In My Re-wilded Garden – Part 1

Those who follow me will know that around three years ago, I decided that I would re-wild my manicured garden to encourage wildlife to come and share the space with me……and, and despite my doubts, it has definitely taken me up on that invitation 🙂 ! And I have to say that I am loving my garden now that it has matured over those few years. I should say at the outset that I only have a small garden, maybe 40 feet by 30 feet, bounded by fences and the house. But I have managed to squeeze quite a lot of wildlife friendly areas within that space.

One of the first things I did was to put in a bucket pond. I already had a small ‘main’ pond with fish in, but this new pond was to be for anything and everything but fish…..and it has become very busy :)! Even in the middle of the day, I can sit on the bench beside that pond and watch numerous frogs, toads, newts, tadpoles, water snails, and all manner of other bugs. Of course, frogs and toads don’t spend all their time in the water, so I sited my pond next to my rockery and the overgrown area behind it so that the little creatures have a nice dark and cool area they can escape into.

The last thing I do every night before bed is to walk round my garden and I always check how many frogs etc there are. Last light, I watched awestruck as one frog caught its supper. He basically sat on the rock in the picture above, and when a mosquito flew overhead, he would leap vertically up, grab his snack, and plop back down again, often on top of one of his mates. It was amazing to watch and I wish I could have videoed it.

My ‘main’ pond, which itself is only around 4 feet long and kidney shaped, is one I installed many years ago. It has a few fish in it, and I now see a lot more frogs and toads in there too. In the past, any tadpoles have never matured as I guess they got eaten but now, with the bucket pond, they have somewhere to flourish. I love to watch the fish and listen to the splashing of the ‘waterfall’. It is a very mindful experience just sitting there on my second bench that is placed beside this pond. A slight annoyance is that I have to cover this pond with mesh because, although it is so small, eagle eyed herons once discovered it and dined on my fish. The fish in the picture above, I have had for many years now, and I like to think they recognise me as they come over whenever I go up to the pond. Of course, it could just be that they think I’m going to feed them, but let’s not spoil the illusion 🙂 !

One odd thing about that pond is that it has an unintentional slope to it. I had a pot grown tree beside it to hide the filter, and unknown to me, the tree had grown a large tap root which had grown out of the bottom of the pot and under the pond, causing it to tilt. The tree has gone, but the slope remains 🙂 !

My rockery which was once pristine, is now much more interesting with a dense network of plants, backed by cotoneasters, rotting timber, broken upturned pots, a bird bath, plus a very rambling floribunda rose. The pollinators love it and there is a constant buzzing as they fly from flower to flower. I am often out there with my camera trying to get pictures of as many varieties as I can.

Trees don’t do especially well in the garden because the builders did not leave too much topsoil, but I do have a Japanese Maple behind the rockery. I also have an old windmill that hides my bug ‘hotel’ which I made out of old pallets. It is stuffed with all sorts of materials that different bugs like to shelter in or under.

When we moved into our house over 30 years ago, the garden sloped down to the house, but I levelled it off by splitting it into two flat tiers. In between is a curving wall that is now completely covered with ivy. This ivy blends with the plants on the lower level, such as chameleon plants, creeping jenny etc, so that the whole provides a dense foliage covered area which is good for wildlife, and has the offshoot benefit of being evergreen.

The steps between the levels are themselves surrounded by foliage, including ivy and euonymus on either side to provide dense cover, as well as giving some nice colour in winter. Just need to take care if going to the upper level after rain as it can be a tight, wet squeeze!

On my patio, the pots once filled with neat bedding plants, are now much more wild and filled with grasses amongst other things. These days, when plants such as herb robert grow, I no longer pull them up as a weed, but rather, I encourage them. Not only that, but I have actually planted some pots with wild flower seeds.

Another place I have planted wild flower seeds is in my small veg plot! This is an experiment. Every year, I have planted vegetables, only to find half of it eaten by slugs. I refuse to put slug pellets down so this year I am trialling planting veg in amongst wild flowers. For this year, it is just onion sets and if that works, I’ll extend it next year.

Beside my small veg plot, a buddleia grows. This is actually growing out of the dividing wall between upper and lower levels of the garden and I should cut it down to prevent damage to the wall, but I really enjoy the butterflies that it attracts, so for the moment at least, I am leaving it to grow.

Next to that again, is my bird feeding station that brings all manner of birds into the garden…..as well as squirrels of course! I don’t put so much out at this time of year, but in the winter, it is invaluable, and very busy.

Other plants that have made an unexpected appearance are a number of now quite large ferns. I might normally take these out as they are getting quite big, but they are growing where nothing much else will grow, so I am happy to leave those. Amongst them, the bird’s foot trefoil and other self seeded plants add some colour.

In amongst my wild garden, there are quite a few quirky things, like a one metre length of chain from the Sandbanks Ferry, and some random pieces picked up on my walks. Some of this, I have turned into an artwork that sits on my garage wall amongst the long grass 🙂 ! Well, it all adds interest to the garden. The cycle wheel, by the way, is an alloy one with glued-on tubular tyres and is the last remnant from my cycle racing days. I keep it as a memory piece.

I really think that re-wilding my garden is the best thing I’ve done. It is well documented how much being amongst nature helps with wellbeing and mental health, and where better to be amongst nature than literally on your doorstep. Initially, it needed a change of mindset to let the garden grow wild after years of looking neat and tidy – nature is never tidy – and it took a little while to get away from the feeling that I was just being ‘lazy’! But, get past that, and you realise the great benefit, not only to wildlife, but also to yourself.

If anyone has ever thought about making some changes in their garden to encourage wildlife more, I would say a resounding ‘go for it’. You will not regret it. As I said at the top of this post, I love mine, and I get so much pleasure out of just being in my little bit of wild meadow. It is a real delight!

I’ll put up another post shortly with pictures of some of the wildlife I have been able to photograph.

Thanks for stopping by

Until next time,
Your friend
The Dorset Rambler

If you would like to contact me, my email address is terry.yarrow@gmail.com – comments and feedback are always welcomed.

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