With the upcoming coronation of King Charles and an extra bank holiday in May, many of us will be spending the extended weekends in the garden – perhaps with a glass of Pimm's in hand!
King Charles has always been an advocate for the environment and the gardens at his personal residence, Highgrove Estate, are a labour of love that he has spent over 40 years developing.
From an early age King Charles showed a passion for the environment. He has committed his life and many years as the Prince of Wales to raising awareness about the effects of global warming on the environment, and doing everything he can to make a change. Not least is the work that he has done at his Highgrove Estate.
Upon moving there in 1980, he set about turning Highgrove into an organic haven. His aim was to preserve nature and increase biodiversity. Among his other duties as a working royal, he has worked tirelessly to create natural habitats and innovative gardens for nature to thrive.
This passion for wildlife preservation spreads beyond the Highgrove gardens and has resulted in another personal project, Duchy Organic. This organic produce business grows and sells organic goods from his duchy and is available to buy in Waitrose. It is just another example of his efforts to live a more sustainable life.
If like me your garden could do with a little love, and you would like to create not only a beautiful garden, but a garden that will encourage wildlife to thrive, why not take a leaf out of King Charles’ book!
In 1982 King Charles created a wildflower meadow with 32 varieties of wildflower seed to attract insects. It now contains over 70 varieties of plants and is managed as a traditional hay meadow, being cut in the summer for hay and grazed in the autumn by sheep.
One acre of meadowland can contain three million flowers and over 100 different plant species. This supports meadow wildlife, from insects to birds, creating an environment for good biodiversity. Is there a section of your garden that you could rewild? You might not have a spare meadow to rewild but planting bee friendly plants and flowers in your borders and letting a section of your garden grow wild will improve the biodiversity in your garden and help to provide food for pollinators such as bees and butterflies all year round.
Wouldn’t it be lovely to have a yearlong supply of herbs to use in your cooking? Or serve up a stew in the winter with vegetables grown by you. Growing your own vegetables is not only a tasty and satisfying thing you can do but it can help to reduce your carbon footprint. Over the years Charles has made great efforts to reduce his carbon footprint, from installing solar panels on Highgrove and Clarence House, to minimising emissions on his Duchy Organic farm. Growing herbs and vegetables is a small step you can take to reduce your carbon footprint as well as helping to create a beautiful and useable garden.
Creating a biodiverse garden is not just about encouraging more species of animals and insects into your garden, but also about protecting the wildlife already in your garden. In one of the ornamental fountains at Highgrove House, you will find a small hedgehog ramp made from wicker, which provides an escape route if they were to fall into the water. Are there things you can do in your garden to support the existing wildlife? Put up a bird feeder? Or make an insect hotel?
King Charles has also done his bit to protect the UK’s swift population. You can find several swift boxes at Highgrove estate, as well as his other residences. You can easily put a swift box up under an overhanging roof. Although these may require a little patience as he reportedly says that, after doing this, “you have to wait another year or two before they actually start occupying."
One of the main ethoses at Highgrove is to recycle everything. All the compost needed to create the chaotic gardens is made at Highgrove. Compost made at home has a wide range of benefits. It helps to keep the soil moist and full of nutrients and improves the health of your soil by attracting beneficial organisms, reducing the need for pesticides and fertilizers. Just think how much food waste you throw out every day. Why not get yourself a compost bin and start composting? We have a wide range of compost bins here, so no matter how big your outside space is you can find a composting bin to fit your needs.
Rainwater is also collected from all the roofs at Highgrove and dispersed throughout the garden where needed. Rainwater is a free resource that you can utilise in your own home. This water can be used for watering plants, cleaning cars or however you see fit. All you need is a water butt to collect the water. Our range of water butts can be found here. They are simple to install and could also help you save money on your water bills.
It will come as no surprise that these gardening tips from King Charles are geared towards creating natural and sustainable gardens to encourage biodiversity. Allowing nature to take over, and managing your garden organically will create a beautiful, yet wild, garden. Whilst we might not be able to live in a stately home, with these tips from King Charles we can create our very own organic haven, fit for a royal visit (or maybe just a bank holiday BBQ!).
Osprey House, 1 Percy Road,Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE29 6SZ
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