Kate Bradbury’s article struck a very loud chord (Where the wild things are: the untapped potential of our gardens, parks and balconies, 28 May). I have been gardening for many moons, having caught the bug as a child, and have gone from the days of double digging and spraying anything that moves to the current advice to avoid digging and to plant for the climate. In all that time it barely occurred to me that what I was doing might be bad for the planet, but lately I have wondered if gardening itself might be a problem.
It’s not just the paving and plastic grass, but the constant desire to have the latest plants, the most up-to-date garden designs, and the need to buy ever more compost, chemicals, and equipment. All of this uses energy and natural resources, and comes with the need to dispose of the unfashionable, whether it be vegetation or planters or decking. It’s a huge industry, and shows like Chelsea add fuel to the fire with the annual catwalk of new ideas.
We banish our weeds (wild flowers) on the grounds that they are vulgar and feral, but they can look very beautiful and can rival anything refined and overbred. Native plants are important as they, and the creatures that depend on them, have evolved for the local conditions and we need to give them some space to continue to flourish.
Let us allow the wilderness to creep into a corner of our parks and gardens so that other living things who share our territory can benefit. Learn to love your dandelions (in moderation) and let violets and daisies colonise the lawn.
Michelle Gibson
Cambridge
• Reading your article, we in the Climate Change Gardening group were gripped by the image of “entire gardens in skips … upended trees in full blossom with bird feeders still hanging from their branches”, which evoked a dark reality of the ongoing demise of our natural world. We spent the last bank holiday weekend at a plant fair in East Anglia. Our stand aimed to raise awareness of what gardeners can do to help mitigate the effects of climate change.
Between us, we spoke to hundreds of people, and were heartened by the majority saying that they had already begun to think of what they can do. Some had built a pond, some had left their lawn to grow long, some had made holes in their fences to allow the hedgehogs to move across gardens, and some had left log piles to create habitats for our beleaguered wildlife.
With over 20 million gardeners, caring collectively for the third largest land use category in England, surely we can make a difference in boosting biodiversity and tackling climate change.
Sue Boase
Climate Change Gardening, Haverhill, Suffolk
• Kate Bradbury is right that people can use their gardens to help our climate change resilience. This is especially true for front gardens, whose disappearance is largely due to government policies. Since 1995, when pavement crossovers (kerb drops) were allowed as permitted development under John Major, millions of the country’s front gardens have been paved for parking.
Many alarm bells have since been rung about the multiple problems this creates. Yet there has been no action from the government since 2008, when easily circumvented regulations attempted to introduce permeable surfaces – which anyway often fail in heavy rain. Ironically, home-charging for electric vehicles is now leading to even more paving.
It doesn’t have to be like this. Instead of being seduced by contractors’ leaflets, people can and should park on green surfaces. Matrix paving just for the parking area allows rain to have direct contact with soil and supports a wide variety of interesting low-growing plants. The rest of the space should be plants, hedges and trees. For many people, the simple answer to “What can I do about climate change?” is: depave your front garden.
Christine Eborall
Ealing Front Gardens Project
• I live in a close comprising 17 mostly terrace houses. Over the years I have watched all of the gardens become paved over and mine is the only full length one left untouched by this brutal fashion. Our garden has a lawn, trees, bushes, weeds, bird baths, pots and more. No chemicals either. I was once asked if I was moving house as visitors thought I had allowed to the garden to fall into disrepair. Both the front and back garden are there for the wildlife; we come second.
Linda Theobald
London
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