‘Let it bloom June’

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Some of the grasses and flowers are just coming into their own in North East Derbyshire, buttercups are blooming and the fox and cubs are just about to start. Now is the time to think about bashing your cowslips, kick them, walk on them, just like cows do to spread and sow the seeds. Ants will do the work for you with the primroses… It’ll be September before I mow large areas of mine.

The oxeye daisies in the road verges have been very noticeable in recent week. Never really noticed them before so perhaps the council did no mow may. Hopefully they will continue to leave them for let it bloom in to June and beyond. Apart from at junctions I can’t see why verges need mowing.

@kormaran-are the orange flowers Fox and cubs?

My grandpa was an entomologist, as a child I remember many exciting summer morning rushing out to see what had landed in his egg boxes. As soon as the weather warms up a bit then the moths should be out.

Our little excitement today was spotting a blue Damoiselle (so?) on the long grass, then the tiny day time mint moth.

Yes! I think they are, in fact madame kormoran said the same thing about 5 minutes ago, then I saw your post. It’s a cracking day here and they’ve properly started coming out. We’ve got hundreds in an area we have cleared some spruce from and the sun is encouraging everything now it can get in.

I think it’s also called hawkweed too (fox and cubs) with a Latin name Pilosella aurantiaca? You can mow the flowers off and they come again, what few bees are left love them.

@wheelsonfire yes, I see that on the Google. The bees are on other flowers at the moment, maybe they will move on to them as more come out.

It’s fascinating, they would have been mowed and never flowered in the past. Same with the Speedwell

Our actual wildflower project area is being put to shame

There’s an article in “The Observer” today, usually there’s a link that I email to myself and then post up here, but not today! It’s about embracing “weeds” and promoting a book that sounds quite good – the article is entitled “A sign of Hope” and the book is – https://guardianbookshop.com/understorey-9780715655207

There is hope, but I think years of perfectly mown lawns, with weed and moss killer sprayed everywhere, have been ingrained into a certain generation. I actually am part of that generation, but realised many years ago (when insects and wild creatures were declining), that change was needed and have embraced it.

Small changes that people can make (if they have a garden) will make a difference.

Bad photo, but this is our first common damsel fly.

Might have missed the boat this year but we have a couple of areas where I think we can create wildflower spaces without it acting as a dog poo hiding zone.  We’ve already had some success with bee friendly stuff as well but could do better with this stuff I’m sure.

One of the target areas is a raised bed that’s just a mess of non flowering weeds.  Any suggestions for late flowering stuff that we could populate it with? I’ve got some time today and next weekend to get bits in.

Not too late to set seeds, three for starters – Calendula (marigold), cosmo, eschscholzia (California poppies). Or radishes and rocket and let them go to seed. Do well on a dry bed

Noticed bumblebees in the garden yesterday after a slow start.

Oxeye daisies I planted in what we’ll euphemistically call the wildflower bed are going great guns after doing not much last year.

Edit – Cosmos, not Cosmo!

I’ve a bit of a dilemma at the mo. I have a bullace (brill early season flowerer for insects), but it’s being rivalled by a dogwood at the mo.

Not too sure which to keep? Any suggestions?

Really pleased with how our front lawn is going. 2 summers ago the folk who lived here were full-on lawncare enthusiasts who used it as a practice putting green. Now we have a couple of varieties of clover, some birds foot trefoil, buttercups and a couple of other things I can’t identify, all from a bit of masterful neglect. It doesn’t look like a wildflower meadow but it’s now home to a whole host of wee beasties.

I scraped back a bit of turf and popped in some seed balls earlier this year more in hope than expectation. Theres some different foliage there but no flowers as yet, but this is early days here in the North!

Native cranesbill (geranium), foxgloves, scabious, verbena, salvias, sea holly and (controversial) a buddleia bush, lavender and raspberries all loved by bees.

