Rewilding Your Garden
It’s the perfect time to return to nature and learn how to encourage wildlife and biodiversity in your plot
WHEN we hear about the catastrophic loss of biodiversity on a global scale, we are all inclined to ask how we can help. We want to contribute, but feel powerless and presume wrongly that rewilding is not for us.
We think that it’s about landscape-scale work and that only those with many hectares of land – estates, or large farms – can participate. It’s simply not the case.
This is why rewilding advocate SCOTLAND: The Big Picture, compiled Mewilding – a beautifully illustrated booklet filled with tips and ideas of how we can all help to save the planet in our day-to-day lives.
As Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”
The State of Nature Report 2019, revealed that the abundance and distribution of Scotland’s species have continued to plummet over the last 10 years, with an estimated fall of more than 50% of pollinators since the 1980s. Most of our crops are dependent on pollination, so pollinators are key to the success of food production and the economy.
Many wildflowers are crucial for pollinators, yet we call them weeds, digging them up and overlooking their usefulness. Take the humble dandelion
– it grows in wasteland, and blankets our roadside verges, bringing a splash of brilliance that cheers the dullest day.
Yet most importantly, this so-called weed is vital for pollinators, including bees. The famous quote attributed to Albert Einstein says, “If the bee disappeared off the face of the Earth, humans would have four years left to survive.” A stark warning, but have we taken note?
This year, most of us will probably spend more time in our gardens than ever before. As our lives undergo an enforced slowing down, we might start noticing and getting acquainted with many of the wild inhabitants that surround us – be it in the park or garden.
We might also begin to acknowledge that we usually race through our days in a tearing hurry and subsequently miss some of the most incredible living things, from the tiniest insects, to the beautiful birds and mammals that live close-by. Now, more than ever, is the moment to start appreciating nature all around us. It will also help us through these challenging times.
We love our gardens and collectively spend millions of pounds every year creating beautiful spaces for our leisure. Many gardeners will spend countless hours frenetically keeping their patch immaculate.
As a nation, we are obsessed with garden tidiness. Ours is a ceaseless cycle of mowing and strimming – battling to tame the wild. So why do we do this, and what does it achieve?
Walt Disney once said, “I don’t like formal gardens. I like wild nature. It’s just the wilderness instinct in me, I guess.” Of course, there is a place for extensive, formal gardens, but for most of us, we overlook a simple fact that our gardens could form part of a countrywide initiative to help our beleaguered wildlife.
This year, as our activities are curtailed, we could rise to the challenge. We could let the wild into our lives. It could be the start of us working in harmony with nature instead of against it.
For an individual or family with a garden, be it vast or handkerchief-sized, this is the place to start.
The tidy garden culture leaves nothing for wildlife and creates a barren, lifeless sward, but even by cutting your
“If the bee disappeared off the face of the Earth, survive” humans would have four years left to
lawn on a higher setting, and far less frequently, you will quickly see the emergence of numerous flowers. These are relished by bees, hoverflies and myriad insects, which then encourages more birds and mammals to visit.
If you are thinking of sowing a new lawn, why not change tack and create a small wildflower-rich meadow instead? Grasses that you will include for this are entirely different from those used for lawn mixes. With time and work, established lawns can be made into mini wildflower meadows too.
It may surprise you to know that even carefully selected planting with nectar-rich species in a window box or patio tub, can help attract various insects and provide them with valuable sustenance.
Gardening for nature may take a little getting used to if you are someone who likes things very tidy, but it’s about relaxing more and micromanaging less. It’s about abandoning insidious weed killers.
It’s about viewing plants such as the much-maligned stinging nettle as an irreplaceable food plant for the caterpillars of small tortoiseshell, red admiral, peacock and comma butterflies. If we want lovely butterflies to flit through our gardens, then we need nettles too.
It’s about planting small trees and shrubs to provide berries and fruits to sustain wildlife through winter, and about buying trees as presents, or donating to, or volunteering with, tree planting conservation work.
You could also speak to your local council and request that they don’t cut roadside verges, instead letting the grasses and wildflowers bloom for the benefit of wildlife – especially in areas where they are not causing any safety issues.
The concept of Mewilding also embraces the need for us to encourage our children and grandchildren to love the natural world. It demonstrates the need to think before we buy and highlights the benefits of shopping locally and cutting down food miles.
There is information on why we must avoid buying peat-based garden products as harvesting peat causes devastating damage to our dwindling peatlands, which provide an unsurpassed natural carbon store helping mitigate climate change.