Rewilding your garden

[Pagan Hibernia]

Has anyone purposely decided to let their garden go a bit wild? I don’t just mean being lazy and letting it go for a while before mowing the lawn, I mean taking your hand off the steering wheel and letting nature take it back (to an extent).

I’ve just bought a house and I’ve been considering rewilding my own tiny little piece of the world. Not sure what the neighbours will think (nor do I really care in all honesty) but interested in the concept.

[Paul1642]

It’s a nice concept but you would need to give it a helping hand with lots of wild flower seeds and still care for it. I know that mine would end up just looking an absolute mess and feel like anyone I told that I was “re wilding” would think I was really just lazy.

[wookie70]

I have a 1/4 acre for a back garden and we have lots of nature from Woodpeckers, Foxes, Sparrowhawks, Hedgehogs and frogs and loads of life in our pond. We started to go down the forest garden/no dig and that worked quite well for a low effort natural garden. It costs quite a bit for trees and there is a bit of effort involved too. I think I am going to create a wild flower meadow and leave it be to see what happens.

[Moulin Yarns]

OK guys. This was part of my job so I hope I know enough to help.

Just letting things go over to nature rarely works, you will end up with the vigorous plants like nettles and dock taking over.

Unless you know that the grass you have is already rich in wildflowers you are much better creating the 'meadow' that you want which needs a bit of work to get started.

To begin a meadow you will either need to A) cut and remove the grass for at least 5 years to get the nutrient levels low enough and then you need to plant wildflower plugs as seeding an existing grass area is a waste of seed.

or B) strip the turf and start with seed.

You also want to use native wildflowers, not some seeds from a garden centre. These are both recommended for Scottish climate.


https://perthshirewildlife.co.uk/celtica-wildflowers/

https://www.scotiaseeds.co.uk/


Here is my own wildflower area.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0H2Eo5CVw1osv3DGhagy6Grt zCLQoKpUd4RZqBJbgAUDq7RDut26wvgDiPoqHYsmSl&id=100001679065455 (http://https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0H2Eo5CVw1osv3DGhagy6Grt zCLQoKpUd4RZqBJbgAUDq7RDut26wvgDiPoqHYsmSl&id=1000 01679065455)

[wookie70]

OK guys. This was part of my job so I hope I know enough to help.

Just letting things go over to nature rarely works, you will end up with the vigorous plants like nettles and dock taking over.

Unless you know that the grass you have is already rich in wildflowers you are much better creating the 'meadow' that you want which needs a bit of work to get started.

To begin a meadow you will either need to A) cut and remove the grass for at least 5 years to get the nutrient levels low enough and then you need to plant wildflower plugs as seeding an existing grass area is a waste of seed.

or B) strip the turf and start with seed.

You also want to use native wildflowers, not some seeds from a garden centre. These are both recommended for Scottish climate.


https://perthshirewildlife.co.uk/celtica-wildflowers/

https://www.scotiaseeds.co.uk/


Here is my own wildflower area.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0H2Eo5CVw1osv3DGhagy6Grt zCLQoKpUd4RZqBJbgAUDq7RDut26wvgDiPoqHYsmSl&id=100001679065455

Great stuff. I was actually going to hire one of the turf strippers and then work from there. I like the idea of plugs and have some greenhouse and polytunnel space I could use to get lots of those going. I only used Native plants in my pond and nearly everything I buy is native to the UK. I'd keep that going with a meadow.

[Moulin Yarns]

Great stuff. I was actually going to hire one of the turf strippers and then work from there. I like the idea of plugs and have some greenhouse and polytunnel space I could use to get lots of those going. I only used Native plants in my pond and nearly everything I buy is native to the UK. I'd keep that going with a meadow.

Sounds like you know what you are doing 👍

Assuming you are in Edinburgh, look at what the council has done in a few places, Cramond and silverknowes I think, from memory, are places that they have developed meadows.


If you use the plugs from celtica mention me as she is a friend and former colleague

[wookie70]

Sounds like you know what you are doing 👍

Assuming you are in Edinburgh, look at what the council has done in a few places, Cramond and silverknowes I think, from memory, are places that they have developed meadows.


