Team Wilder Gardening Consultations

Brockwell Park Community Greenhouses, South London © Paul Harris/2020 Vision

Gardens in Britain cover an area larger than all of the nature reserves in Britain combined. Imagine if all our gardens were allowed to grow a little more wildly, even if it was just in a small corner in each garden. There is an amazing opportunity to create a network of connected wild spaces that allow wildlife to move more freely and safely.

We recognise that making space for nature is often more easily said than done and can be daunting for those just starting out on their wilder journey. Our Wilder Garden Champions are here to help you. They are gardening volunteers, vetted by the Trust who will be able to give you free personal advice on how to make your spaces wilder that will benefit both you and nature.

How does it work?

To get your free gardening consultation, please fill out the online form (below) with your details and some information about the space you want to transform. The more information you provide, the better we can help you. We will then match you up with a Wilder Garden Champion and arrange a time for your consultation.

Your Wilder Garden Champion will give you a call at the arranged time, and discuss ways in which you could make space for nature in your garden. A typical consultation will last between 30 and 60 minutes.

Please note, due to the ongoing corona virus pandemic causing disruption in our volunteer's schedules and impacting our ability in volunteer recruitment we are running on reduced capacity. We are working on a first come, first serve basis and will get to you as soon as we can. Please be patient as we match you up with a consultation. If you have any concerns please email us on Wilder@hiwwt.org.uk.

Contact details

Please provide us with both your email and phone number so we can contact you. Your email and phone number will only be used to contact you about the gardening consultation.

Your gardening project

Even if you just want to rewild a part of your space, it's good for us to know what else is there that could affect your gardening project. Use this field to describe how big your space is, what's currently growing there, and any other notable features of the space. For example, do you have hedges, a lawn, a patio, pond, etc. 
If you don't have a specific space in mind or would like to make space for wildlife all over your patch, leave this blank.
For example, are there any local hedgerows? What's the predominant local land use?
Let us know, for example, if you're specifically looking for advice on planting a wildflower meadow or building a wildlife pond.
What's your soil type?
If you don't know your soil type click "Don't know" and move on, no worries! If you'd like to find out what your soil type is with some simple observational experiments, check out RHS' guide here or learn how to make a 'mudshake' here. 
If you have children at home, would you like to get them involved in gardening?
We have plenty of ideas for getting your children to help you with your gardening projects!

Your gardening consultation

Please use the space below to give us as much detail as possible about your general availability for a consultation. This will help us match you to a Wilder Garden Champion more quickly.
In order to provide you with the best advice over the phone, please send us any pictures you have of your space.
Thank you for your request!

Terms and Conditions

This service is free and is reliant on the kind generosity of our volunteers, our Wilder Garden Champions. If you wish to make a donation to the Trust, please visit our donation page.

Currently the garden advice service is by phone call only, please submit photos with your consultation request to help the champion give you the best advice. Please note that this service is only offered once per household. 

This is not a service for large estates or farm land- please see our Arcadian pages for advice on wilding larger land.

Please visit our Wildlife Gardening pages if you'd like more information on making space for nature.