One of the most evocative and powerful slogans of the 1968 Paris revolts was sous les pavés, la plage – beneath the pavement lies the beach. Today in the UK, where more than three quarters of us live in cities, many people have lost touch with the natural world. They have forgotten the earth beneath their feet. Dave Goulson wants to reverse that dangerous trend and reconnect us with the wildlife that lives under our noses, in our gardens and parks: “the jungle that lurks just outside your back door”.
In the last 30 years, Goulson – a professor of biology who specialises in bumblebee ecology and founded the Bumblebee Conservation Trust – has had six different gardens, from “a pocket-handkerchief rectangle” to his current one, a “slightly unkempt but delightful” two acres. But every garden, large or small, is teeming with life, from the worms to the birds and butterflies. Beginning in the 1970s, Jennifer Owen – “one of the great heroines of wildlife gardening” – recorded the plants and creatures living in her little Leicester garden. In 35 years she found 2,673 species.
Around the world, industrial farming and climate change are destroying natural environments and species at an alarming rate. Wildflower meadows used to cover much of lowland Britain: 7m acres of them in 1930s. Only 2% of these remain. Hedgehogs have declined in numbers by 50% in just the last 15 years. In parts of China, farmers now have to hand-pollinate fruit trees because pesticides have wiped out the bees. In the UK, orchards are typically sprayed 26 times a year with insecticides, fungicides and other chemicals: “those rosy, shiny apples on the supermarket shelf got there as a result of environmental carnage”. But Goulson’s message is one of hope: we can all make a difference by having wildlife-friendly gardens. Packed with remarkable details about the roles played by such unexotic creatures as ants and earwigs, the book shows how anyone lucky enough to have a garden or an allotment can transform it into a refuge for threatened flora and fauna.
Gardening to save the planet is not that difficult, Goulson assures us: grow a variety of flowers, such as foxgloves for long-tongued bumblebees and thyme for honeybees, honeysuckle for butterflies and even ivy (there’s a species of bee that depends on it). Plant trees if you have the space. Don’t overly tidy your garden – a pile of old logs is a haven for insects. Create a miniature wildflower meadow by not mowing part of your lawn. Compost your kitchen waste and never buy peat-based compost. Dig a pond: rural ponds have declined by 70% since 1890 and they support some of Britain’s rarest animals. And never use pesticides or weedkillers.
From the best flowers to grow for pollinators, to creating environments for bees to nest in, this is an excellent guide to green gardening: “If you really want to leave your grandchildren a healthy planet to live on, it’s time to get out in the garden and dig.”
• The Garden Jungle: or Gardening to Save the Planet by Dave Goulson is published by Cape (RRP £16.99). To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com. Free UK p&p on all online orders over £15.
