Rewilding, what u got. ?

[IccyV2]

We have an area in our garden in the UK where the previous owners tried to recreate their favourite place in the Lake District. There are some boulders about a metre or more in diameter, two ponds where the top one feeds the bottom one via a small stream and the water is pumped back up and there are some apple, plum and cherry trees, plus a couple of pine trees. I regularly pull up Ash and Sycamore saplings that spring up and will grow a metre a year easily if you let them. There is a small Oak but it’s growing about 3-4” a year, so I leave it.

It’s basically just a big overgrown rockery with dozens of plants and shrubs. There are always loads of bees and insects and a hedgehog family in there.

It doesn’t really offer much value to us, I’d rather it was another lawn but it would be a major job to level it and break up the boulders so it will probably stay forever.
It’s certainly good for the insects.

What also always amazes me is how our resident squirrel family always remember where they stashed the acorns from our massive oak trees.

[Gregor]

Front garden won’t be winning best kept in the village, I know!



Left a few bits of the back garden unmowed but it’s mostly the borders that have gone wild, anything that can outcompete the ground elder is good.









Had a count up and we have 8 hazel trees scattered about thanks to the forgetful local squirrel.
A sycamore that we found in the bed of the Hilux my son bought thats growing nicely and an oak grown from an acorn.




We found a dormouse that had fallen out of the biggest hazel a few years ago so I’m keen for the others to grow to a decent size to encourage them, a few have been spotted in neighbouring gardens.

[IccyV2]

That's the perfect environment for a wild area and I bet you'd be surprised how many insects will visit and rely on that area.

Mowed lawns look nice but don't offer much for the local wildlife.

[Taipan]

There's a strip that runs along the fence that I can't mow and just has weeds growing there which I strim to get rid of. I decided I'd put wildflowers there, bought a "bee bomb," and sowed all its seeds there. That was it. Nothing ever grew! I might try again if i happen across a wild flower seed selection somewhere.

I have an old apple tree that fell in a storm and i cut it into logs and left it to season fro the bbq. I've never burnt any of it though as its full of spiders et al and I often see little dark coloured mice darting in and out of it, so I've just left it there.

We used to get loads of slow worms living where I have some old/spare roof tiles hidden behind a tree, but they've not been there for the last few years?

[Nordboy]

IMG_7727.jpeg (2.36 MiB) Viewed 761 times

I've spoken with the boss lady, and she's agreed to let me have an area to rewild somehow. It's the bit shown in red above. Approx 20m2, which I think is a great amount.

Just need to work out how to go about it now, if I need to do anything specific? I think i'll section it off, maybe with one of those wooden posts type things?

We'll see how long it is before she wants me to cut it all down!!!

[Count Steer]

IMG_7727.jpeg

I've spoken with the boss lady, and she's agreed to let me have an area to rewild somehow. It's the bit shown in red above. Approx 20m2, which I think is a great amount.

Just need to work out how to go about it now, if I need to do anything specific? I think i'll section it off, maybe with one of those wooden posts type things?

We'll see how long it is before she wants me to cut it all down!!!

If you're going for wildflowers you could start with some Yellow Rattle to suppress the grass - or get a turf spade and remove it.

Grab a bit of that gravel area too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinanthu ... prov=sfla1

[Rockburner]

IMG_20260530_170723_810.jpg (4.18 MiB) Viewed 565 times

Repurposed veg patch,
Its been rotting under some black plastic mesh for a few weeks,
Now, a bit of extra fencing (hazel stakes, freshly cut bamboo strakes; both from our garden), laid the leaves from the bamboo over the patch, then some cardboard boxes, then lots of leaf mulch from last autumn, and the contents of one of the compost piles (and 3.5 bags of compost.... ahem), then sown with these.

17801576712767115638130352635152.jpg (3.13 MiB) Viewed 565 times

She says she'll water it daily...
(She said that about the veg patch too... )

[Count Steer]

IMG_20260530_170723_810.jpg

Repurposed veg patch,
Its been rotting under some black plastic mesh for a few weeks,
Now, a bit of extra fencing (hazel stakes, freshly cut bamboo strakes; both from our garden), laid the leaves from the bamboo over the patch, then some cardboard boxes, then lots of leaf mulch from last autumn, and the contents of one of the compost piles (and 3.5 bags of compost.... ahem), then sown with these.
17801576712767115638130352635152.jpg

She says she'll water it daily...
(She said that about the veg patch too... )

That's going to be jolly nutritious for wildflowers!

For most of them they recommend soil that's not too nutrient rich. Maybe that's just meadows?

[McNab]

Check the packets to see what flowers you will get next year too.

A few years back I turned a section of the garden into a wildflower meadow. It looked great the first year, all sorts of flowers in all sorts of colours. Next year it was daises and (I think) wild carrot. When I checked the listing on amazon, it turned out most of the seeds were for annuals.

I've sowed more seeds over the years but never got it looking like it did the first year.

[Mussels]

A few years ago I had a tour of RHS Wisley and mentioned I liked the idea of a wild flower garden as it would need little work. The curator said the opposite was true and it was more work to maintain than the other display gardens there.