If you use the plugs from celtica mention me as she is a friend and former colleague

Will do. I was pondering growing from seeds into plugs and then planting out but cost will make the decision for me. I'm Midlothian but lots of examples out here and one I can see from my from window. They look great but it is the nature benefits I am most interested in. I absolutely love seeing all the life in my pond despite it only being a couple of years old. I'll probably build a bog garden too and try and connect that to the meadow so I have a nature pathway and lots of hiding places with log piles etc

[hibsbollah]

OK guys. This was part of my job so I hope I know enough to help.

Just letting things go over to nature rarely works, you will end up with the vigorous plants like nettles and dock taking over.

Unless you know that the grass you have is already rich in wildflowers you are much better creating the 'meadow' that you want which needs a bit of work to get started.

To begin a meadow you will either need to A) cut and remove the grass for at least 5 years to get the nutrient levels low enough and then you need to plant wildflower plugs as seeding an existing grass area is a waste of seed.

or B) strip the turf and start with seed.

You also want to use native wildflowers, not some seeds from a garden centre. These are both recommended for Scottish climate.


https://perthshirewildlife.co.uk/celtica-wildflowers/

https://www.scotiaseeds.co.uk/


Here is my own wildflower area.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0H2Eo5CVw1osv3DGhagy6Grt zCLQoKpUd4RZqBJbgAUDq7RDut26wvgDiPoqHYsmSl&id=100001679065455 (http://https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0H2Eo5CVw1osv3DGhagy6Grt zCLQoKpUd4RZqBJbgAUDq7RDut26wvgDiPoqHYsmSl&id=1000 01679065455)

Just a reminder that if your sole aim is to attract pollinators, there is no particular reason to stick with ‘native’ species (always what is and is not a native plant’ is up for debate, as plants have always been transported around the world, a process that is increasing because of the global plant trade out of Amsterdam, as well as other factors.). Studies have shown insects don’t give a monkeys whether a species is native or non native when choosing to land on it and do their work. Much better to concentrate on a range of heights, a range of structures and flower shapes, and single (open) flowers rather than double (closed) flowers. Choosing species varieties rather than named cultivars is usually beneficial too. You can tell cultivated varieties by their ‘given’ name being in English not Latin and in capitals and quotes, so Geranium ‘Rozanne’ is a cultivated variety, and bred for bright vivid flowers which are different to the insects range on the colour spectrum, whereas Geranium phaeum is a wild species variety. Some breeders claim some of their cultivars are equally attractive to pollinators, but their job is to sell stuff so who knows.

Of course, if you just want native flowers for a range of other reasons, then that’s fine too.

[Pagan Hibernia]

Thanks for all the replies and tips guys, much appreciated. It’s given me plenty of food for thought.

moulin yarns, quick question. When you say nettles and dock will take over, I don’t doubt it, but what happens in the next stage of succession? Surely they would (eventually) be replaced by something else?

apologies if it’s a stupid question, I really am a beginner with all this stuff

[The_Exile]

I think the nettles and the dock would be classed as 'competitors' and not much will succeed these. If you google C-S-R strategy you might get some info on how vegetation works when it comes to some types being more prominent that others, and how to avoid that happening. Not my area of expertise though and something that was only briefly touched upon in my studies.

[H18 SFR]

We move into a house in three weeks and the garden hasn’t been touched for over a year. I’ve petrol brush cutter, strimmer, hedge trimmer, lawnmower and hopefully a chainsaw coming as well.

Chipper getting hired once I’ve massacred it. I will try and post some pics to show how overgrown it is when I get the keys.

[Skol]

I went on holiday for a week and the garden has rewilded itself.

[Jones28]

I’m a grass nerd as I’m sure I’ve posted here before. I work in the industry and certainly feel I can take care of a lawn, but I think there’s a lot to be said for having at the very least buffer strips around the grass, or giving some of the lawn space up - particularly if you’ve got hedgehogs and other wildlife in the garden.

Something to be wary of is the “seed bank” - this is the seed stored in the soil from weeds like dock and nettles that can proliferate when the soil is well prepared - ie for a new grass ley to go down.

I would consider spraying everything off and putting down some new, sterilised top soil to put the new seed in, whatever it may be.

Some grasses look quite spectacular when you let them run and become more meadow like. Avoid perennial ryegrass for this as it’s aggressive and wil take over eventually. Likewise with any clover.