The Green Gardener

Up-and-coming garden designer Ellie Edkins K’11 is using her skill to help people create eco-friendly outdoor spaces. Here are her tips for sustainable gardening success.

Ellie Edkins is on a mission to make the UK’s gardens play an active role in arresting climate change and boosting biodiversity. She is using her skill as a garden designer to help clients develop green spaces around their homes that are havens for wildlife and improve the quality of life for humans and animals alike. As a finalist in the coveted RHS Young Designer of the Year Award 2021, Ellie’s credentials are beyond doubt. She combines a strong understanding of hard landscaping with an instinctive love of planting – resulting in a winning combination for anyone who wants to make the most of their garden.

“No matter the size of your garden, there is plenty you can do to battle the causes and effects of climate change,” she says. “Even in a small space such as a balcony or courtyard, we can all do our bit to improve conditions for wildlife.”

Here, in her own words, are some of Ellie’s top tips for fellow SOGs, helping you enhance the eco credentials of your garden.

Boost biodiversity Growing a broad range of plants that will flower at different times of the year is a great way to start quickly attracting wildlife into the garden, and requires little maintenance. A mix of long grass and wildflowers such as common poppies (Papaver rhoeas), Salvia pratensis and ox-eye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare) will start to attract pollinating bees and butterflies.

Ensuring a good mixture of flowering plants will build resilience in the garden, but plants always look best in clumps of three or five in the border – so this is something to bear in mind too! Hardy ornamental grasses will ‘hug’ or hold more delicate flowering perennials in windy conditions, so adding these to the mix in your border is a good option if you have an exposed site.

Let it grow and restore your hedgerow The wildest areas of your garden will attract the most wildlife, so there is a lot to be said for leaving some of the untidier areas of the garden well alone. You could think about screening off with some climbing plants if you’re not keen on a shaggier appearance.

Restoring our native hedgerows is another important step available to those who are lucky enough to have larger spaces. This will greatly improve

the outlook for our struggling wildlife and is a much better alternative to that shabby timber fence. A mixture of dog rose, hazel and hawthorn is a great place to start.

Grow in containers If you are limited to growing in containers because you’re renting or have a small outdoor space, there is still plenty you can do to create an outdoor sanctuary for you and your local wildlife. I think containers look their best when they are full with plants and with a bit of a wild look, and this provides great conditions for insects too. Plant up your pots with a diverse array of pollinatorfriendly plants, along with some plants with showy foliage for year-round interest such as Fatsia Japonica, which gives an exotic look. Go peat free Unless your compost is labelled ‘peat-free’ you can assume it contains between 70% and 100% peat, so avoid avoid avoid! There are plenty of great alternatives, including well-rotted leaf mould which can be easily made in the garden, saving a few pennies too. The RHS recommends using three parts coir, one part sieved garden compost, one part sieved loam, and one part sharp sand, perlite or horticultural grit.

Photos: (Below) Ellie’s show garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in September 2021, with Fatsia Japonica at the back. Image by Kat Weatherhill. The other image (top left) is of Salvia pratensis (meadow sage), photographed by Gary Barnes.