I'm convinced that the time to engage people with nature is from the very start. Kids have a natural love of wildlife, and even if they wave it goodbye when the hormones kick in, most will come back to it.
So I was delighted to be asked to play a part in a competition that Aldi has set up with the RSPB in which 25 schools will be able to win a mini wildlife-friendly garden.
"Adrian, would you like to help design and make the prototype of the garden?" Well, try and stop me!
Working with my brilliant colleague in RSPB Urban Policy, John Day, we came up with what we wanted, sourced all the materials and plants, and then it was down to me to see how easy it was to turn our idea into reality in my garden.
Here is the space I chose with my morning's work about to begin. Every school must have an unloved gap like this somewhere.
I even got to film its creation, which was slightly unnerving as I'm not the world's best carpenter and there was always the chance it could go terrible wrong making the raised bed.
I'm pleased to say it was child's play! The bed is superb quality, the little pond that goes in it contains 55 litres of water which makes for a really decent wetland home, the plants are all peat-free from Cave's Folly and I chose ones that I hope will attract bees and butterflies, and the ton of compost the schools will get to fill it is of course peat-free, too.
For your chance to win a wildlife garden for your school, simply get your teachers to post or tweet a photo of where your mini garden would go on Aldi Facebook or @AldiUK. Tag your photo #AldiwildlifeWatch.
But they need to do so by 11 October. After that it's just 'luck of the draw' with 25 winners being pulled out of the hat.
I have to say I'm loving my 'little garden in my big garden'. Here I am yesterday, getting it a little water, and it's coming on a treat!
If you want to drop by my RSPB wildlife gardening blog, it is updated every Friday, and I'd love to see you there - www.rspb.org.uk/community/blogs/hfw