Share and swap plants with neighbours and friends
Wilding your garden doesn’t have to be expensive! Sharing plants, seeds, and cuttings between neighbours can be a great way to increase the diversity of plants in your garden without breaking the bank. Check online, such as in local Facebook groups, or in a local parish magazine for organised plant swaps in your area. Can’t find one? Why not set one up!
NOTE OF CAUTION: spreading of pests and diseases could negatively affect your garden or those of your friends of neighbours. Be careful to check the condition of any plants you are planning to swap or give away and any you receive. Check for obvious signs of disease of infection, such as nibbled or browning leaves, wilting, and poor root development.
Why not start or look after a community space for nature?
Community gardens are an amazing resource for people and wildlife; they can be found all over Kent and often run with the support of enthusiastic volunteers. The advantage of a community garden is it often allows you the opportunity to garden across a larger space than you might have at home, or as is the case for many people, you may not have your own garden at all, and this allows you to benefit from immersing and involving yourself in nature.
If you don’t have a community garden locally, could you help start one up? These are amazing resources and you may find others in your community would jump at the chance to help make this a reality.
How to create a garden for people and wildlifeSet up a community garden - RHS
Start a community garden - Eden Project
Collect seeds from the garden to share with neighbours and friends
Collecting seeds is a brilliant way to increase your plant collection for free. Keep an eye out at the end of summer for ripe seed heads and ask your friends and neighbours to collect any for you.
Top tip: Great plants to collect seeds from include foxglove, poppies, honesty, fennel, teasel, and hollyhocks. Use a paper envelope and gently tap the seeds direct from the ripe seed head into the envelope. Label this with the plant type and date, store in a cool dry place, and scatter when you are ready. For chaos style gardening, mix all the seeds together in one envelope and scatter across your garden liberally!
How to grow a wild patch or mini meadowHow to make a seed bomb
Why not start or add to a nature highway with your neighbours?
Our gardens can be huge, complex, incredible habitats when all connected together. However, hard fences, walls, roads, and buildings can stop wildlife moving between them. Hedgehogs, for example, often roam large areas looking for food, water, and other hedgehogs to hang out (and breed) with. Connecting your garden to the surrounding landscape and other gardens is essential to supporting thriving wildlife in your local area.
Add your hedgehog highways to the My Wilder Kent pledge map, and check out other sites such as Hedgehog Street to find where other gardens are acting to help hedgehogs.
How to create a hedgehog hole