By The Green Parent

07th August 2021

Rewilding on a small scale is more about ‘ungardening’ than gardening: giving nature a chance by letting things grow, allowing wildflowers to bloom in between the vegetables says Caroline Mellor

By The Green Parent

07th August 2021

By The Green Parent

07th August 2021

Rewilding offers an exciting, natural and hopeful way to restore balance to the earth’s ecosystems. By allowing large areas of land or sea to return to their natural state, it encourages biodiversity and fights the effects of climate change by locking away carbon. But while we might associate rewilding with the reintroduction of keystone species like wolves or beavers, no matter how small your garden or outdoor space, you and your family can get involved.

Rewilding on a small scale is more about ‘ungardening’ than gardening: giving nature a chance by letting things grow, allowing wildflowers to bloom in between the vegetables, and leaving messy areas where wildlife can thrive. It can also be full of surprises and is lots of fun! Outdoor, nature-based play builds resilience, encourages stewardship, and is a foundational form of earth activism. The more children know and feel part of the living world, the more they will fall in love with it – and we protect what we love. Here are nine child-friendly ways to invite the magic of wildness into your garden, and your family, this summer.

  1. Don’t mow, let it grow - When it comes to rewilding, the best rule of thumb is that nature knows best! By choosing an area of your lawn - or even the whole thing - and not cutting it until winter (or at least leaving a minimum of three weeks in between cuttings), you will be encouraging an abundance of plants, insects and animals, many of which rely on long grassland to survive. You’ll also be saving time and reducing emissions created by mowing and strimming! Wildflower meadows are beautiful - but brightly coloured, often non-native flowers from a packet aren’t always the best choice for the ecological community. Things that find their way in naturally are far more likely to be suited to local soils and wildlife than introduced varieties chosen for appearance. Children will love playing in the long, swishy meadow, and the newly created grass canopy will provide vital habitat for countless bugs and small creatures, in turn creating endless opportunities for wonder and exploration.
  2. Make friends with weeds - An overly tidy garden is often a desolate space for nature. If you are used to habitually removing weeds, try standing back and allowing nature to take its course, even in manageably small patches. Common native varieties like nettles, clovers, vetch and dandelions will regenerate depleted soils and provide shelter and food for a host of animals and insects - for instance, red admiral, comma and small tortoiseshell butterflies all lay their eggs on nettles, and dandelions alone are a food source for bees, grasshoppers, glow-worms, butterflies, moths, beetles, hoverflies, blackbirds, goldfinches, sparrows, rabbits, hedgehogs, squirrels and mice, to name a few.
  3. Identify your edibles - Many ‘weeds’ are also delicious for humans and have been shown to be richer in nutrients than a lot of shop-bought vegetables! Embrace them and you’ll soon have a plot full of biodiversity and foraging opportunities. Brambles offer fistfuls of juicy blackberries in late summer, and kids will love harvesting dandelion leaves and flowers, cleavers (‘sticky plant’), dead nettle and red clovers and stewing them in hot water to make a fresh garden tea packed with natural goodness. A good foraging guide will open up a whole world of tasty, free, medicinal food for your family.
  4. Stop using chemicals - Pesticides are contributing to an ecological catastrophe which is killing off entire populations of insects, and they’re not something you want your kids ingesting. Please, if you haven’t already, stop using them.
  5. Highways for hedgehogs - Campaigners are warning that the UK hedgehog population has now dropped below 1 million, from an estimated 30 million in the 1950s. We can all do our bit to help the prickly little guys by leaving untidy areas such as log and leaf piles and dense brushy areas alone, and talking to neighbours about cutting holes in fences to allow them safe passage as they search for food. A small (13cm x 13cm) hole in a bottom corner of your fence is adequate: get the kids to create a ‘hedgehog crossing’ sign on an old bit of wood, or invite them to chalk or paint one on to the fence. Or better still, replace your fence with a gorgeously unruly wildlife hedge: native shrubs like hazel, hawthorn, blackthorn and holly make great habitat.
  6. Pondlife - It doesn’t have to be big, time-consuming or expensive, and is the single best thing you can do to encourage biodiversity in your garden. Use any kind of watertight container: a disused bathtub, ceramic sink, plastic paddling pool, planter or even an old washing up bowl will do. Dig a hole for it or just sit it on the top of the soil. Choose a few pond plants to oxygenate the water (dwarf water lily, willow moss and parrot’s feather are good choices) and add stones and logs to create a range of depths and a slope for creatures to climb out on. Fill it with collected rainwater and hey presto: a great outdoor project which children will love, and a rewilded haven for newts, frogs, birds, water beetles, dragonflies and more.
  7. Leave them be - Fallen leaves nourish the soil, feed the trees and provide food, nesting and bedding materials and a perfect ‘hibernation hotel’ for lots of struggling species. If you really can’t resist the urge to rake, pile leaves up around trees, which will benefit from the nutrient-rich mulch.
  8. Deadwood - A living oak tree will support over 500 species of life, whereas a dead one will host thousands! Don’t remove deadwood unless it’s a danger. Even a small pile of rotting logs will reboot fungi, insect and animal life in your garden. Give the kids a magnifying glass and see what they can find!
  9. Go tiny, go wild - Small or paved spaces can still maximise their habitat potential. Native wildflower mixes do well in sunny window boxes; ivy creates a beautiful vertical garden and is a great source of food for birds and pollinators, and buddleia, verbena and nasturtium all grow well planted in cracks in the paving. Although not strictly speaking rewilding, this will add much-needed colour, vitality and bird/bug-spotting opportunities, creating an ecological oasis from a patio or driveway.

GET INVOLVED

  • Write to your local authority asking them to rewild areas of parkland, road verges and grassy patches by adopting a ‘cut less, cut later’ approach. It saves them money as well as creating vital spaces for nature. More information and template letters to councillors and schools can be found on plantlife.org.uk and bluecampaignhub.com.
  • Map your rewilded garden on wearetheark.org, and show your kids how they are helping to create a network of sanctuaries around the world.

Caroline is a mum-of-two, freelance writer, forest school assistant and holistic therapist. She lives in East Sussex with her husband and two young children, and blogs at talesfromtheseed.wordpress.com.

loading