Chaos Gardening

Gardens in which nature has spontaneously sown seeds and allowed them to thrive, attracting bees, butterflies and other critters to adventure and pollinate the haphazard arrangement of plants to their heart’s content?

Chaos gardening allows you to embrace nature’s will and create the wildflower-rich garden of your dreams in an easy, carefree, and environmentally-friendly way. 

Discard traditional gardening ideas of meticulously arranging your seeds, charting their growth and scheduling pruning, chaos gardening rejects the need for carefully organised, maintained and manicured lawns and gardens, instead fostering impromptu and surprise-lead spaces free from intervention and control.

To begin chaos gardening, many advise simply gathering some old seed packets, mixing the seeds, and throwing them into the wind. Although this can incur some results, for a fully lush and flourishing wild garden, there is a little bit more groundwork to be done…

How to successfully sow a chaotic garden…

1. Identify the spaces in your garden which you will be aiming for once you have your seeds in hand. Would you like a dedicated wild patch; surprise growth in amongst your lawn, or greenery nestled in between cracks in paving, reaching over pathways and creeping up walls? 
2. Prepare your garden for the incoming scatter of seeds by tilling the ground, clearing away unwanted debris and weeds, and mixing some compost into the soil to support growth.
3. Consider your seeds and how they might react to your prepared spaces. You can mix seeds of any kind, including flowers, vegetables, herbs, or perennials however, they do need to have some similar requirements to prosper. Do these seeds need plenty of direct sun or are they happy to be shrouded in shade? If your seed requirements and the spaces you have prepared don’t match, you might want to buy some new seeds which will prosper in these spots and till some additional areas for your other seeds. It’s also important to exclude aggressive spreaders from your seed mixes so that they don’t suffocate the rest of the seedlings, as well as to avoid non-native seeds.
4. Once you’ve chosen your seeds and mixed them, you are ready to sow. Gather some in your hand and sprinkle them over your freed spaces. Once you’ve exhausted your mixed seed supply, consider patting the ground where the seeds have landed and mudding up your garden with a spray of soil and water to hide the seeds from onlooking birds and give the, their first taste of nourishment. 
5. After this initial dirty work, the maintenance for a chaos garden is extremely low, as - when plants grow together in a mixture, rather than isolated - they are less susceptible to pests and disease. This reduces the need for fertilisers and pesticides. They simply need some watering, as nature will take the reins as to what grows, what becomes food or shelter for wildlife and pollinators, and what will self-seed and regenerate naturally in the years to come - creating an all-natural, biodiverse, and beautiful habitat.

Tip

Once you’ve gathered your mixed seeds, take an extra couple of minutes to separate the large seeds from the smaller ones. If you separate them in this way and then sprinkle the larger ones first, your seedlings might find it easier to take root.

Are you ready to release control, celebrate abundance and diversity, and get your hands dirty? Harness your whimsy, seeds and green fingers - there is no time like the present!