If you consider the collective power of the UK's gardens, the potential to make a meaningful difference for nature is extraordinary
As spring awakens the world around us, Sheila Das, the Head of Gardens and Parks at the National Trust, tells us how small acts of kindness can make a huge difference.
Every spring, as the first shoots push through the soil and the birds tune up for the dawn chorus, I’m reminded of nature’s remarkable ability to bounce back — if we give it the smallest opportunity. There’s a particular magic in those early moments: the scent of damp earth, the hum of the first bees, and the quiet promise contained in new growth.
Gardeners across the UK already do so much to care for nature, often instinctively — from creating welcoming spaces for wildlife to nurturing healthy soils and planting for pollinators.
People often ask me what more they can do that genuinely makes a difference. Many expect a complicated answer involving expertise, money or a sizeable garden. But the reassuring truth is far simpler. Every garden, whatever its size, has untapped potential. And sometimes what seem like small actions, can be extraordinarily powerful.
'If each of us added just one more action, the impact could scale up incredibly quickly'
As the new BBC One series Secret Garden shows, purposeful actions can make a meaningful difference. And when you consider the collective power of the UK’s gardens — almost a million hectares of growing space — the potential becomes extraordinary.
This vast mosaic of courtyards, terraces, balconies, allotments and lawns has the power to unlock a much-needed boost for nature. But if each of us added just one more action, the impact could scale up incredibly quickly.
Across National Trust gardens, I’m privileged to see some of the country’s most inspiring landscapes. Yet the places that stay with me aren’t always the grandest. The dead hedges at Wray Castle, Cumbria and the new mingled borders at Peckover, Cambridgeshire — designed to minimise environmental impact and encourage biodiversity — show just how quickly nature can respond when given the chance.
The mingled borders at Peckover House and Garden, Cambridgeshire.
I’m passionate about slow gardening — a thoughtful, ecological approach to gardening that works with nature. Sometimes, this kind of gardening is presented in a negative light, focusing on what gardeners might ‘lose’. In fact, we, and nature, have so much to gain if we recast ourselves as thoughtful garden ‘stewards’ who think long-term and prioritise sustainability.
So, what might this look like? Swapping out bedding plants for longer-lived plants provides good sources of nectar, pollen, seeds or fruits, to feed a wide variety of wildlife, while still giving us joy. Left in the ground rather than dug up, their roots nurture the soil too. Create a pond and you’ll be surprised how quickly it thrives; even a small water body will add life to your outdoor space. Putting up a bird box in a sheltered corner can offer declining birds like house sparrows and starlings a safe haven during breeding season. Small actions really can make a difference.
Sometimes, what you don’t do can be just as important. Instead of reaching for a chemical bug spray, wait a day or two for hungry bluetits and their young to take care of those aphids for you. Instead of laying artificial grass, take pleasure from discovering more about the life a diverse lawn can support, like ground-nesting bees. Rather than buying in soil improvers, make your own compost, and let leaves and prunings break down in-situ, to underpin garden health naturally. And rather than clearing everything away to the compost heap or the council waste bin, leaving a log pile or patch of long grass creates valuable habitat for beetles, fungi and many other species.
'In the face of a nature crisis, it’s easy to feel powerless. But we are a nation of gardeners, and that gives us real collective strength.'
You don’t need to overhaul your garden or do everything at once. Often, we do tasks out of habit or routine — but taking a step back can help us identify simple, but powerful, ways to make a difference for the better.
Across National Trust gardens, we’ve seen wildlife respond quickly when small changes are made. Add deadwood and beetles reappear. Create a pond and amphibians follow. Leave a corner wild and all sorts of insects come back within months.
And in nurturing these spaces, we benefit too. Gardening calms the mind, lifts the spirit and roots us — quite literally — to the ground beneath our feet.
In the face of a nature crisis, it’s easy to feel powerless. But we are a nation of gardeners, and that gives us real collective strength. If even a fraction of us took an action to help nature, the impact across millions would be profound — making our outdoor spaces not only beautiful, but powerful allies in helping nature recover.
