In our little back garden, we are striving to do big things.The human message of our outdoor spaces, from cities to farmland to gardens, is so often about control and manipulation. Instead of battling nature with sprays, powders and weedkillers, we celebrate the life that creeps and crawls, flits and flies.

Why not embrace the living things that move in naturally? Why not see the weeds as the wildflowers they really are?

We cannot rely on the odd nature reserve to sustain wildlife. We can start by maintaining our gardens as breathing spaces for ourselves and the life that inhabits it.

We have watched wildlife flourish and grow in our small patch of green. It has been a life affirming experience.

But our garden is not just a breathing space for creepy crawlies. It’s productive too. The first carrots we harvested were spindly and mightn’t win first prize in a beauty contest, but crunching into them is a moment of summer that isn’t forgotten. Just like our own lives, as the seasons roll by, there is life and death, growth and decay. In quiet corners of our garden, we leave nature to do its thing. It mightn’t be neat, but it’s alive.