Wildlife-friendly gardening
Encourage wildlife, create beautiful gardens with form and colour
At Wild & May we are passionate about gardens and their ability to bring joy and peace into people's lives, to create havens for wildlife, to connect people with the outdoors, with green space, practical activity and growing plants.
With years of experience in our own gardens including growing fruit, vegetables, herbs, with borders, pots, bulbs and shrubs we are able to offer a wildlife-friendly gardening service for Maresfield and surrounding areas in Sussex. Building on experience, Becky is also studying the Royal Horticultural Society qualification Principles and Practices of Horticulture alongside courses in social and therapeutic horticulture with THRIVE.
Whatever size, shape or layout of your garden we can help with general maintenance, sowing, potting on, planting, pruning, building and installing bird or bat boxes, creating wildlife rich areas of your garden such as ponds, pollination stations or bug hotels! We can plan, source, plant and maintain native hedging, orchards or areas of scrub and woodland.
With a particular interest in social and therapeutic horticulture, are also able to work alongside you in the garden - we do the heavy lifting as it were, whilst you direct operations and engage in the practical activity at a level and intensity that suits you. This is particularly helpful for older people who have always loved gardening and taken pride in their gardens but are perhaps struggling to keep up or feeling overwhelmed with what needs doing. We will garden with you - it is your garden and our role is to help you to enjoy it, to keep active, to build and maintain social connections through gardening. Therefore we are also happy to take you to the garden centre, carry the bags of compost or plant pots, take it all home and work with you to plant seeds, bulbs, plants, hedges or saplings!
Our services
Following your initial enquiry, we offer a free-of-charge visit to meet you, look at your garden and discuss your requirements. During this visit we will discuss what sort of gardening you want, your priorities such as mowing, weeding or growing vegetables and explain our approach to gardening, what we do and don’t do. We do work with nature in mind, we don’t use chemicals, we use wildlife-friendly methods of gardening, take a no-dig approach and can build bird boxes, we are not lawn experts but can help you create wildlife rich areas within your garden whatever the size.
We always aim to be realistic about what can and cannot be achieved and in what timescale; gardening is a long-term activity which requires some imagination and planning with regards to what grows best where, what size and shape plants mature at, colours and form through the seasons.
All cut or weeded material needs to be disposed of appropriately on site, we do not remove any waste from gardens.
One of the questions we ask at the initial meeting is whether you want to garden with us - with a particular interest in social & therapeutic horticulture, we are keen to assist anyone who loves to garden but might be struggling with it. Our approach means we can garden with you, to help you keep doing the things you love. We are also very happy with a list of tasks!
There is no obligation to proceed with our services following this initial meeting. We only have limited time available for new clients, and can provide either ad hoc or regular gardening visits depending on your requirements and our availability. After the meeting, we will send you an email with a written summary of that meeting, the tasks to be undertaken, frequency and duration of visits.
- Wildlife-friendly gardening rate £25/hour
Why bother with wildlife-friendly?
Wildlife-friendly gardening is good for nature, and for us. By creating a natural outdoor space we connect with the plants, animals and insects that feed or make their homes there.
- There are an estimated 24 million gardens in the UK; that’s a big different to the natural world if we garden in a sympathetic way to provide food, pollination opportunities, nectar sources and homes for wildlife
- Gardens help hedgehogs, bats, sparrows, song thrushes and stag beetles which have been declining in the wild
- We connect with the seasons through the plants and wildlife in the garden, find colour and interest on even the most dreary of days
- Gardening also keeps us fit and active, and improves our physical health
- Gardening improves our sense of well-being and resilience, and can reduce stress levels
- Get a sense of satisfaction and enjoyment that your garden benefits nature
- Observe nature from your kitchen window or sitting room
- Gardening with others connects us socially and builds connections, reducing isolation.