Action Plan: Gardens & Allotments

Gardens and allotments are managed heavily by man to provide spaces that are aesthetically pleasing, or produce food on a small scale, or both. Many gardens now perform other functions such as outdoor storage or animal housing, an extra room for entertaining friends and holding barbeques or have been adapted to include or become a parking space for cars. It is usual to discover a wide range of plants and habitat types within a relatively small area as gardeners seek to maximise the space they have to grow plants to provide a range of colour, structure or food over the seasons. Gardening was once seen to be with an aim of excluding nature or controlling it, but now gardens can be good for wildlife.

Recently the increased density of the human population coupled with intensive farming methods and gardening chemicals that leave less space for wildlife, has greatly increased the significance of gardens as biodiversity refuges. Both gardens and allotments serve a crucial role in helping wildlife, they now make up the largest area of green space in a typical British city, some 15% of the land area, usually far more than public open spaces such as parks. Garden pond creation can reap great benefits for biodiversity, as can tackling pests while avoiding harmful effects on other organisms and the careful choice of gardening materials.