We tend to think a vegetable's goodness comes from the plant. It doesn't, really. The plant is a conduit; it can only pass on to you what the soil, and the living things in the soil, hand up to it first. Which means the health of what you eat begins somewhere you never see: in the dark, crumbling, teeming world beneath your beds. There's a persistent claim that our food has grown less nourishing over the past century - that a carrot today isn't the carrot your grandmother ate

We were too slow on climate change and may now be in a phase of being able to stop that acceleration of climate change, and its felt very much to me that we're now moving from a phase of prevention to coping. Now the fires have arrived, even in Sussex. So what can our back garden actually do? There is a particular grief in watching something you were warned about arrive on schedule. For thirty years the science was clear, the graphs pointed one way, and collectively we did no

In the summer of 2026, Newhaven Town Council did something quietly radical. Meeting at the very mouth of the River Ouse, the place where thirty-odd miles of Sussex water finally reaches the sea, councillors voted unanimously to endorse the River Rights Charter, formally recognising the Ouse as a living entity with the right to flow, to be free from pollution, to support native life, and to be actively restored. The motion passed without a single vote against. The Mayor put it

Last year I was fortunate enough to join Jenny Andersson from Really Regenerative for her signature 'Power of Place' course on placemaking. I'd been struggling for a while to get people to engage with the idea of 'urban rewilding' and been looking for the right way to get people engaged and involved in this idea I have become to passionate about. Of Jenny's many frameworks and her extraordinary experiences working with 'place' all over the world and the unique social and eco

Walk to the place where a wood gives way to a meadow and stop there a moment. You are standing in the busiest 'real estate' in the whole landscape. Behind you, the shade and structure of the trees; ahead, the light and flowers of the grassland; and right here, in the seam between them, a riot of life that belongs fully to neither; more species, more activity, more sheer biological excitement than in either habitat on its own. Ecologists have a name for that seam. They call it

It's a lovely idea, and you'll see it repeated everywhere: let your garden go wild and it becomes a mighty sponge for carbon, quietly doing its bit against climate change. Like most lovely ideas about the environment, it's partly true, partly oversold, and a great deal more interesting once you look at what's actually going on in the soil and the stems. So let's do that honestly. How does a rewilded garden compare to a conventional one when it comes to carbon and where does t

When I started on my rewilding journey I didn't really know where to start - although I felt very strongly that it might be with a wildlife pond and covering my fences - which proved to be true, but it's a question I get asked a lot - so here's the actual scientific answer.... NB: Please note that this advice is for a 'typical' UK suburban garden. For other countries please use my 'how should me garden grow' app here which will personalise it based on your own region. We tend

There is a hedgehog somewhere near you, right now, nose to a fence panel. On the other side lies everything it needs; beetles, a mate, a dry corner to nest; and between the two, six feet of larch-lap and a concrete gravel board. To us it is a boundary. To the hedgehog it is the edge of the world. This is the quiet tragedy of the modern town: not that we have banished nature, but that we have chopped it into pieces too small to live in. Rewilding the city is often imagined as

Introduction: In recent years, a growing movement advocating for more environmentally friendly lawn care practices has gained momentum across the United Kingdom. One such initiative that has captured widespread attention is "No Mow May." Originating from a simple idea to let lawns grow wild for the month of May, this campaign has evolved into a powerful force for promoting biodiversity, supporting pollinators, and fostering a deeper connection with nature. In this blog post,

I was lucky enough to do my Permaculture design Certificate in 2012 at OrganicLea in Chingford. This was when the realisations that eventually led me to set up ''The Urban Wildling'' began and when my garden became and experimentation zone of lasagne beds of carboard and old clothing, piles of logs for 'hugulkultur' and beds of nettles for fertiliser, pesto & butterflies. Needless to say I was not entirely popular with my neighbours.... Permaculture and rewilding are close co