How to grow a wildlife- friendly vegetable garden
Learn about companion planting, friendly pest control, organic repellents and how wildlife and growing vegetables can go hand in hand.
Water vole by Terry Whittaker/2020VISION
Learn about companion planting, friendly pest control, organic repellents and how wildlife and growing vegetables can go hand in hand.
Wild privet is a shrub of hedgerows, woodlands and scrub, but is also a popular garden-hedge plant. It has white flowers in summer and matt-black berries in winter that are very poisonous.
A sprawling plant, wild liquorice often has large, kinked stems. It favours woodland, scrub and grassland habitats on chalky soils - look for pea-like flowers and pods. This liquorice is not…
Use the blank canvas of your garden to make a home for wildlife.
The red-tinged, flower clusters of Wild angelica smell just like the garden variety, which is used in making cake decorations. Wild angelica likes damp places, such as wet meadows and wet…
Wild carrot does, indeed, smell of carrots, but the roots are not like our cultivated, dinnertime favourite. Look for this umbellifer on chalk grasslands and coasts.
The delightful fragrance of wild thyme can punctuate a summer walk over a chalk grassland. It forms low-growing mats with dense clusters of purple-pink flowers.
Wild marjoram is actually the same aromatic herb as oregano which is used in Mediterranean cooking. Its small, pink flower clusters can be seen on chalk and limestone grasslands in summer.
The bright yellow daffodils that adorn our roadsides and parks are likely to be garden varieties. Head to a woodland or damp meadow in North or South West England, or Wales, to see a true wild…
In April and May, our ancient woodlands are awash with the white, starry flowers and smell of wild garlic. Millions of bulbs can exist in just one wood, giving rise to dazzling 'white carpets…
Few of us can contemplate having a wood in our back gardens, but just a few metres is enough to establish this mini-habitat!