The trouble with keeping lots of plates spinning all at the same time (a parenting superpower) is it’s only a matter of time before one of them falls off.

For us that plate is our allotment, which has been so neglected since the arrival of baby number three that I’m expecting a weed notice from the council to drop on the mat any day now.

This time last year I had transformed our allotment into a haven where I could get away from it all complete with my very own she-shed, and I even made it onto the pages of Prima magazine in a feature about mums with their own private bolt holes.

But this year, after a nine month pregnancy and now with a new baby, it’s a different story and you’ll find more dandelions than dahlias.

So when Mumsnet and Homebase got in touch to see if we’d be up for their #GardenGoals challenge, which is all about transforming your outside space using bitesize how-to guides on their website, I’ve been galvanized into action.

Their #GardenGoals challenge in collaboration with the garden designer and TV presenter Ann-Marie Powell ranges from creating an edible garden to adding colour to your garden, and they’ve charged us with the task of creating a wildlife-friendly garden the whole family can enjoy.

How to create a wildlife-friendly garden

The how-to guides on Homebase’s website are helpfully split into three sections – one hour tasks, half day tasks and full day tasks which all come with shopping lists – so you can pick and choose which task to undertake depending how much (or little) time you’ve got on your hands.

We’ve decided to create a pond in a pot (apparently this will take one hour), encourage bees and butterflies onto our allotment (a half a day task) and attract hedgehogs (a one day task), so armed with a £100 Homebase voucher and the relevant shopping lists we went to our local Homebase to buy the necessary.

I must admit Homebase wouldn’t normally be my first port of call for garden supplies (I tend to think of them more for DIY) but I was surprised by the range and quality of plants and equipment on offer.

Everything is clearly labelled and you’ll find symbols and information on the labels of plants telling you what they’re good for, so it doesn’t matter if you don’t consider yourself green fingered or have much of a clue about gardening.

We want to encourage bees and butterflies onto our allotment so BB had great fun looking for labels with pictures of bees on telling us the plant is good for pollinators.

A hedgehog house and a bee and bug house were also among the items on our shopping list, but unfortunately our local Homebase didn’t have these in stock and you can’t order them online for home delivery either. Instead we reserved them online and collected them from a different store, which was straightforward enough.

We’ve now got everything we need to transform a neglected bed on our allotment into a haven for wildlife – now all we need to do is get our hands dirty! Watch this space for the big reveal later this month!

Do you have a garden or allotment and have you done anything to attract wildlife? If you’ve got any top tips I’d love to hear them!

I am a member of the Mumsnet Bloggers Panel, a group of parent bloggers who have volunteered to review products, services, events and brands for Mumsnet. I have not paid for the product or to attend an event. I have editorial control and retain full editorial integrity. I have received a voucher in return for writing this post.

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