They include Cleve West<\/a> for his Centrepoint Garden<\/a>, which depicts the abandoned garden of a demolished townhouse; Tom Massey<\/a>, for his Royal Entomological Society Garden<\/a>, which is inspired by brownfield landscapes and their mosaic of habitats for insects<\/a>; and The Balance Garden<\/a> by Wild City Studio, an imagined community garden created on the remains of a forgotten industrial site. These show gardens all feature plants previously known as weeds and rubble piles, and begged the question: what is a brownfield garden?<\/p>\n More on<\/strong><\/p>\n A brownfield site is a piece of land previously used by humans, typically for industrial or commercial purposes. It could be anything from an old manufacturing plant or forgotten farmyard to a disused railway siding or former landfill site, but what these places have in common is that they once hummed with activity but are now abandoned or neglected, and usually become \u2018overgrown\u2019 \u2013 colonised by pioneer plants like native tree<\/a> saplings and butterfly bushes,<\/a> as well as wildflowers<\/a> and weeds<\/a>.<\/p>\n A brownfield garden, then, is a garden made on a former brownfield site. Disused land like this might not seem like the most attractive place to think about creating a garden \u2013 there are often remains of old buildings, lots of waste materials and rubbish, brambles and broken concrete \u2013 but if you look beneath the surface, you\u2019ll find that these places are still hotbeds of activity, of the non-human kind. More than 20 per cent of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) are on brownfield land.<\/p>\n One of the most famous brownfield gardens in the world is the High Line in New York. It was originally an elevated railway line that opened in 1933 and was used to ferry goods and produce across the city. It went into decline between the 70s and 80s and was going to be demolished in the late 90s before the Friends of the High Line formed and stepped in to suggest transforming the structure \u2013 which had become a wonderland of wild plants \u2013 into a public park. Dutch planting designer Piet Oudolf<\/a> made his name on the project along with James Corner of Field Operations.<\/p>\n The first section of the park opened in 2009 and other sections were completed in phases, with the last being opened in 2019. The High Line is now a continuous 1.5-mile-long linear park containing more than 500 species of plants, and is visited by 8m people every year. Many other urban brownfield projects around the world were inspired by this ground-breaking park, including the Camden Highline in London, which is still in the funding and planning stages.<\/p>\n Another great example of a brownfield-site-turned-garden, but on a residential scale, is Jo McKerr\u2019s Somerset garden<\/a>, which at one point had housed a canal, a railway line and a dairy farm. When she first moved there, the derelict landscape was covered in rubble, brambles and pioneer species, and the soil was poor<\/a>, and compacted in places. It seemed obvious to her that developing a meadow garden<\/a> with large pond was the best idea, as this planting would suit the low-fertility soil and be great for wildlife but also look beautiful.<\/p>\n It isn\u2019t always easy to turn a site like this into a growing space, however. Many brownfield landscapes are contaminated with chemicals such as petrol and oil, or heavy metals and even hazardous materials. Sometimes it is possible to \u2018clean\u2019 the soil through bioremediation \u2013 that is, growing plants that will cleanse the earth of these pollutants.<\/p>\n Where this isn\u2019t possible, it may be necessary to cap the soil and use raised beds of imported topsoil to plant into, as has been done at the Jordans Mill Food Garden in Bedfordshire designed by Ian Kitson and Julie Toll. Any brownfield site that is going to be used for growing on, particularly for edibles<\/a> or for community use, should be tested for contaminants before any gardening begins.<\/p>\n According to the charity Buglife<\/a>, the biodiversity of some brownfield sites is only equalled by that of some ancient woodlands<\/a>. Brownfield land is often the best or only available habitat for many rare and endangered species, including protected bumblebees<\/a> and butterflies<\/a>.<\/p>\n Brownfield sites are wonderful places for wildlife because, in simple terms, they usually contain a wide range of materials, which creates different habitats that suit different species \u2013 known as a \u2018habitat mosaic\u2019.<\/p>\n Those rubble piles and cracks in concrete slabs create growing conditions for a range of plants \u2013 some will enjoy the side of a sunny, hot, sand pile, while others will prefer to seed themselves into the dark, damp crevices of a tumbledown wall heap. The high diversity of plants leads to high diversity of wildlife, first attracting the different insects in, which in turn attract larger creatures like birds and reptiles.<\/p>\n As well as an abundance of flowers and plants, brownfield sites provide places for insects to live and nest, including patches and banks of bare ground. These areas can also function as wildlife corridors for larger mammals and birds in built-up urban areas.<\/p>\n Find out more about insects and their value to a garden\u2019s biodiversity in our new series Small Stories<\/a> with Tom Massey and the Royal Entomological Society.<\/p>\n Because of their high biodiversity value and sustainability, many gardeners are now trying to emulate and recreate open mosaic habitats like brownfield sites from scratch using waste materials.<\/p>\nBrownfield gardens: everything you need to know<\/h2>\n
What is a brownfield site?<\/h3>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>What is a brownfield garden?<\/h3>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Transforming a brownfield site into a garden<\/h3>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Problems of brownfield gardens<\/h4>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Brilliant for biodiversity<\/h4>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Making new brownfield gardens<\/h4>\n