Natural
Habitat
Garden
Restoring Biodiversity and Ecological Balance at Dilston Physic Garden and with you!
Over the past 30 years, our two-acre site has transformed from agricultural land into a flourishing natural habitat. Our management practices have evolved through feedback, as we saw the benefits for nature and cultivated plants.
Our unique wellbeing garden, with its natural design and cultivation methods, offers an unconventional take on a botanic garden. Focused on growing medicinal plants while enhancing biodiversity and the environment, our practices contribute to restoring natural populations of flora, fauna, and microorganisms. These practices also improve air, soil, and water quality, fostering the overall health of the ecosystem.
We aim to inspire individuals and local communities to embrace conservation and biodiversity through environmental guardianship. Together, we can rewild, rebuilding our biodiversity and ecological health, and expand public access to wild green spaces, enhancing our physical and mental wellbeing.
Below, we outline some of the practices we implement, explain how they support biodiversity, agriculture, environmental health, and human health, and share five simple ways you can become a biodiversity guardian in your own space – Rewilding & You – See How.
We are hugely grateful to the Riverbank and Local Environmental Action funds at the Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland for supporting our natural-habitat practices, ecological assessments and promotion of the importance of rewilding and sustainable practices.
Our Natural-Habitat Cultivation
Dilston Physic Garden demonstrate that natural-habitat cultivation not only protects biodiversity and regional heritage species but also helps sustain agricultural productivity without synthetic pesticides or fertilisers. Key practices we use are creating wild corridors, leaving plant litter locally, minimal digging and dispersed natural composting. These practises are designed to promote natural soil health, foster a diverse balanced ecosystem, and promote plant health. Over time they have produced a unique natural botanic garden that is brimming with nature. This Physic Garden is renowned for its wildlife-friendly design, supporting 500 native flora and varieties of pollinating and predatory insects, spiders, lizard, amphibians and birds.
Here are details of some of the sustainable practices we employ:
Wild Corridors: Regularly dispersed wilderness areas, throughout the cultivated sections, provide habitat corridors to enhance biodiversity and promoting natural pest control and ecological balance.
Minimal Digging: Minimal digging of soil – and leaving plant and wood litter, preserves the natural soil structure and delicate equilibrium, encouraging the formation and retention of the naturally beneficial soil fauna – such as earthworms, ants, millipedes that aerate the soil, distribute seeds and eat pests, and microorganism ecosystem – fungi and bacteria, but also archaea, algae, protozoa, rotifers, tardigrades and small nematodes that enhance plant health and aid pest control).
Dispersed Local Composting: Small-scale multiple composting across the site creates naturally-produced diverse healthy soil, and soil fauna, so reducing the need for chemical fertilisers and pesticides.
Natural Fertiliser and Pesticide: We rely on the comfrey plant for easily produced natural fertilisation where needed, and on insecticide plants such as chrysanthemum, wormwood and thyme, reducing chemical input, waste, and environmental impact.
Cardboard Weed Suppression: Using waste cardboard to suppress weeds reduces work, eliminates the need for chemical herbicides, retains soil moisture, supports mycelium growth, and uses up landfill/recycling materials.
Natural Seeding: Plants are allowed to seed and migrate naturally through the site, and through the wild corridors, which acts a natural crop rotation, improving their health and their medicinal properties (we have portable plant signs to accommodate this).
Soil Health Practices: Whenever possible, deadwood is left undisturbed and natural logs are used (and replaced when rotted) to divide plant beds providing nutrients, organic matter and fostering diverse life – including a wide range of microorganisms including white and brown rot fungi (which is better at breaking down wood for soil substrate), invertebrate predators -such as woodlice, centipedes, millipedes, spiders, ants and a range of beetles, and mosses and lichens that harness nutrients. Similarly, stones are retained in the soil to enhance mineral supply, improve drainage and aeration, prevent compaction, regulate water absorption and release, and create microhabitats that support healthy root systems in certain plants —ultimately leading to stronger, more resilient plants.
Plant material: Plant and leave litter is left in place (rather than being cut or removed) fostering numerous insect habitats, providing food for birds, allowing self-seeding and natural soil regeneration.
Rewilding Meadow & Wetland Area: These spaces allow native flora such as the Northumbrian bloody cranes bill and fauna such as small mammals, hedgehogs, newts and dragonfly to thrive, further enriching our ecosystem. Our Medicinal Meadow is establishing with the range of wild medicinal species found in the region. We are also working to support the reintroduction of endangered species such as meadow sage, caper spurge, ladybirds, greater crested newts and bats to strengthen biodiversity.
Rewilding & Expanding Wild Green Space in Urban Areas
Community Impact
Expanding wild green areas is essential to restoring biodiversity where human activity has disrupted the ecological balance, and especially in the UK which is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world.
