Gardening a Wilder Garden Workshop

About

Led by Knepp’s senior gardening team, this in-depth workshop explores the practical aspects of managing a wilder garden over time.

Rewilding doesn’t mean simply setting the scene and then letting the garden go. It takes potentially as much work as a conventional garden, only with a different mindset – putting nature first. We’ll discuss the on-going work and specific interventions needed to keep a garden dynamic and optimise opportunities for wildlife.

Designed as a follow-on workshop to Designing a Wilder Garden, you’ll learn:

- How to sustain a wilder, more dynamic ecosystem in a garden
- How to mimic natural disturbances in a garden
- How a gardener can become a keystone species, thinking like a beaver, a rootling wild boar, a grazing pony or cow, an ant or an earthworm
- How to manage thuggish plants and pioneers
- How to give weeds and wildflowers a benefit ratings score to help decide what can stay and what can go
- Approaches to clearing and cutting back, and when to leave seedheads, dead wood and other material as natural habitat
- Seasonal management
- How to maintain varied soil conditions and topography over time
- Sustainability, both in terms of resources and gardening time