Pretty good video and a very thoughtfully-created garden, I think The Middle-Sized Garden has done a couple more wildlife-friendly gardening videos over the years. She's fortunate that the Centaurea nigra found its way into her garden if she hasn't sown or planted it, it's claimed to be one of the best butterfly nectar plants out there! Growing a couple myself this Summer to test them out. I'm a bit nervous for her leaving the Pentaglottis sempervirens in there to do its own thing, that stuff is so invasive that I saw a whole row of front gardens almost filled with it a few months ago! But perhaps the fact that she has so many other natives in there will balance things out! Very sceptical about the lack of deadheading being the best approach, despite being an attractively low-maintenance one.
I think there is some method in her madness to be honest. I've been through a similar process here, but over a much linger timescale. Ive had massive amounts of creeping buttercup, hedge woundwort and various other thugs that have dominated large parts of our wild area. In the main Ive left them to it, and there does seem to have been a similar balance reached now where nothing in particular is dominating, and more and more species seem to pop up each year. Thats not to say it will remain that way of course, and I would caution that her garden is only 2 years old so its very early to be confident nothing is going to suddenly run rampant. I dont deadhead at all in the wilded areas either. I guess there is so much competition for bare soil and light that only a tiny fraction of the seeds that drop actually gemrinate.
I was led onto this one as part of the youtube rabbit hole effect, its a lot less attractive and on a much bigger scale , but still a good watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxp26UovFyw
I find it difficult to get inspired by people with meadows and huge tree space etc, when I have a 40 x 25ft rented garden, and some front lawn which already has a giant Honey Locust and a nasty crab apple on it. I just fill the space with whatever I can for the littl'uns, and there's always a little bit more I can do somewhere. 😊
There may be something to learn - one new plant, one interesting thought.
- -
Prof Goulson posts often. In his vids he mentions that two thirds of all species known are insects. 87% of all plants and 87% of crops are pollinated by insects. The average UK farmer does 17 spraying sessions a year - a figure that had doubled since 1990. This is partly why there has been the insect crash in numbers.
I find it difficult to get inspired by people with meadows and huge tree space etc, when I have a 40 x 25ft rented garden, and some front lawn which already has a giant Honey Locust and a nasty crab apple on it. I just fill the space with whatever I can for the littl'uns, and there's always a little bit more I can do somewhere. 😊
As fire says though, there are often ideas that you can scale up or down accordingly. That first garden with the decking walkways was a brilliant example of what can be done with a small space, and I’ll definitely be taking some of the ideas. Loved the idea of having the raised walkways with habitat underneath
My husband and I did what we thought was a great thing for the young people we taught many years ago. We added orchards in the school grounds with the young people planting them. This added a great area for the young people to see and be in and collect the fruit later in the year. Hopefully they are still there. Were we rewilding all those years ago....yes I think we were.
Northwoods is the national wilding network supporting land owners in Scotland holding 50 acres or over - for regenerative farming, woodlands, coastal landscapes. There are over 45 members at the moment - a growing movement. Their aim is to wild 60 000 acres in the next two years.
Posts
Thats not to say it will remain that way of course, and I would caution that her garden is only 2 years old so its very early to be confident nothing is going to suddenly run rampant.
I dont deadhead at all in the wilded areas either. I guess there is so much competition for bare soil and light that only a tiny fraction of the seeds that drop actually gemrinate.
I just fill the space with whatever I can for the littl'uns, and there's always a little bit more I can do somewhere. 😊
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/24/how-to-rewild-a-country-the-story-of-argentina-aoe
and the Galapagos
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/25/rewilding-galapagos-nature-danny-rueda-cordova-leonardo-dicaprio-aoe