What is "Garden Rewilding"?

Can we apply the idea of rewilding to gardens? Or are Alan Titchmarsh & Monty Don right when they oppose the idea? This is my take...

[@emmapearce3201]

The simple act of switching my 50m2 garden from crappy turf and boring camellias to annuals and perennials (bird-favoured shrubs to follow) has brought the space alive. Watching it buzzing with insects from spring through to now has brought me no end of joy and my neighbours stop to chat and comment on it. The next challenge is dealing with comments about how “untidy” it looks over the winter (I’ve left everything standing for overwintering inverts to use) but I’m planning a simple sign explaining why and also hoping the coming frosts make it look all sparkly in the winter sun. The hedgehogs enjoy it too.

[@janstannard6560]

We call all that overwintering dead stuff ‘insect hotels’ and for the more technically minded, ‘structural diversity’. It makes such a difference over winter. Spiders’ webs everywhere.

[@annemcleod8505]

I think much is in the balance between what you do and what you choose not to do. You mention various ways in which the gardener mimics the effect of (now missing) large herbivores and predators and I feel this, too, when I am cutting back brambles, that I am replacing some now lost large animal. But I am selective in important ways. For instance, I weed out grass and foreign invasives from my gravel and garden beds but I leave the native wild flowers that have naturally regenerated there: red and white clover, dog daisies, meadow vetchling, St Patrick's cabbage, yellow pimpernel, buttercups, cranesbill, herb robert, mouse ear, lesser trefoil, hog weed, willow herb, bird's foot trefoil, cat's ear, daisies, bugle, a variety of ferns and, in the earliest part of spring at least, dandelions. The aesthetic is different from the conventional garden and I think this is one of the problems with the notion of re-wilding - that people are now so used to having the means to completely control what grows that they see this profusion as 'messy' and a sign of failure. We have to learn to celebrate what we have NOT done!

[@judyfick2967]

Enjoyed hearing your thoughts

[@stephenread6969]

Thanks

[@LG-qb3wk]

As a small gardener I try to think of Garden Rewilding in my own small way. Leading on from what you said near the end, we are the wind as we sow the seeds. We are the rain when we water the plants too.

[@anthonydavies6021]

I agree with all you say and your view of the natural world. I really enjoyed your interview with Aaron Bastani where you enlarged on some of what you say here. Frankly I detest people like Don and Titchmarsh, but of course they make a (very good) living by promulgating the views of the industrial gardening complex, that involves inter alia green-thumbing your lawn with herbicides and killing every invertebrate in the garden with lashings of lovely Round-Up. They are welcome to their garden deserts - honestly they may just as well have plastic plants so that they can keep everything OCD tidy. Keep up your amazing work and spreading the word, Dave - it gives me a glimmer of satsifaction when I leave the dandelions and daisies to flourish in my "lawn", to know I am supporting the miraculous webs of life that exist in my little chemical-free oasis🌈

[@janstannard6560]

Brilliant Dave, thank you, best clear and straightforward explanation of rewilding at small scale that I’ve come across. We will point our supporters (Heal Rewilding) this way when they ask about this! Cheers, Jan

[@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr]

Thanks for this video. I love your ramblings. I think the idea that rewilding a garden means stepping back and leaving it to nature is a misunderstanding. But I think it is different to the sort of wildlife gardening that has been around for ages. I am (re)wilding my garden having been a conventional gardener all my life (I`m the same age as Monty) and I intervene as much as I ever did but in different ways and at different times of the year. I recently went on a workshop at Knepp on how to maintain a rewilded garden. They teach that the gardener tries to affect the garden in the way the keystone species affect the habitat in the larger rewilding project. There`s too much to put in a comment, but it`s all in a video on my channel. I think Monty and Alan were invited to the garden at Knepp, but I don`t know if they ever went.

[@kmo1104]

Went from 100m2 lawn too foodforest and native perennials, into 2nd year of transformation. Would never turn back now, the biodiversity within our culdy sack is growing year by year. If only the construction industry could leave gardens like this as they hand over homes, what a growth 🤔

[@albert2395]

My gardening hero was and always will be Geof Hamilton, and he was always talking about helping nature and not using peat. I am turning my sisters garden into an insect oasis! Which, obviously will help all of the other creatures in the cycle of life.😊

[@MrPotatoemouse]

Geof certainly was a man ahead of his time. I think he would have embraced rewilding wholeheartedly.