Rewilding areas serve as habitat corridors, not only preserving endangered heritage species, but increasing diversity of plants, animals, fungi and mycelium, and microorganisms to help maintain and restore ecological balance.
In barren sparce areas of natural habitat, including urban areas where limited green space is often of a forced non-diverse design, rewilding is especially important.
Rewilding networks allow species to move freely between ecosystems, supporting natural pest control and disease regulation, whilst further promoting ecological balance.
Restoration of contaminated soils is possible through encouraging plant species that absorb and neutralise toxic elements such as cadmium and nickel (phytoremediation). Our wild native common yarrow (Achillea millefolium), hedge bedstraw (Galium mollugo), meadow foxtail (Alopecurus pratensis), false oatgrass (Arrhenatherum elatius), greater stitchwort (Stellaria holostea), bladder campion (Silene vulgaris) and particularly mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) are examples of high toxic-element absorbing plants, and are more efficient than grasses in toxic element uptake.
Rewilding and natural-habitat cultivation benefits the whole ecosystem, improving the environment, flora and fauna including humans. These projects:
Provide access to wild green spaces, where time spent in green spaces improves physical and mental health, and this effect is amplified in spaces that are more biodiverse. Access to green space lowers health disparities and strengthens community bonds.
Enhance the community environment whilst raising awareness about biodiversity loss and climate change, encouraging local involvement in conservation efforts.
Inspire public participation in further urban rewilding, especially in needed marginalised areas, fostering ownership and empowerment, which itself advocates further change.
Help prevent disease, by restoring ecological balance which naturally supports pest control and fungal, bacterial, protozoa and viral disease, helping ensure no single population of pest or pathogen dominates to cause widespread disease.
Improve air and water quality and management: Consistent greenery, such as plants, shrubs, and trees, plays a key role in filtering air pollution and purifying water. This is particularly important in urban areas, where increasing asthma rates highlight the urgent need for cleaner environments. Regular shrubs and trees trap sediments and absorbing excess nutrients and toxic elements, reducing polluted water, as well as stabilising soil and retaining moisture to reduce the risk of flooding.
Provide “free services”, providing the multiple benefits, and are free to maintain after the initial introduction of biodiversification species.
Benefits For Agriculture, The Environment, And You
Integrating natural-habitat cultivation into agricultural systems offers a pathway to more sustainable farming practices by fostering environments where crops, livestock and humans coexist in a natural healthy balanced ecosystem. This approach aligns with a growing public demand for healthier, sustainably produced food, alongside rising awareness of issues such as food waste, bacterial resistance, animal welfare, and the environmental costs of industrial farming.
However, adopting these practices presents significant challenges—including changing perspectives, financial investments, shifts in productive output, and complex logistical demands—often necessitating government support and policy alignment. Nonetheless, a gradual adoption of these methods over time is the only means to prevent our current ecological and agricultural problems long term, and reflects the delicate balance between environmental stewardship, agricultural viability, and evolving consumer expectations. Despite these hurdles, key advantages include:
Resilient Plants Pests spread rapidly in agricultural monocultures, but rewilding networks within crop, livestock, and forestry systems create corridors that help restore ecological balance. These corridors support natural pest control by naturally managing all populations – of insects, fungi, bacteria, protozoa, and viruses, encouraging a balanced ecology and reducing outbreaks of any one pest and associated diseases.
Healthy Soil Natural-habitat cultivation improves soil fertility by fostering the essential microorganisms such as mycelium networks (see below) and soil fauna such as earthworms and insects. This enhanced and natural soil biodiversity strengthens plant resilience, reduces the need for chemical fertilisers, fungicides and pesticides, and encourages overall organism balance, protecting surrounding agricultural areas from the rapid spread of disease.
Increased Mycelium Networks Mycelium and microorganisms in the soil is recognised as a vital part of the ecosystem. The symbiotic relationship between flora and the mycelium entangling their roots helps plants and trees absorb water and nutrients, building collective immunity and promoting ecological balance. This, in turn, reduces the need for pesticides and fungicides, so improving water quality and management.
Pollinator Support Wild areas provide critical support for pollinator populations, which boosts crop health and productivity.
Natural Pest Control Wilderness corridors serve as shelters and breeding grounds for natural predators of crop pests, helping to control pest populations and reduce the need for chemical pesticides. This natural regulation prevents the spread of pest outbreaks.
Water Retention & Erosion Control Wild plants, shrubs, and trees enhance water quality and stabilise soil and retain moisture, reducing erosion and lowering the risk of flooding.
