Gardening for the wild at heart

There is lots to like. Its less arduous to maintain, it’s a rich haven for pollinators, and there are always surprises as flowers reseed from one place to another. Resilience is the key word, prioritizing plants that are hardy, no fuss growers, water wise and suitable for local conditions.

Whether you want to transform your whole garden, just a section of the garden or even a balcony garden the main characteristics of a wild garden are: A denser than normal planting. The easiest way to achieve this is to start with a mix of seed. You may still want to do some single variety sowing to create a swathe of colour, texture or some height to draw the eye in a particular direction.

The flow of the garden is organic and informal. Gravel or mulched pathways are a good idea for access through the garden, for watering, weeding if necessary and some strategic thinning out. Dead heading is optional and flowers can be left to go to seed.

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The one principle that remains unchanged is that the soil needs to be well prepared before sowing. Should you want to replace some lawn, that first needs to be removed. Before sowing, spread a generous layer of compost over the surface of sowing area and lightly till it in with a fork or rake it in.

This does not disturb the eco system within the topsoil. Once you are ready to sow, consider using mixed flower variety packs that contain the seed of flowers that bloom at different times and are a mix of different heights. There are mixes for sun or shade, for dwarf or tall flowers.

Once the seed is sown, cover it with a thin layer of soil, press down gently with the back of a rake so that the seeds make contact with the soil, and water lightly so that the seed doesn’t wash away. Keep the soil moist during germination and don’t weed until the flowers are growing well and it is easy to distinguish between the weeds and the flowers. Or you can just leave the weeds.

The Kirchhoffs Flower Variety Pack has a sunny selection of spring flowers that are the stalwarts of every flower garden: marigolds, nasturtium, cosmos and sunflowers as well as Colour patch ‘Summer Dwarf’ that is a specially formulated mix of easy to grow dwarf varieties especially suited to hot summer conditions. Different varieties bloom at differing times to create a long-lasting colour effect.

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