The Wild Side of Gardens
When I started blogging and facebooking about my allotment endeavours back in 2016, I found it was the wild moments that attracted to most attention – the caterpillars in my cabbages, when I bumped into a toad whilst weeding under the sweet peas, or the chats I’d have with the robin when I was digging. I have always gardened as much with wildlife in mind as for myself and I am passionate about making space for nature. I strongly believe that every garden can be a haven for nature and for us – we just need to embrace our wild side!
With wildlife across the country in serious trouble (it is though that at least 1 in 10 species could be at risk of extinction in the UK!) our gardens are a vital resource when it comes to propping up nature whilst we work out what to do and how to fix our damaged and trembling ecosystems. If you were to look at an satellite map of the UK, in fact I urge you to go and do so now (well, maybe finish reading this first!), you would see a grand network of green spaces that spreads across our landscape, from inner cities to rural regions and back again. This is our garden system – an area of land larger than all our official nature reserves put together, and somewhere that our individual choices make a definite and visible difference.
I wanted a place where I could share tips and advice, answer questions and suggest ideas, and generally share my own experiences of gardening for wildlife on The Cutty Garden Allotment. So I started a Facebook page to run alongside my existing Sussex Field Notes page. I soon needed extended space to explain in more detail certain subjects, and to share instructions or plans on how to do particular activities. You will find all those blogs here.
Click here to visit Facebook.com/thereallywildgardener
A Few Notes About Me
A lifelong naturalist, my interest was first germinated in the back garden of my childhood. I grew up in an average terraced house with a small back yard plot, sowing nasturtiums, gazing in awe at butterflies on the buddleia, and feeding the starlings with frost-nipped fingers. Now in my mid twenties, I share a small flat with my boyfriend, and together we spend much our gardening energies on an allotment rented from the Cowdray Estate in Midhurst West Sussex. Cut flowers, roses, fruit trees, vegetables, raised beds and a polytunnel… it all keeps us very busy! I work at a family run plant nursery in a nearby village, having previously worked for the RSPB and studied both Countryside Management and Agriculture at further education college. I am not an expert gardener – I learn by trial and error, but there are a few things I do know about garden wildlife. 