I planted some bulbs in the lawn a few years back and they're in full swing through April so the patch survives.
Its actually a great way to give long grass a 'reason'
Was just about to trim the back lawn when my 8yo yelled out the window and demanded I stop. Definite proud dad moment.
Am hoping that the yellow rattle seed that I scattered in the autumn does something in one of my wild patches. We’re definitely getting more and more bugs in the patches but it would also be nice to have some flowers to look at.
@stevious If you don’t get what you might think of as traditional wildflowers there should be different types of grasses that all produce flowers, some are quite beautiful when observed closely.
Yep, doing it again this year.
Last cut done yesterday. Left some nice long bits out the front too, got cow parsley and wildflowers kicking off.
We scarrified a load of grass in the bit we normally let grow tall last autumn and bunged down loads of yellow rattle - hoping it'll take.
I need to cut the back lawn fairly frequently in order to be able to see what I'm doing to clear up after the dog, but have left the front lawn for late April and most of May* this year. We've had the usual rash of dandelions, daisies, plantains & assorted grasses and, for the first time, a lovely Lady's Smock came up and flowered.
* A 'request' was made to mow it back this week, as we're away next week and "it looks really untidy and it'll be like a bloody jungle by the time we get back" - so I've given it a long trim, reluctantly. And have surreptitiously left the Lady's Smock to set seed.
Last night I gave the lawn a 'high mow', but not the wild flower areas which are looking good. It's surprising how lush and green the lawn still looks, even after very little rain this spring.
Now we're into 'let it bloom June' and I probably won't mow again until September (maybe just the walking routes/paths).
After a few years of not mowing the center at all it had become a matted mess of dead plants, so this year I'm having a high mow year and the plants have come back to life. In future I'll try mowing a couple of time a year as if I were making hay.
No mow May runined my garden... OK admittedly it turned into no mow July too but hey.
My "lawn" is now absolutely covered in probably thousands of dandelions & moss. Is there anything I can do to recover it other than eventually pulling out each one individually and scarifying back to mud?
For flower meadow type assemblage cut once or twice tops per year and remove the cuttings to reduce nutrients, sow whatever flower mix suits your soil
@phil5556 you'd be better better having a bit of "proper" lawn with wilder borders rather than letting it all grow out and then trying to recover it all back to tennis court standards
@thestabiliser we tried to grow a wild flower meadow in a large area down the bottom, which worked great for the first couple of years but now it's just mostly long grass, mares tail and sticky weed. I actually quite like it so I just bash it down with the strimmer a couple of times a year.
The rest we scarified all the moss out, topsoiled and re-seeding during covid times. But the moss came back so quickly that I got disheartened with sorting it... So tried not mowing it. And now the dandelions have taken over. I don't want a proper lawn I just want something I can walk around bare foot on that doesn't stay permanently wet (moss) or spiky.
Yesterday I de-dandelioned and scarified a patch and chucked a load of clover seed over it as a test. Let's see if the clover beats dandelions & moss!
