The words 'chaos' and 'gardening' certainly don't feel like they should exist together. When I think of gardening in the spring, I think of slipping on some gloves, stepping out into the sunshine (hopefully), and starting work on bringing my garden back to life. But, I also know that I struggle to come up with ideas of what I should plant and where.
So, when I heard of the 'chaos gardening' trend, I thought I'd take a look at what all the hype was about. After all, it was overloading my TikTok feed and I felt I was to stop and listen – and I'm very glad I did.
'Chaos gardening' is a concept where you grab a bunch of seeds, whether leftover or bought at random, mix them all together, and scatter them across your outdoor space to grow in a chaotic way.
It's wonderfully clever and also incredibly lazy, which is why it might just be my new favorite spring gardening trend. Here's how it works.
How does 'chaos gardening' work?
There's plenty of amazing examples of 'chaos gardening' across social media and that's because people have been doing it for years. But, what is demonstrated by all the creators, like @clearlykaihlaanne shares above, is that there's so much variety in what you can choose to do.
Essentially, you pick what you want to plant, so far as whether you're focusing on a flower, vegetable, or herb garden and then you select the seeds, mixing them into a bowl or cup, and planting them in a flower bed or specific area you've created in your outdoor space.
It's such a low key and informal way of gardening that resonates with the "throwing it at a wall and seeing what sticks" approach, which makes it perfect for anyone who wants to put in little effort whilst also surprising themselves with the results.
And, as Kaihla demonstrates to her 90k followers, a really popular option is doing 'chaos gardening' with wildflowers. She explains that she bought a bunch of different seeds from Amazon, forgot what she'd bought, and was surprised when her 'chaos garden' popped up. And, an added benefit, she said: "The bees loved it".
3 ways I'm trying it
For any 'chaos garden', it's important to choose seeds that suit your region and especially the weather and conditions you have to work with. So, whilst wildflowers is what I've opted to grow, you might have more luck with a herb or vegetable garden.
1. Buying new seeds at random
I've decided that I'm going to focus on creating a wildflower bed in an area I recently cleared out, removing a bunch of dead plant and donating my rhubarb to my mom's backyard. With the perfect spot ready to go, I loosened up my soil, and headed online to pick my seeds.
And for this, I went completely off of what I thought looked pretty, rather than deliberating over it for too long. After all, I can't predict what it'll look like in the end. I can only hope that by picking flowers I love that they'll make a surprising mix when they start to bloom.
2. Using up old seeds
But, while you can use the 'chaos gardening' trend as a perfect opportunity to buy new seeds and redesign a special area of your backyard, I'm also considering it the perfect chance to focus on being eco-friendly, using up old seeds that you might otherwise have been thrown away.
It feels like making this low-effort trend an even lower effort because I don't even have to head online or to a shop to buy new seeds. I can just go digging around in my shed for leftovers, or as it turns out, ask my mom for ones she's had leftover and seeing if I recreate what she's made in her backyard in a fun new way.
3. Trusting the process
Whichever way I choose to create my 'chaos garden', I know that one of the only ways I'll be able to do this is to trust the process. It's a completely wild and unpredictable method of gardening that goes against a lot of what my grandpa taught me, but I think it's also a lot of fun.
With spring officially here, there's a lot to do both inside and outside of my home, but picking this carefree trend and letting fate take control of how my garden blooms is an exciting revelation and one I'll definitely be trying time and time again.