[@Roustabout22]

Totally agree. Lynx and wolves roaming free in Scotland would be interesting.

[@PatRobinsonOnGoogle]

As someone who lives next to a rail line I've been wondering if Network Rail could be convinced to rewild the 'rail estate' land (as it appears to be more 'abandoned' based on your definition). Has anyone studied how much biodiversity they do/could support?

[@davegoulson6831]

Not that I know of - nice idea though

[@dmnos6824]

Love the video 🙂

[@thewarchariot1685]

I can't stress this enough but it is imperative that when rewilding that we use native plants that are native to your local area. Not all plants are created equal. Non-native invasive plants cripple ecosystems and greatly reduce biodiversity.

[@runefagereng6023]

I saw ‘Wilding’, the documentary of the Knepp Estate at Bergen international film festival. I liked it, with all the animals, beautifully photographed at sunrise and sunset. They don’t say much about it, but they use some of their animals in food production, if I understood it correctly. Since I read one of your books this summer, I was curious about your thoughts of this. Is this ‘green washing’ as one says in Norway or is this just necessary, since the are no big predators there. I guess it still is great for wildlife and people anyway. Any thoughts? Best regards Rune

[@davegoulson6831]

They do cull the animals for meat and to keep numbers down. They would love predators but aren't allowed.

[@runefagereng6023]

@@davegoulson6831 Thanks for clarifying.

[@lynnpreece8461]

Sadly the phrase ‘rewinding’ seems to confuse and irritate people - be it gardeners, farmers or local residents. Like you say they think it means doing nothing, being lazy or abandoning the land. Mostly though I think it means being more nature friendly, sustainable and organic - so using less chemicals, looking after the soil, gardening in harmony with nature, helping to restore nature, adding water, food and habitat and helping to increase biodiversity of both fauna and flora. Nothing to be scared of or disparaging about at all.

[@hamishlovesit4731]

Monty establishment man and Alan titarse are the same sort of people as George it's a business not a passion to them . I love the robins that follow me ... Violent little bastards 😊 have you noticed

[@alisonburgess345]

Are ladybirds good?

[@davegoulson6831]

Yes, though we do have an issue with invasive harlequin ladybirds

[@hamishlovesit4731]

Release the beavers and the lynx and the wolves ...I keep Am bees .. that's where it's begun and I try to impart some knowledge on my way .. Being a gardener with a holistic approach ... Helped that I lived in the woods for a few years and could see that there's too many deer , too much pine and rhododendron . It's a balance we'll have to think about and adapt as required . Thanks for the bee work I read one of your books .. I read George's book Feral but I don't trust him career journalist , elitist media green energy wally with no sense of humour ( yes we have met many years ago ) Anyway no your not bonkers ... But don't get suckered by their climate con ... Ok thanks ... You have a good nature and we can trust you ... Top man .

[@liannesim9558]

Why could you not have wolves in Knepp ? It is for sure big enough. I think it would make Knepp even more interesting if they would introduce them again.

[@davegoulson6831]

Wolves have vast home ranges, far larger than Knepp. I'd have them loose in S England, as they are in the rest of Europe, but people aren't ready for that.

[@liannesim9558]

@@davegoulson6831 we have them in The Netherlands, at the Veluwe. I just checked but indeed Knepp is way smaller. I thought that was bigger than it is. But Veluwe is 90.000 hectares and there are now 7 packs...

[@liannesim9558]

@@alexb.6451 I don't think it is rational honestly. Wolves are not going after you, especially not if people don't feed them. I live in NL so I do know about this, it seems this pack of wolves had young to protect. To me we need to protect these animals and if we know they have young, close the park for people and dogs.It is something to treasure. Every M2 in NL is in principle first for people and their hobbies, and I do not think that is sustainable, if you want to protect people and wolves. As humans we have to give in a bit to protect nature.

[@dm3898]

The concept is great but the name is terrible! 'Rewilding' is a contradiction. If something is wild it is wild. If it is directed through the introduction of species then it is in essence gardening!

[@janstannard6560]

People are excited by the word - it means positive change, which gives them hope. At our rewilding site of nearly 500 acres/200 ha on the Somerset/Wiltshire border (Heal Somerset), the changes in vegetation and wildlife in less than two years have been really remarkable.