Butterfly in Childs hands

Children’s Gardening Week, butterflies and beautiful salads

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Butterfly in Childs hands24 May – 1 June 2025
 www.childrensgardeningweek.co.uk
 www.plantlife.org.uk/campaigns/nomowmay

by Marianne Lindfield – Climate Action Engagement Officer, SGL

Children’s Gardening Week arrives as May gives way to June, when the garden has found its stride and everything is stretching into summer. It often falls during half term, which makes it the perfect time to step outside and share the garden with the children in our lives. For those taking part in No Mow May, this is when the garden starts to look wilder, the grasses taller, and flowers that were once called weeds begin to feel like gifts. Buttercups, oxeye daisies and self-heal creep through the lawn, and the air starts to hum with insect life again.

It is a moment for noticing. Children are naturally tuned into the small things we often overlook. A curled leaf can hold a hidden insect, and a dandelion seedhead might spark a whole conversation. Being in the garden together does not need to be structured. A slow walk, time spent watching one flower, or simply lying on the grass and listening can lead to all sorts of shared discoveries.

One year, I raised caterpillars with my children. We watched them feed and grow in a netted enclosure, and we made sure the right plants were growing in the garden before we let them go. That small project opened up much more than I expected. The children began asking questions not just about butterflies, but about the plants they needed and how they linked with the others in the garden. It helped them understand that everything is connected, that what we grow, what we leave, and what we choose to remove all have consequences. Read more

Jar of honey

A Beekeeper’s View: Simple Ways to Help Sussex Pollinators

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Bumblebee collecting nectar from a pink flower in a Sussex garden during No Mow May.by Daisy Day, Master Beekeeper

In Britain there are around 250 different species of bees. A few of these are social insects living in large organised communities such as bumblebees and of course honeybees. All bees feed on nectar for energy and feed their larvae on pollen for protein, both collected from flowers.

Pollination is a vital part of how plants reproduce. Crops and wildflowers rely on insects like bees to transfer pollen, helping them set seed and grow the next generation. A large proportion of our food depends on this process. Apples, raspberries and peas all benefit from insect pollination. Without pollinators yields would be lower and we would lose much of the variety in our diets. Read more

Cover of Start with soil book by Juliet Sargeant

Let it grow: the case for messy gardens and living soil

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by Elle Runton. Deputy Trustee Sussex Green Living.

Cover of Start with soil book by Juliet Sargeant

Learn more about soil health and thriving gardens https://www.instagram.com/julietsargeant/

It would be fair to say I’m not yet a gardener. My grandfather had a smallholding, and my uncle just lays his thumb on a plant leaf and it blossoms at his touch, but I’m embarking on a learning journey—with some success. My local Sussex nursery-bought raspberry bush yields fruit for months every year without fail (possibly thanks to its daily cup of used coffee grounds), and my blackberries are sweet and plump under the Sussex sun. I haven’t needed to buy any of those so-called superfoods—just pop along to the fruit bed and help myself free of charge!

When exploring how to get more from your veg patch, I discovered the importance of soil health. Most of us probably wish for a garden that’s easy to care for, beautiful and beneficial to the environment. According to Juliet Sargeant, presenter of BBC Gardeners’ Question Time, it all starts with the earth. Speaking at the recent Sussex Green Living “Plant to Plate” Festival in Horsham, Juliet explained that soil is not just dirt: it’s a living, breathing ecosystem filled with microbes and earthworms that break down organic material and release nutrients. When we use synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, we harm the delicate balance of nature that supports healthy plant growth.

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LUnmown garden with long grass, shrubs and wild garlic in bloom under a clear blue sky in Sussex during No Mow May

Let Nature Lead: A No Mow May Journey in Sussex

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Wild patch of garden beneath blossoming apple tree with flowering dandelions and meadow cress, taken on 30 April during No Mow May Sussex

Wild garden edge photographed on 30 April in Sussex. Early flowering plants like dandelions and meadow cress are already supporting pollinators.

Written by Marianne Lindfield

Living with the land and recognising that even our gardens are part of it has been part of my thinking for a long time. As a permaculturalist observing patterns, valuing edges and letting nature lead is not new but each year the practice becomes more visible.

This spring has brought a series of small yet significant encounters. I saw my first slowworm weaving through the warm grass at the back of the garden. Newts drift like tiny dragons through the pond and most evenings I find myself drawn outside just to watch them. One night when I could not sleep I went out to look at the stars and found a hedgehog ambling past. These are the moments that stay with me and remind me that the garden is not just mine.

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