Natural Animal Health Solutions Grazing animals benefit from regular varied native medicinal plants, which offer a host of prophylactic medicine such as natural antibiotic and immune supporting chemicals. This is shown to lead to healthier, and more productive, livestock. Importantly it reduces reliance on prophylactic antibiotics, which is essential to combat antibiotic resistance – where rising rates of drug-resistant infections are predicted to result in over 39 million human deaths by 2050, unless additional policy measures are implemented.
By gradually integrating natural-habitat cultivation into agricultural systems—starting with measures like rewilding—we can protect biodiversity, improve crop and livestock resilience, reduce the environmental impact of farming, and enhance the health of the environment, animals and humans.
Rewilding & You
Love the idea of making your space more biodiversity-friendly? Its easy and it’s crucial, especially in urban areas.
Imagine if each of us created a tiny wild corridor in our space – you’d be welcoming butterflies fluttering past your window regularly!
Become a biodiversity guardian today! Here’s a list of five simple things you can do to improve biodiversity in your backyard, windowsill or small urban garden – obviously practising chemical-free gardening (avoid pesticides, fungicides and herbicides) that harm beneficial insects and soil health is key:
Plant Native
Leave Litter!
lawnmeadow
Water Source
Tree Pot!
Plant native flowers and shrubs.
Native plants are the best choice for attracting local pollinators like bees, butterflies, moths, beetles and birds. They’re adapted to the local environment, so they require less water and are more resilient to pests.
Grow nectar and seed rich native species. Examples for pollinators: Clover, Sedum, Black-eyed Susans, Coneflower; and Lavender, Sage and Wild Rose. These plants provide food and habitat for a range of insects, which in turn supports birds and other wildlife.
Leave the plant litter and ‘dead’wood.
‘Dead’ plants, wood and fallen leaves provide essential shelter for insects, small mammals, and fungi – so they’re not really dead at all!
It’s a great way to create a microhabitat in your garden: A small pile of leaves or a log pile can act as a home for beetles, caterpillars, and even small amphibians.
Tip: If you’re concerned about aesthetics, try creating a “wild corner” where nature can take its course, and leave the rest tidy – if you have to tidy!
Reduce your mown lawn area and create a meadow.
Mown lawns are generally low in biodiversity, so consider turning part or all of your lawn into a native grassland or even a wildflower meadow, either provide a haven for an array of insects. You can mow a winding path through the grass to create your own mini relaxing sanctuary walk too.
How to do it: You can either plant wildflower seeds or let grasses and natural plants grow to their full potential.
This will help attract more insects, birds, and even small mammals. Plus, some natives detox the soil, and it’s easier to maintain than a lawn once established and looks awesome!
Provide water sources.
We wouldn’t leave our pet without water and small ponds, tubs, birdbaths, or shallow dish of water can help support a wide variety of wildlife.
Ensure the water is fresh and accessible to small creatures like insects, birds, and amphibians. A shallow dish with rocks for insects to land on can also work well or create a mini pond oasis in a tub.
How to do it: Fill the tub with gravel, add native aquatic plants like the Alba water lilies and floating plants like water mint, and top it with water, ensuring the plants are properly settled. Arrange large flat stones or rocks, or branches at the edge of the tub (and outside the tub) to form a gradual slope that allows frogs or other critters to climb in and out easily. Optionally, add a small solar powered water pump for circulation, and snails for balance, and maintain the pond by regularly checking water levels and cleaning debris.
Water is especially important in urban areas where natural sources are scarce.
Plant Trees and Shrubs – in pots too like flower pots!
Trees and shrubs provide shelter, nesting spots, and food for birds, insects, and small mammals.
Consider pot planting if you don’t have space to plant trees. Just about any tree can be pruned (bonsai-ed) to whatever size you’d like, but dwarf varieties or small fruit trees like apple, cherry, or even berry bushes can be a perfect option.
Local native options are best and so are ones that provide food for birds in winter: hawthorn, elderflower, blackthorn, silver birch, oak, beech, or sweet chestnut.
– Bonus: They also improve air quality, removing particulates and toxic pollutants, so they’re great for urban environments.
Additional ideas you can do
Here are a few more simple actions to improve biodiversity in your urban space:
Create a pollinator-friendly window box: Native flowers and plants are cheap and easy to grow and will provide a lot of food for our range of native insects including bees and butterflies.
Avoid covering your entire garden in gravel or concrete: These materials prevent water absorption and offer no habitat for wildlife. Instead, use permeable paving or mulch, and leave sections of your garden more natural.
Consider a native hedge instead of a fence or hedge of one species – you and the birds can then harvest elderberry and rosehips for winter immune support.
Grow native climbers as much as possible like native honeysuckle and ivy.
Grow herbs and vegetables: These not only provide food and vital preventative medicine for you, but flowers like sage, basil and oregano are great for attracting insects like butterflies and bees, and some veggies, like tomatoes, provide food for birds too.
