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Super late here on my meadow due to the drought, not much going on other than a bit of clover and the first signs of yellow rattle. Confident it will explode now after the rain.
Had to do the new place just because I've got some groundwork to do. Current place is "no mow maying" purely because I cannot be ****ed to mow two lawns and it's a good excuse.
I think the wildflower bed I put in when I moved here has finally started selfpropogating and looking nice, just in time to leave 😛
Mine won’t be cut until the end of the summer, because I’ve spread loads of wildflower seeds, mixed with new lawn grass, and I’ll be collecting a lot of actual wildflower seeds from a big meadow I know that has masses of yellow rattle, along with other things like Ox-eye daisies, so I’m letting it stay pretty wild until the autumn.
A good bit on Gardeners World tonight about bees. I didn’t know that different bees use different flowers, I just thought- have some flowers, get some bees!
BBC2 has has a couple of shows about Bees, second one last night. Probably on i-player now. Watched the first and it was very interesting - I didn't know there were so many 'types' even solitary bees.
I saved a bee last night, reviving it with the sugar in water method. The little beast managed to pop its proboscis into the syrup (from a teaspoon) and within a couple of minutes it was buzzing around. At first it looked completely dead, so I was thrilled when with a gentle prod from the spoon within a few seconds it was supping.
No mow May has ended. As others have said the drought hasn't helped with wildflower and grass growth, everything is so behind.
We now move onto 'Let it bloom June'. Let's give nature a home and the chance to thrive. Judging by the 2 flippin' horsefly bites I'm carrying its going well for the beasties.
I did my bit today by feeding the midges.
On the plus side the slug population seems to be very much lower than usual quite possibly because of the big chunky hedgehog Max the dog found under one of the bushes.
Came back from a week away on a course and my lawn is doing a decent imitation of the Serengeti, but with more dandelion. I NEED TO MOW IT!!!
Also seriously want a robot mower now, having that as a backup for when I am away would be awesome.
@willard I think you misread the title of the thread! Try sitting and watching the longer grass and see all the different insects it encourages. Britain is one of the least bio-diverse countries in the world, we can all do our bit to try and improve it.
AHA! I'm in Sweden and the two large ant mounds I have are PROOF of the biodiversity in my garden!
No, that just proves that you have ants!
Hahahaha!
Well, I went out at lunchtime and had a look around... I have about four different types of dandelion, two sorts of thistles and a lot of random sorts of things. Hell, I have blueberry plants growing wild in the half of my land that is forest.
I do need more flowers though. I went out with a bunch of wild seed mix for the two new beds, but I think the ants stole them all.
Ants in the UK are responsible for the distribution of primrose seeds so you might find your flowers elsewhere?
First cornflower in our lawn - among the daisies.
Now is the time to think about May! Resist the temptation to mow, the mild weather has been encouraging the grasses and wild plants to grow. Leave it all until September and you’ll be rewarded every year with an ever increasing variety of wildlife and also no need to water when the inevitable drought arrives.
Try telling that to my Social Housing provider.
Check their environmental policy statement? Cut some nice neat paths through it if that fails!
It's no mow mk 3 here. Year 1 I left the whole lot but after 6 weeks had to cut paths through to get around the garden. I mainly grew long grass. Year 2 I kept 25% wild, threw some wild flower seeds in and mainly grew long grass. At the end of year 2 I scarified the wild areas and raked the wildflower seed in along with a hefty supply of yellow rattle. It's looking a bit less grassy in the wild areas and I've mown them a couple of times so far. Is there any reason to wait until May to stop mowing or should I just leave it be now?
Is there any reason to wait until May to stop mowing or should I just leave it be now?
If it's grasses growing up mowing them back will help, otherwise not really.
I don’t mow after September. At the moment I have got cowslips and primroses but also some of the smaller flowers that get overlooked. I think that they’re plantains, I’ll check later, unspectacular until you get close up and can see that they really are quite beautiful.
I did my last 'high' cut mow last night. I will keep the paths and area for the whirlie gig clear, but other than that. it's a 'No Mow' until September.
Here’s a phone picture of the beautiful, unassuming flowers. The front grass is covered with them.
we planted wild tulip bulbs through the lawn last year and they're just getting read to flower which is nice. Some bare patches where the bases of scaffolding from some roofing and rendering work I've introduced wild thyme and Corsican mint into too
I will be staring my mow every week for the summer. I don’t like the wild look, it’s too untidy and just spreads weeds. I have a tidy house and like to keep the car clean. I don’t want the garden to look like the house is abandoned
@chrismac it’s you and the natural world that is missing out then!
I had a young couple stop to admire the grass verge that I won’t mow until September. The “weeds” are flowering nicely providing food for the insects and their beauty provides food for the soul..
One man's weed is another man's flower.
