Not Hunting but Gathering

The garden is bustling at the moment. Sparrows are tearing away at old clematis stalks to add to their nests, blackbirds are scurrying about all over the place, the wren's amazingly loud voice is to be heard in the lime tree and I thought I saw a hedge sparrow gleaning crumbs from the patio, though that might be wishful thinking. I used to see them, but not for a number of years. The wood pigeons are much in evidence and there's a pair of  magpies, handsome but haughty. Some birds seem to be much too keen on the bird feeder than on making their own nests, but what do I know?

Now is the time when everybody else is busy sowing seeds. But I have no greenhouse or polytunnel or sunny windowsill and last year's experience of sowing too early has made me wait. I have an order for plants but was contacted this week by the supplier saying everything is later this year because of cold conditions and low light and do I mind waiting? No I don't and it confirms me in my own decision to start later. 

What shall I do in the garden then, not counting pulling up the worst of the buttercups and planting ten broad beans and three seedlings of garlic chives from last year? 

Newly planted garlic chives (surrounded by anti-slug wool pellets)

The pause in activity has made me think about what I mean by 'wilding' my garden. I've always been an organic gardener. The indiscriminate use of chemicals not just in horticulture but in agriculture too has always seemed to me to be a horrible mistake. When my grandmother was gardening chemicals were not available to gardeners, who automatically put back into the soil what the plants had drawn out by composting and mulching. 

             Early growth of sweet Cicely                    Culinary sage in front of Spanish bluebells

Since then, I have picked up ideas and principles from various sources, encouraged by the idea that although modern agricultural practices are impoverishing our farms and fields, small urban and suburban gardens do offer the possibility, taken together, of  providing habitats for a wide variety of plants and animals and preserving those that otherwise might disappear. I  took to no-digging not just because digging is becoming rather hard work for me but it also disturbs the soil's life and structure; I  became interested in the plight of bees and wanted to tempt  more forms of life to inhabit my garden. 

I also wanted to be able to eat a large part of what I grow so I added lots of fruit, began to grow the easier vegetables and introduced a selection of perennial vegetables, which will more or less look after themselves. And  I encourage wild plants or what people think of as 'weeds'. So I am entirely organic,  there's  a bit of forest gardening in my thinking, a bit of permaculture and quite a lot of pragmatism. Perhaps I'm diversifying rather than wilding. 

Sweet Cicely                                    Wild garlic                                  Fennel

This week I have been adding to my lunch time salad with leaves from more than 12 plants picked from the garden including:

Wild garlic, Sweet Cicely, fennel, red-veined sorrel,  garlic mustard or Jack-by-the hedge, new shoots and florets from kale, young chard leaves, dandelion, garlic chives, chives and various herbs. These all go well in green salads, potato salads,  rice salads and, indeed, any other kind of salad you like to concoct. They are fresh, full of vitamins and minerals and add a pleasant je ne sais quoi to the taste. 

Red-veined sorrel                     garlic mustard                                kale