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Haven’t mown the lawn for a year. The wildflower mix put in last year is doing well this year so far. Grass lawns are dull as a dull thing. Bollocks to neatness. I’m now up to around 500 native and mixed narcissi planted and flowering in the verges nearby and 10 apple trees, a plum and a filbert planted around the verges too. After getting over the fear of being told off for planting I am now setting to with a vengeance.
Just cut the lawn, and the trimmed the bushes back away from the garden path, walking to the garage is less of a lottery now.
We have a large 40ft Prunus XXX which has exploded which needs lifting, shaping & thinking and a very large 12ft Pyrocantha which needs reducing. Along with some general shrubbery thinning the first quote was £1400! Second guy coming Tomorrow, he has a great reputation locally some I'm hoping he's cheaper.
I think No Mow June is more beneficial if you’re further North
I also think this applies.
And we're off.
My WI has asked me if I would be their wildlife adviser in their gardening group. Well chuffed. I'm not an expert in any way but I've had years of experience.
...and there was I thinking this and the Waxers thread were somehow related...
Oops just pushed the mower round this afternoon. In fairness I have devoted one of our mini lawns to full scale wilderness a few years back, which is going great. But I do like having a small patch of grass to sit out on, on the rare occasions that the weather permits.
My lovely friend Mark has mowed an edge around the front lawn and left the centre long.
This seems to be a good compromise if the neighbours are fussy.
Going to give this a go
Which wild flower seed box/packet should a get please ?
I have to say, I will be mowing, but given we're about 50 square feet of lawn surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands, of acres of moorland, I doubt it'll make much difference in the grand scheme of things.
Which wild flower seed box/packet should a get please ?
TBH probably a bit of a waste of time if you have a reasonably well-established lawns. The seeds won't amount to much. Whatever you've already got a bit of in your lawn will probably fare best, there will probably be stuff there that will sprout if left to do so.
@Ro5ey - You can get wild flower seed mixes at garden centres, even places such as DIY shops, or the best thing is to start off with yellow rattle and plug plants. Botanists suggest that seed is sown relative to your area.
Clover, cornflower, umbellifers, poppies, oxeye daisy seeds (or plugs) are great to start off with.
The ground you plant or sow on has to be rough. Get rid of any grass and sow your seed mixed in with sand. Water and tread down.
Apologies if you already know this and you're just asking about seed.
In our garden we have flowers that will feed the bees from late March through to late October, some are wild, some are plants such as lungwort, Valeria, lavender, cosmos.
This seems to be a good compromise if the neighbours are fussy.
Our neighbours are fans of No Mow May and posted enthusiastically on FB to that effect. Oddly they have a back garden covered almost entirely with plastic grass. In the past they've posted enthusiastically about never shouting at your children, despite regularly yelling at them so loudly that we can hear every word. And just after buying a brand new, super-sized family car they told the world that it was entirely unnecessary to have the newest, latest, top of the range car. There's some weird dissonance going on there.
Anyway, it feels like we're not mowing for two 🙂
Had hoped to partake this year but grass yet to have it's first cut due to timing - hasn't been dry whenever I've had the time*. Weekend past was a wash out. Garden is stupidly huge and at least a quarter (plus about a metre perimeter) will be left to go wild from now on. But being at 56deg N I think slightly later in the year probably works out better. Planning a cut tonight/tomorrow night if it stays dry.
* it has, but whenever it's been dry I've chosen to ride my bike instead...
I'd like to do it, but we have a dog. I keep the lawn cut so I can find and pick up the poops.
I have to say, I will be mowing, but given we’re about 50 square feet of lawn surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands, of acres of moorland, I doubt it’ll make much difference in the grand scheme of things.
Yeah, i've got a bigger garden than that, 350-400sqm ish, but i'm in the middle of several hundred hectares of forest between the motorway, two rivers and the nearest golf club and trail centre. Several of my neighbours "own" chunks of it, up to about 80 hectare patches.
A huge amount of it is classed as ancient forest/SSSI/Nature reserve so, limited felling (and you have to leave the felled wood) and an utter shed load of wild animals and plants.
mower broke last month so its going long - but surprsingly this has meant we've now got a patch of st georges mushrooms which have now popped up in the wild grass - and theyre delicious. Would be £90 a kg to buy!
