Are you going to re-wild your garden?

HI954

If you have lots of lavenders and they do well, look for plants that like the same conditions. If your patch is well drained then the silver leafed plants would be good and salvias which flower for a long time.

I have always loved seeing, a host of golden dandelions, and then delight at seeing their amazing “clocks”. Never voiced that opinion before but I guess that’s not what people are thinking of

I planted a scented bed here when we moved in and was amused when wild garlic appeared - not quite what I had in mind!

eazybee

My garden is doing very well all on its own; just trying to clear away all the wild garlic.

Oh wild garlic is wonderful, can't wait for mine to start its short growth. As for wild gardening, mine made that decision all by itself years ago!

If we didn't mow our small patch of grass I wouldn't be able to hang out the washing! However I was given some wildflower seeds last year that I planted in pots. They came up well and were quite popular with bees. The bees prefer the ceanothus though.

Yes, we're doing some 'rewilding' to the extent that we just bought a house which has more than half a large garden covered in concrete and we'll be taking it up and laying down a lawn which we iintend to sew with wild meadow seeds. We're hoping the people who bought next door may take some of the rubble to fill in an old swimming pool they want to turn into a wildlife pond.

We only have a very small lawn as we've built a raised bed for veggies. The lawn is badly damaged by chafer grubs and hardly ever needs mowing too.

There's a large area on a shrub border where I removed a hebe which I plan to turn into a wild garden.

Anyone have any ideas on what to plant etc? We already have numerous lavenders.

My garden is completely wild.
The only thing we do is mow the grass.

It’s totally unmanageable and I’ve now given up on it.

Ours has always been wild.??

We have a small area behind our decking which is a 'no mans land' so this year I plan to put lots of wild flower seeds plus some grass seed. I also want to sink a small pond in there too.

It already has been

Yes, I leave most of our garden to fend for itself.

I do however cut most of the grass, because I come out in lumps when it starts seeding if I leave it, but I only mow every six weeks or so from April to the end of September.

I have put wood chips down on the flower beds, which I weed once in the course of the summer and apart from that I weed the vegetable patch but nothing else.

We have a huge pile of brushwood for the hedgehogs and other animals to live under and have the apple trees pruned when they need it.

Here we call them natural gardens or insect-friendly.

Our grass ( not calling it a lawn) has been there for about 100 years. In the past the garden has been a traditional artisan garden with a third of it being the vegetable plot. Over the years it was grassed over. So the variety of grass grown is mixed and it is bumpy! Daisies and clover grow through it. Around the edges we encourage wild flowers mixed with crainsbill geraniums and spring bulbs.
We have a wildlife pond and try to plant the beds with insect attracting plants. Sitting out in the spring and summer is a delight.

My lawn is far too small to become a wildflower meadow but I don't mow it too low as I quite like daisies and buttercups - not so keen on dandelions though. A properly manicured lawn is so artificial looking - I hate stripes, but each to their own.

How WONDERFUL Applaud you so much for that..what an excellent example..

I grew wild flowers from seed last year in a border and a small grass lawn. Very pleased all flowers bloomed. Easy to grow because the soil was not composted when moved here.

icanhandthemback

I tried to do this in an area of our huge garden years ago and we did have the most incredible display of wild flowers. Unfortunately we had the most awful collection of weeds to that would spread to the cultivated part of the garden and beyond. Our neighbour was apoplectic over our "offensive behaviour) and we had to give in because the unpleasantness was awful. However, when we left the house, I took great pleasure in leaving a huge thistle to seed (it was a beautiful specimen) and as we were packing the removal van the neighbour was still creating. It was the only time in my life that I told anyone to go forth and procreate.

yes that's the other issue. My neighbours either side who are lovely people like traditional tidy gardens so i make sure that I limit what seeds. Windblown seed I harvest before it blows and poke into odd corners then remove the rest

I tried to do this in an area of our huge garden years ago and we did have the most incredible display of wild flowers. Unfortunately we had the most awful collection of weeds to that would spread to the cultivated part of the garden and beyond. Our neighbour was apoplectic over our "offensive behaviour) and we had to give in because the unpleasantness was awful. However, when we left the house, I took great pleasure in leaving a huge thistle to seed (it was a beautiful specimen) and as we were packing the removal van the neighbour was still creating. It was the only time in my life that I told anyone to go forth and procreate.

What a lovely, heart-warming thread this is!

I have laid two turves in my courtyard garden and planted in then oxeye daisy, clover and daisy plugs. I will let them all grow as they wish. I also vowed not to buy any plants that don't flower and attract pollinators and have turned a raised bed into a wildlife pond.

Jaxjacky

Our little patch of mainly moss will remain, although DH has a plan to create a putting green ?

Moss is very good, apparently it absorbs more CO2 than many other plants.
It's a valid reason not to scarify the lawn!

My lawned area is far too small for “wilding” or leaving in any way to its own devices. We have “wild corners” off the lawn where field poppies, dog violets, wild strawberries, birds eye speedwell and field scabious grow so we leave them alone and enjoy them. If anything new comes up, it’s a bonus! (I truly believe that these celebrity gardeners have absolutely no concept of what a small garden is). I like the idea that many municipal authorities are incorporating wild planting into some parks, into town centre landscaping, and even the grass areas that separate either side of some dual carriageways.

When we first started on our plot which was back in 2009 we laid out a formal garden which is fenced and then we had a pond dug at the bottom. I often sit on the bench there and just look at the water to see what's moving about and also the dragon flies. Sometimes there'll be a young grass snake swimming across - could be the reason why we don't have many frogs. Also because the newts eat the frog spawn.

When we started on the field we had it rotavated and sewed a wild flower mix. They came up, as did the thugs. The flower mix was a success at first but a lot of them didn't reseed and the following year there was a lot less. I did knock the heads off the thugs that I could get to before they went to seed and that helped. Just whilst I was walking about looking at things, rather than making a special effort.

We then decided to leave it and just have it cut. Someone comes with a ride on mower with a collecting box on the back. The contents are dumped around the edges to create homes for the wildlife. Some things do live in them because the dogs try to dig. Gradually the wild flowers started to come up without us doing anything - the numbers and varieties have increased over the years. Some spread but others don't. My OH cuts paths so that we can walk about without treading on anything. If there's something of interest he'll mow around it. Sadly the dogs don't take care and will trample something we're trying to keep.

I think that it was about 5 years after we started with the virgin plot that the field started to look really good. Now I drag people out to look at it.

My conclusion is that it's not as time consuming or as hard as some people think. Just let nature take its course and cut once a year. And don't leave the cuttings on the ground because they'll make the soil too fertile.

Our little patch of mainly moss will remain, although DH has a plan to create a putting green ?

Ellianne

^I have got a clodhopping dog^ oh yes, me too, greenlady, I forgot about that!
Thanks for the tips about tubs, that might be a starting point.

its amazing how well the tub thing works