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The Blue Campaign: rewilding Britain, garden by garden - get involved!

Amanda Gibbins, Blue Campaign Chair
By Amanda Gibbins, Blue Campaign Chair
23rd January 2025

Free, easy, good for your mental health – that’s why you should rewild your garden or balcony, says Amanda Gibbins from the Blue Campaign in this guest blog

The Blue Campaign was founded in 2017. Its mission is to support you to rewild your garden or balcony and get councils to act in support of our environment.

For more information about CPRE London’s work on front gardens, highlighting the environmental problems caused by householders paving over their front gardens, see here.

The Blue Campaign – rewilding Britain, garden by garden

What makes the Blue Campaign special? It’s free. It’s easy. It’s good for your mental health. And you can rewild your garden.

How is it free?

You don’t need to spend money to be part of the Blue Campaign. Get started by choosing a part of your garden and simply leaving it alone. No mowing, no weeding, no planting and definitely no pesticides. For the first year, you can just leave the patch alone and see what happens.

The reason this works is because you’re giving the native seeds in your soil a chance to grow. And when they do grow, it’s the start of something amazing. They’ll provide food and shelter for all sorts of tiny creatures. Bees and butterflies that come will be a joy in the summer for all your family. Other tiny creatures will become food for local birds. Imagine waking up to the sound of bird song instead of traffic – and all for free.

If you’re working with a balcony instead of a garden, find a local seed swap. These often have free native flower seeds available to plant in your pots.

How is it easy?

Nature does the heavy lifting for you when you rewild your garden.  This frees up your time for some of your other commitments and activities. Less garden to mow and less digging to do. Even the plants arrive without you having to lift a finger.

How is it good for my mental health?

The fact is that being outside in nature is good for our mental health. Watching nature’s rhythms move around us gifts a feeling of deep connection and calm. From personal experience, there’s a real feeling of joy and excitement when you’re sitting in your space and a big bumblebee buzzes past you, or you find new flowers starting to grow. And if you have children you’re creating an incredibly rich experience for them. They’ll learn to recognise all sorts of plants, insects and birds.

If you’re a keen gardener, we’re not suggesting you stop. Just that you set aside a patch to include rewilding.

Tell me more about the blue hearts

We ask that when someone supports the Blue Campaign they place a blue heart sign in their garden. If you’ve got a neighbour who is keen on keeping nature ‘tidy’, this is an easy way to show that your wilder garden is there on purpose, not because you’re being lazy. The blue hearts also have a wonderful way of spreading – once one appears, we often find that others follow.

As for why they’re blue, it’s simply that blue stands out really beautifully against green.

If you’re keen to put up a blue heart in your garden, or on your balcony, it doesn’t have to cost much at all. Pop to your local household waste site and see if they have some reclaimed wood you can use for your sign. Our official shade of blue is cornflower blue, but if you have an open can or paint sample, then any shade will do. If you can’t create one yourself, get in touch and we’ll help you find a solution.

How to get my council involved

Working with the Blue Campaign is the ideal solution for councils looking to save money and meet their climate and green-space obligations.

Some of our local groups have had incredible success working with their local council, turning local verges and public spaces into beautiful spaces filled with flowers and life.

If you’d like to get your local council involved, take a look at our online guidance, or get in touch with us. We’d be happy to help you out.

The Blue Campaign isn’t a big charity and we aren’t asking for your money. We exist to help you bring more nature and life into your garden and community. You’ve got the power, and can create real change in your home and community for free.

Please feel free to contact us:

  • Email: bluecampaignrewilding@gmail.com
  • www.bluecampaignhub.com
  • www.facebook.com/bluecampaignhub