I took out most of the plants and flowers in our beds and replaced them with pollinators. The still look great and start feeding the insects, butterflies, moths and bees right through from March (lungwort, primroses etc) until October (achinacea, sedums etc).
Sadly for many people dandelions, nettles, etc are seen as weeds, but they are the food source for nature. One of the first weeds to bloom in spring is a dandelion and it feeds so many insects, please don't dig them up. Instead have a little area for wildlife.
look great and start feeding the insects, butterflies, moths and bees
I went to a great talk with Graham Obree a few years ago on the topic of creativity and he made a great point about 'having ideas' which is that you can't just decide to have ideas you have to create the conditions for having ideas. He said something along the lines of 'If I want to have blue tits in my garden I can't just decide they should be there but if I put the things in place that blue tits need then its much more likely they'll appear'
So as my GF like Goldfinches I decided to give the 'Goldfinches' for Christmas - which was basically to plant the stuff (nigella basically) have the kinds of feeders and food they, leave around the kind of nest material they need around and so on. For fun I got a little carved wooden Goldfinch bird call and so on.
Anyway theres 6 goldfinches outside the window just now.
Cut my lawn twice already.The most interesting thing I,ve seen are a couple of flies.Oh and one slightly sleepy 🐞 which moved on .
Sit and look for a while, with a cup of tea, you’ll see something. Before you mow it all.
@chrismac it’s you and the natural world that is missing out then!
I had a young couple stop to admire the grass verge that I won’t mow until September. The “weeds” are flowering nicely providing food for the insects and their beauty provides food for the soul..
Fair enough. Each to their own. All the verges where I live are all man made by the developer so haven’t been a natural habitat for 50 years since the homes were built. There is plenty of natural in the sssi behind my house
We don't have a lawn just plants for pollinators, I like to go out an look at all the invertibrates on the plants in the garden.
Having been out and about on my bike in Cheshire and seen the amount of fields that have been sprayed off with herbicides, by farmers, nature need anything you can do to help.
Plant flowers, plant plants, let the grass grow, do whatever you can that's positive.
There is plenty of natural in the sssi behind my house
If there was plenty of it it wouldn't be a sssi
Please see the 'new' bird feeding advice from the RSPB.
It is more important now than ever to have a wild area. If we are to stop feeding the birds in summer, then it's imperative that there is natural food providing seed, eg. dandelions, teasle, yellow rattle.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2lwvz1pl1no
Perhaps we need a wildlife/natural gardening thread @bunnyhop ? I can’t find one, a thread where all wildlife interconnections can come together with pictures from. @dakuan
I’m currently watching the Glaslyn Ospreys after seeing them last week whilst on holiday. Planning a trip in a few weeks to cycle round and hopefully observe them fishing.
Good idea @wheelsonfire1 . Would you be willing to start such a thread? I will still put up the Spring watch threads separately :0)
We have no grass in the back garden in the new house - just dirt! Plan is to plant a garden with no mown grass in it at all currently.
@matt_outandabout, sounds great that you have a blank canvas. Maybe in the parts of the garden where some lawn is needed, a clover or/and herb mix eg chamomile or a flowering lawn mix is an idea.
If your 'dirt' is of poor quality, then it's a great base for wildflowers. I always put in plug plants now rather than the seed (which takes ages to take).
I'm looking forward to seeing photos :0)
@matt_outandabout, sounds great that you have a blank canvas. Maybe in the parts of the garden where some lawn is needed, a clover or/and herb mix eg chamomile or a flowering lawn mix is an idea.
If your 'dirt' is of poor quality, then it's a great base for wildflowers. I always put in plug plants now rather than the seed (which takes ages to take).
I'm looking forward to seeing photos :0)
Hows these apples for you?
The random planters are all things we brought from the old garden, now planted. We added in a couple of new trees - another Japanes maple, a contorted hazel. About 150 summer bulbs. If the weekend is dry a new pathway and seating area foundations will be dug out. Plan is to not have a lawn at all - but create a shape that if someone did want one in future it can be turfed. There are a bazillion seeds on windowsills and more to plant out.
Shitty new build 20cm of clayey topsoil over a layer of the field grass that used to be, needs a lot more grit and soil improver as it sticks like glue and does not drain well as a top layer. I should have 2 tons of soil improver and 2 tons of bark chip delivered next week.
Immediately behind fence is new public park area - but the space behind us to the trees and stream is to be 'left wild'. Which means We have plans to help that wildness with gorse, blackthorn and hawthorn.
Beech hedge went in a few weeks ago. Note neighbours deriguer carpet of grass.
Front garden is sporting a Sorbus pseudovilmorinii and I have an order in for a Sorbus arranensis (very rare tree!) to go in the back garden.
In mrs_OAB's head the garden looks like this in June.... 😉
https://www.twig-design.co.uk/portfolio/large-rural-garden-Stirlingshire
