Poppy Okotcha
From fashion model to regenerative gardener
What does regenerative gardening mean?
My pillars are maintaining healthy soil, caring for wildlife and growing organically, using renewable and reusable resources (including ethically sourced plants and seeds and growing peat-free) and using water responsibly. I also make sure my garden benefits people outside of my household. That could look like sharing tools or knowledge by joining a community garden, seed swaps or giving away gluts.
How do you create both beautiful and ecological gardens?
I find beauty in signs of care – whether in the organised chaos of vegetables muddled in with companion flowers, a wild garden meadow, or the skeletons of herbaceous perennials left standing through winter as habitat… telltale traces of a compassionate, sensible gardener at work. To me, beauty is an emergent property of a harmonious garden.
What can people do to support biodiversity and soil health?
Turn waste into a resource. Create habitats with compost heaps, log and leaf piles (life thrives on decay), and invite water in. Industrial chemical agriculture is one of the most devastating forces driving wildlife destruction, so above all, support ecological (or organic) food production – buy it, grow it, vote for it.
What do you mean when you say, “we are nature”?
We humans are simply another species on Earth, reliant on healthy ecosystems to thrive. Recognising our interdependence inspires me to live kindly – toward myself and all of nature. Not seeing ourselves as separate reshapes our cultural story, encouraging care. Gardening brings us into the present, empowering and reminding us we can care, create and heal.
What has gardening taught you?
Tolerance, hope, resilience and trust. Caring for a living space teaches acceptance of life and death – an idea I loved exploring in my book A Wilder Way.
Image credit: Gaby Sweet