Top tips for rewilding your garden

Last week I visited the walled garden at Knepp. Find out how they have rewilded the garden and how you can boost biodiversity in your own outdoor space, however small.

The Knepp Estate must be one of the best known examples of rewilding in the country.  A couple of years ago the Estate turned their attention to the rather traditional walled garden with a kitchen garden and greenhouse. Out went the traditional croquet lawn and herbaceous beds and in their place, tonnes of crushed building waste. To increase the topographical complexity, the waste was landscaped into troughs and peaks, created many different habitats that would support a greater range of species. There was also a patchwork of planting materials that suit different plants and help to boost diversity further. As you would imagine. the planting plan was also complex and around 900 species of plant were included to kick start the process. Masterminding the rewilding were Tom Stuart Smith, James Hitchmough, Mick Crawley, and Jekka McVicar.

It is now a wonderful example of how you can boost biodiversity in a managed environment, such as a garden, and it has so many ideas that are applicab…