Rebel Gardening

Aug 16, 2024

red flower on green grass field during daytime — Photo by Jeanne Blanche on Unsplash

Gardening can be a revolutionary activity

Will I leave that there for a moment for us to think about?

What do you understand by the term garden? The dictionary definition is a piece of land adjoining a house, which leaves a lot of room for interpretation. What do you think of? A picket fenced, roller-lawned square of suburbia, a stately home with formal borders, or a scrap of yard space with some pots of flowers? A garden can be whatever you want it to be - a fantasy garden, a veg growing space, a cottage garden, flower borders and everything and anything in between. For many of us, our gardens are mix of ideas, desires and needs: somewhere to hang washing, let the kids play, the dog wee and gives us a bit of outdoor breathing space to chill and relax. With somewhere in the region of 23 million gardens in the UK, there is a huge area of potential for us to make a difference.

The state of Nature report (SN) confirmed that there has been ‘no let up in the decline of wildlife’ in the UK. We need to find ways to change that narrative and as gardeners we can. In 2021 £7.6 billion was spent on gardening products in the UK. The figures might be skewed by the pandemic slightly and I didn’t find figures for 22/23, but as the previous year saw a £6.7 billion spend, we’re still in the same ballpark. We spend a lot on gardening, though you don’t need to spend a fortune to make space for nature. However small your plot, a corner can be dedicated to ‘wildness’ - letting nature do its thing - embracing long grass, a handful of weeds. We often have a very Victorian view of gardening, where nature must be controlled and we must assert our dominance.

If you have a small space, it probably needs to work hard to be everything you need it to be, yet gardening for nature can be compatible with human requirements, even in a compact area. A pond - or any sort of water feature - will encourage wildlife. In my muddy puddle (the pond liner of my newly installed pond had a leak which I wasn’t aware of when building the pond) I found 5 diving beetles, all of which I rescued to their new home. It’s amazing how quickly things will find water once you have it: water boatmen, damselflies, frogs, toads, newts and more. Everything needs water to live and you will often catch other animals drinking at your water feature - insects, birds, even mammals. If you have a larger water feature, simply make sure there’s a slope for pond users to get in and out of easily.

When we moved to our current house a year ago, the back garden was all lawn and the tiny front space all hard landscaping. We don’t have the finances to spend money on big landscaping projects, or even plants, so you might think it a barren space, but thankfully the ‘lawn’ area is not actually grass, it’s a mixture of grasses, moss and weeds - though I prefer to view them as wildflowers: clover, self heal, dandelions, buttercups, vetch, heather, yarrow, hogweed, daisies, hawkbit, plantain, mouse ear chickweed, star of Bethlehem, speedwell and hedge bedstraw are the plants I have been able to identify so far. There are varieties of moss I haven’t yet discovered the names for and a troop of mushrooms throughout the year. My Dad would be horrified- he cultivated billiard-table lawns - whereas I’m quite delighted. Definitely a bit of rebellion there! Lawns are often sterile places, especially when they’re treated. I prefer the variety of our green space, which is an indication of the poor soil and damp areas in our garden. Whilst I’m planning what we might do in the future, this is currently a great space for insect life. The insect decline rates in the SN are alarming. They have been found, on average, in 13% fewer places now than in 1970. Pollinators, have decreased by 18% on average, whilst predatory insects, like the 2-spot Ladybird have declined by more than a third (34%) We have lost 80% of our native butterflies since 1970 and this year seems to have been disastrous for them. Getting rid of large areas of pristine lawn and/or letting grasses grow can have a significant positive impact on invertebrate numbers in your garden, so give it a go, even if only in a small area. You can always cut back ‘weeds’ once they’ve flowered to avoid them seeding in places you don’t want them.

Photo by D Ross Garden View

There are many other ways to garden with nature in mind, including avoiding the use of synthetic chemicals (Roundup et al) which damage and destroy wildlife indiscriminately and creating habitats to encourage wildlife such as toads, hedgehogs and birds. You can buy hedgehog homes, insect hotels and bird boxes or make your own versions. Check with experts on line and only buy reputable brands, as some commercial offerings can be unsuitable for their intended purpose, despite the price.

I genuinely believe that growing your own food is a revolutionary act! It’s empowering and goes against the concepts of greed and dominion. To grow veg we have to go back to our roots (pun intended) and work with nature, not against her. We have to grow what’s appropriate to our conditions and what is available seasonally. You won’t be having strawberries in December from your own plot - unless you froze them in the summer! On the plus side, you can experiment with a whole host of varieties you would never see, let alone taste, in the supermarket. Commercial produce is grown for its productivity and transportability, often at the exclusion of taste. You will rarely see a ripe tomato or fig in a supermarket, as they’re too delicate, but grow your own and you will be delighted by the difference. The Mindful Living Movement argue that gardening is revolutionary because growing your own food is an act of ‘radical self reliance’ . In an age where we have ‘just in time’ supply chains and could run out of food within 2 weeks, I tend to agree with them. You only have to think back to the empty shelves during lockdown and the first weeks after Brexit, to realise the lack of sustainability and resilience in our food supply here in the UK. Growing your own takes back a level of control from corporate greed.

You don’t need a huge garden to grow your own veg. Many vegetables are happy to grow in containers and can be nurtured on windowsills, balconies, patios and roof tops (though do check your chosen structure is able to bear the loading). There are many places you can find advice as a novice gardener the BBC’s gardening website, Grow Your Own website and The RHS are a few I would trust with advice and there are innumerable books out there for beginners, including growing veg in small spaces and containers. Be a rebel - plant a few herbs on your windowsill, a few carrots in a tub or some tatties in a bin!

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Seed saving is also a quietly revolutionary act. When corporate behemoths seek to patent food crops, any control we can wrest back speaks powerfully to their greed. There are heritage seed banks which you can subscribe to in order to preserve varieties of fruit and veg which are not grown commercially. The Gaia Foundation has made a film about a group of London seeds savers who are sowing, saving and sharing seeds, with transformational results. Saving your own seed not only saves money, but creates resilience as the seeds adapt to your local environment over a surprisingly short time. Our local community markets often put on a seed sharing event. Check and see if there’s one in your area, as it’s a good place to start and people are generally happy to give advice to novices.

Thankfully there are a lot more rebel gardeners these days and even more conventional gardeners are taking the loss of nature seriously and attempting some redress in their advice and practices. Richard Mabey and Jack Wallington are two of my go-to authors on the subject of gardening with nature in mind and there are many others you can seek out for yourself.

Do what you can where you are - a short form of the quote attributed to Theodore Roosevelt - has never been more applicable to UK gardeners in the face of the climate crisis and nature loss. Take back control, do something positive, improve your mental health and join the rebel forces!

All Kinds of Everything

Rebel Gardening

Photo by D Ross Garden View

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