hand garden, which took its form from the established shapes of the old, original apple trees closer to the house. These now stand on the only open lawn. Close by is the pond Carol dug, helped by a student lodger, shortly before the first grandchild arrived on the scene. Pressing on she used the damp space to plant primula, purple loosestrife, yellow Inula gigantea, Rheum, Rodgersia, Iris sibirica and marsh marigold

Wildlife is attracted to this garden and Carol has set up a chart so that visiting primary school children can get an idea of what they might find. On a mid-spring visit peacock, small tortoiseshell and orange tip butterflies were on the chart. There were newts and juvenile frogs in the pond. The list of recently spotted birds, many of which nest in the garden, include, different tits, bullfinch, tree creepers and wrens.

Managing such a large garden single handed is undoubtedly a challenge, but one that Carol overcomes by organisation: “Every morning when I wake up I decide which areas I am going to work in,” she explains. “I have a list and prioritise according to the weather. I pick jobs that need to be done and don’t worry about the other ones.” If she has regrets, they include failing to plant large plants sooner, “so you can watch them grow and mature”. The herbaceous plants that fill the beds and are scattered in profusion around the garden are recorded on a database, and Carol admits she is not immune from temptation. “If I buy plants, I tend to spend quite a lot,” she laughs. “But one third of the original plants are still in the garden.”

Favourite long-lasting plants that are easy to establish and are dotted around the garden include: lavender-coloured geranium ‘Beth Chatto,’ different fuchsia for July and August, Sambuscus nigra ‘Black Lace’ for the profusion of its pink flowers and contrasting dark foliage. “Wild favourites include aquilegia, which self-seeds everywhere, blue perennial cornflowers and purple headed chives.”

Creating the garden has been a slow process and it still isn’t finished. Sharing the garden is a special joy: grandchildren now benefit from this slice of paradise as much as their own parents did before them.

Burnside Cottage is not open this year. Check Scotland’s Gardens for 2014 openings (www.gardensofscotland.org)