When we started on this garden project, I had imagined that by now we might be lunching out amid swathes of poppies, cornflowers and grasses, surrounded by happy, nourished bees. The truth is that much as we’re enjoying our new garden, we haven’t quite reached that gorgeous reality yet! But perhaps that’s the challenge when trying to rewild an urban space. It’s true that wildflower meadows are notorious for being difficult to get right, even for the King at Highgrove – and if struggling with wildflowers is good enough for a king, it’s good enough for me.
The garden is an integral part of the regency townhouse renovation project which my husband (Mr E) and I have taken on. But getting to know a garden takes time, just like getting to know a house takes time. We’ve realised the lower part of the garden will always be shady, even when the yews have had a prune, so shade loving woodland wildflowers such as bluebells, foxgloves, primroses and wood anemones will do best there. It’s encouraging to keep in mind that wildflowers are much more likely to thrive in poor soil so, for once, we’re not trying to improve or nourish it! The regal spires of the shade-loving foxgloves are just beginning to flourish – now they are definitely fit for a king.
My passion for creating a wildflower garden runs hand in hand with writing the first book in my series for children about engaging with nature in the garden (with a vision of wildflowers and bees beautifully brought to life by Anna Platts’ beautiful illustrations, as shown here). It’s liberating to realise that the wildflowers we would once have considered weeds can bring a new aesthetic to the garden, as well as a balanced ecosystem, without all areas of the garden needing to be perfectly manicured. The simple fact is that the importance of wildflowers to pollinators cannot be underestimated, just as the importance of pollinators to humans cannot be underestimated. One in three mouthfuls of food we eat depends on a pollinator.
So, I am fully committed to mastering the wildflowers in my own garden – but, for now, a key job for June is the rather more mundane, and less potentially beautiful task of perfecting the compost heap.
Mr E constructed it out of old pallets and fence posts, and gave it a good start with a base layer of twigs and mulch. The secret now lies in alternating thin layers of brown stuff (cardboard, wood shavings, old leaves and small sticks), and green stuff (grass cuttings, weeds and vegetable peelings). This care for a pile of rotting vegetable matter has become a real labour of love. I’ve even found myself picking up a worm every time I see one and depositing it into its new forever home. Compost heaps need aeration, and worms do an excellent job at that. When the heap really gets going its warmth will attract many other creatures.
We’ve loved welcoming lots of summer visitors to our garden this last month – swifts and swallows attracted by insects in the long grass, bats brought into the garden by the honeysuckle’s night scent, ladybirds providing amazing pest control services, and of course all the bees enjoying the lavender, foxgloves and primroses. We’ve planted a second buddleia in the hope of seeing plenty of butterflies in the coming months.
It was a moment of great excitement to receive our first visiting hedgehog. However, George the dog alerted us to its presence by simply standing and barking at it. His attitude to embracing a wildlife paradise still needs some fine tuning.
JUNE GARDEN JOBS
• Divide primroses now – to give double the colour and nectar next year
• Keep bird baths topped up to provide fresh drinking water for birds, bats, and ladybirds too
• Plant pollinator friendly plants like lavender, that don’t require too much watering
• Remove or cut down nettles, docks and thistles before they set seed in your wildflower area
Pollination illustrations by Anna Platts Look and listen out for:
• Thousands of insects appear in June – look out for emperor dragonflies, stag beetles, June bugs, and don’t forget, annoying as they are, wasps are important pollinators!
• Stop and enjoy the beautiful June backing track of busy insects buzzing and humming
Get involved:
• Garden Wildlife Week: June 2-8
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