Don't get the hate for dandelions. They're beautiful - my fields are green in the morning, they blossom in the day and shut up in the evening. All parts are edible too - the young leaves are nice in salads (presuming you haven't chem'd the crap out of your lawn) - and the bees love 'em. (And my geese).
When I had a garden, as opposed to fields, I'd just cut a path down the middle and a place for us to put a blanket down to sit. The rest I left. It was frankly astonishing how much life grass left to itself supports. Planting in the verges just doesn't do it.
It's a mental shift really. It's what you find pretty. And you can learn a different "pretty" to the one you've got.
Frankly, I see well-kept lawns for what they are now: Ugly deserts, bereft of life, death traps for animals that have to cross them.
This morning goldfinches and sparrows feeding on the dandelion seeds left in our lawn. :0)
When I had a garden, as opposed to fields, I’d just cut a path down the middle and a place for us to put a blanket down to sit.
This is what I do. We have 3 Paddocks that total about 5 acres - I used to cut 2 of them regularly and leave the biggest one with just a path cut through it for walking the dogs.
A local farmer comes and takes this field for hay twice a year.
This week I decided I've had enough of cutting the other 2 paddocks so all three now have paths cut through them.
Less time and fuel costs for me and more hay for the farmer.
You lot must all live in mansions or something given the descriptions of gardens 😂 unfortunately my tiny patch of grass is getting overrun by horsetail, not helped by the next door neighbour and their fully paved back garden space where you can barely see paviors for horsetail and rubbish. 😢 Still, thanks to weather and lack of time when it's been dry I haven't cut the grass for at least 3 weeks
Saying something nice about Rochdale Council for once - rather than mowing the verges flat round Edinburgh Way they've done a 12" strip at the kerbside and left the middle to grow. Was full of dandelions a couple of weeks back, now other stuff coming up.
Anyone know what Highways England do with the motorway verges?
I saw that Sheffield council are ‘considering’ giving a council tax, water bill reduction to people who – go a bit wilder with their gardens, don’t use pesticides, pellets or other chemicals that damage our soils and wildlife, don’t pave over their gardens or use astroturf
Yet despite this, yesterday, the council contractors massacred the verges down our street with the petrol ride on mower as usual. It WAS full of dandelions. It’s now mulch about the same length as the 3 day stubble on my chin. Joined up thinking. Not.
@JonEdwards Same everywhere. We theoretically have elected representatives to moan at about this...
There’s a cracking article by Alys Fowler in The Guardian today about a more considered approach to gardening, worth a read.
We only have a small garden, so I've got a 5x3m bit that is actual lawn, for sitting on, and that has been mowed about 5x this year and is now being mowed every three days. To compensate, the rest of the garden is packed with flowers selected to be pollinator friendly.
I have used some spray on a rose that was becoming overwhelmed with greenfly, and on others I've manually removed them. I know in theory birds like to eat them, but they don't eat them enough and our roses become a few pathetic straggly twigs with three flowers a year if I don't take care of the greenfly.
An infestation by greenflies is often followed by other insects that eat them. Ladybird larvae, for example, are voracious predators, they look nothing like the adult version as they’re long and black with reddish spots. Unfortunately spray insecticide kills these too. Balance in the garden, even a small one can take time but eventually a chemical free environment can be achieved.
Dandylions you say? I seem to have cornered the market in just one of my paddocks!!
Yet despite this, yesterday, the council contractors massacred the verges down our street with the petrol ride on mower as usual. It WAS full of dandelions.
It still will be!
Interestingly this is one of the paddocks that I previously mowed to look like a long lawn - the act of mowing it has actually spread the dandylion seeds and helped them flourish. The paddock next doot is left to grow and is just taken for hay twice a year and doesn't have anything like the concentration.
So the council might actually be helping nature along by cutting at this time of year.
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Molgrips - If you have to spray roses, maybe just use water, or an environmentally friendly washing up liquid (maybe ecover) diluted with luke warm water. Otherwise try and use your fingers.
With blackfly on my beans I just swidge them them manually.
