We've got a patch of grass above the soakaway for our house and our neighbours, it's roughly 0.25 acres and I'm trying to figure out how best to look after it, my criteria being:
- minimal time/cost mowing
- nice looking (it's next to the driveway so its the first thing you see when you visit
It's reasonably moist, we get compact rush growing on it. It currently gets a few big strims a year which is quite time consuming. It's a bit lumpy so it might take a while to get to the point where you could use a ride-on mower on it (don't have one of these). I was trying to think if anything else could be done like getting meadow flowers to grow or something like that? Basically It'd be nice to not have to keep cutting it but also not have massive docks and nettles take over!
Pump track is obvious answer but my good wife wont go in for it...
Seed it as a Wildflower meadow and then just mow a border or some paths through it so it looks deliberate rather than overgrown. Stick a bench or two in there and perhaps some piles of wood for creepy crawlies if there are kids around that are interested in that.
Plant it out with fruit trees? Apples, pears, plums and cherries.
They'll take up a fair bit of the excess water and shade the grass out a bit so that it needs cut less often.
You also get free fruit.
Lots of good advice here on creating a wild garden.
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/gardening
As spooky says - keep some paths mown through it and it'll look like it's intentional!
What soil?
I am going for heather and blaeberry across our awkward areas of our garden...
Getting meadow flowers to grow would still leave you needing to cut it a few times a year, you would also need to remove clippings to reduce soil fertility I would imagine too. Cut hard for a year and then open up the soil by harrowing before adding the seed. You need a mix that matches the soil type and area.
Start here:
https://wildseed.co.uk/mixtures/view/9/meadow-mixture-for-wetlands
Plant sone bog myrtle. Will smell ace and you can keep midges away.
...my good wife wont go in for it…
You've got more than one? How's about the baaaad one?
Fruit trees as PP says, and get a ride on mower, bugger the bumpiness.
Sheep on a suitable length of rope?