Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust

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Grow Wild: gardening with nature in mind

Grow Wild is a Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust project to support your school or community group to make the most of its outdoor spaces for you and for wildlife.

    

Our team of experienced local gardeners can work with you to:

• Design a wildlife garden/area or wildlife-friendly vegetable plot
• Create a garden from scratch - there's something possible for everyone from window boxes to wildflower meadows and ponds
• Renovate existing gardens that have fallen by the wayside
• Maintain and improve your outdoor spaces
• Train your staff, volunteers and students in nature-friendly gardening techniques

We can work with you on all stages of a project, or you can brief us and we'll do the rest.

Using your garden to learn

Our education team can help you use your space to learn - from minibeast hunting and pond dipping to investigating plants and trees, or understanding the impact of climate change on wildlife.

We offer a wide range of exciting curriculum-linked workshops. If you're starting from scratch they can support you to involve the students in learning about wildlife gardening at every step of the process designing their own plot.

Examples of our work

We have worked alongside students to create a minibeast hotel and plant wildlife friendly pond plants at Beaumont Leys School, Leicester. We've created a small wildlife garden at Thorpe Acre Junior School in Loughborough, complete with log spiral and compost bays. We've also helped revitalise Rendell Primary School’s wildlife area in Loughborough and helped pupils at Judgemeadow Community College in Leicester to prepare their vegetable patch, plant bulbs and create a bark path.

What does it cost?

Grow Wild isn't a free service, but we try to keep costs as reasonable as possible, providing something to fit with every budget. We will work alongside your staff and volunteers and can advise you on possible sources of funding for your wildlife or vegetable garden.

Next steps

Contact Martha on 0116 272 8866 or growwild@lrwt.org.uk to arrange a free site visit. We'll come and help you with ideas and suggestions and then let you know what each option might cost, giving you a range of possibilities to suit your ambition for your outdoor spaces as well as your budget.