I tried to introduce some meadow flowers to a section of our garden - I put several packets of seed down last year but nothing came through, and neither has it this spring. I've been told that I really need to start with bare soil and properly cultivate the seeds rather than sprinkle onto the grass but I am not keen on that level of hassle. Is there any seed that will take just by scattering onto the grass?
PS, my grass is looking a right state - all this rain and then warm sunshine and it's out of control already - I can't see me leaving it for another 20 days.
Is there any seed that will take just by scattering onto the grass?
Keen to know that too. I've got some lovely grass that we don't intend to cut again, ever, and not keen (and there are more pressing jobs) to hawk it to bits to encourage wildflowers to properly cultivate.
I’d like to do it, but we have a dog. I keep the lawn cut so I can find and pick up the poops
Yeah. Us too.
I guess we could fence off a section of the garden and allow that to go wild, just now the rest for sitting and dog-pooping!
So the council might actually be helping nature along by cutting at this time of year.
Our verges were full of dandelions and until last week I was ready to big up Birmingham city council for leaving them be - last Thursday they all got hacked down and I was much saddened. 🙁 Imagine my surprise when the verges were full of dandelion flowers just a few days later, and now they're gone all seedy. 🙂
If you have to spray roses, maybe just use water,
They get sprayed with water a lot, this is Wales 🙂 When I do spray I do it highly locally, and it's usually on either buds or before flowers are out.
Yellow rattle might take on a lawn but typically there’s quite a thatch which hinders the seeds from reaching the soil and germinating.
If you can rake a few patches really hard it might help. Make sure you get down to soil level and scratch it up a bit.
Of course lawns do sprout weeds so some seeds must get through! It will revert to wild over time, it will just take longer if you start with a well established lawn and don’t do anything to weaken it.
I have a bit at the back of the garden that we started to leave to nature about five years ago after a thread on hear. The advice seemed to be that wild flowers would not thrive due to its position under trees and with it being damp soil. I love it
We put a pond and stream in last year. We didn’t get any frog spawn but we have frogs and newts this year living in it
We are a bit late to the no mow. I am quite attached to my lawn for the dogs needs and places to relax but we are letting some areas grow up now so we will see how that works
I gave up and cut mine yesterday. Twice. And again today. It took forever and the lawn looks like a 1970s rugby league ground. Never again.
Is there any seed that will take just by scattering onto the grass?
Most seeds will die or get eaten by birds as they don't make good contact with the soil, so you'd have to scarify a bit I'd think, same principal as overseeding grass seed on a lawn?
I put the wildflower seeds down at the same time as i'm either finishing up with the spring round of scarifying, or when i add fresh top soil. Depends when i remember.
A good watering (or a solid downpour) helps as well.
Just waiting for the comments from neighbours on how we're spoiling the look of the close, might have to rake a patch & plant some proper wild flower seeds to keep their gnashing at bay.
Well from or original massive bunch of tadpoles, we now have far fewer, but some of those are big 'uns. Guessing the big 'uns have eaten some of the little 'uns.
The new trees look like they have taken, even some blossom, but I think we now need to be on the lookout for fruit and get rid of it asap.
We’ve left the front to grow and see what it does, not much colour unfortunately but there’s a few bits starting - some clover that I scattered last year is starting to show up and there’s a few dandelions, buttercups, daisies and some purple things (?)
There are also some tall grasses that I’m considering carefully strimming to above the height of everything else 🤔
The back was getting like a jungle so had to cut, it gets too wet and unmanageable if I don’t keep it a bit short.
There’s some white clover which the bees love and it usually survives the mower on its highest setting.
Also lots of this yellow clover, my phone tells me it’s Suckling Clover. That definitely survives the mower, any way I can encourage that to grow over more of the lawn? Good idea or will I regret it? Our lawn is mostly moss tbh and it would be good to replace the moss with something that flowers.
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And we’ve still got the failed wild meadow at the bottom of the garden, it gets taken over with Mares Tail which I periodically pull out. It’s a lot of grass with a few flowers in it. The yellow rattle is coming through this year so I might sow another load of that in autumn and see if it beats the Mares Tail 🤞
I'm going to mow tomorrow, but I'm going to leave the bottom third of the garden all summer, I'll mow a path to the trampoline and shed.
It's been a hit with this fellow
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