We’ve left one part of the garden wild for a couple of years. Keep the nettles down with a strimmer but otherwise leave it to whatever grows. We’ve plans to seed some more insect/animal friendly stuff later this year, but one thing you notice is how full of life it is…

Re nettles, we pull ours out with gloves on and put them in a bin of water to soak and make nettle tea. It is excellent for feeding plants. It smells like cow poo so put a lid on!

You can do it with comfrey too, excellent feed. I have read seaweed tea is also good if you are coastal

Friends of mine made a little fence to go around a wild space, nothing massive just a few metres. The fence keeps the dog out and looks great with the grasses and plants poking through, flowers and whatnot. With the lawn trimmed up to the edge it looks classy

None of this is new. But reminding people of it is important.

I’m rubbish at  technology, hoping this will work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5bWGBXAGAo

Our front garden, with neighbour’s on the left that I mow for him, and part of our back garden below the woodland and a huge honeysuckle that has taken over an old pear. Both lots of grass are very different, fine and wavy at the front and courser at the back, flowers coming on the grass and amongst it now.

Keep up the good work, every little bit of “neglect” helps!

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jun/14/wildlife-experts-urge-action-on-pesticides-as-uk-insect-populations-plummet

While we’re on the subject of pesticides, my smallholder neighbour sent me this little gem of good news about pesticide residues in horse manure. I had never heard of it before but as I was about to get a trailer load for my veg patch it was timely. Needless to say, I won’t be getting it now

Aminopyralid Herbicide in Manure is Back

Suburban front garden mini-meadow has come on nicely in its second year, less dominated by clover this June. The yellow rattle has also thrived, so that’s kept some of the grasses back in specific patches. If I can get even one neighbour on the street to also give it a shot, I’ll consider it a bit of a victory!

It was a heavily managed short grass lawn before, but crucially the estate was originally built on chalk grassland (I know!) so there were some nice species in the seed bank to start working with.

Nice work owenp. It is amazing what’s present when you allow it to grow, we have left some verges on or lane this year and it’s constantly throwing up surprises. I think the previous owner had strimmed it to death for years

Got a knock on the door from my neighbour’s gardener today saying she’d asked him to come and give us a quote for lawnmowing and hedge cutting. I did my best not to laugh.

June 16th blooms day

I’ve got a coupe of patches I can leave, but most of the grass is being taken over by soft rush. It’s not that soft, actually pretty spiky, grows three times quicker than anything else, spreads by rhizomes and if I let it get as far as seeding, there’s 5,000 seeds per seed head.

I’d love to leave it for longer and give more of the flowers a chance, but I’ll have 90% soft rush in no time. If it was pretty and/or useful to anything but itself, I’d be happy, but it it’s neither! Any ideas?

It’s quite an interesting plant, very good for wildlife and it has been used for tea making and mats!

I’d keep it but dog some out each year to control it

You could take up some of the lawn and sow a clover or herb lawn. I’m not an expert, but there will be someone who could advise you a bit better,

This orchid appeared in our front grass (above) a couple of years ago. I think it’s supposed to thrive on limestone soil but ours is acid, there’s another higher up the grass that has two flowers on it this year.

Is that common spotted orchid?

I’m not sure what it is, I thought it was early purple? The leaves do have spots on them and it’s similar to the ones around the limestone areas of the Peak District. However there are lots in a field nearby (3 miles) which is a reclaimed peat/gritstone moor. I’ll have a better look tomorrow.

I’d keep it but dog some out each year to control it

Can I borrow your dog?

It’s quite an interesting plant, very good for wildlife

“Soft rush is an important component of wetland ecosystems, where it plays a variety of roles. It can help to stabilize wetland soils, preventing erosion and sedimentation. Its dense stands provide cover and nesting habitat for a variety of bird species, including waterfowl, rails, and marsh wrens. In addition, soft rush provides food and habitat for a variety of invertebrate species, including snails, insects, and spiders.”

– soil is clayey, so stays soggy longer than most, but I don’t think it qualifies at wetland, or in need of stabilisation.
– Even if I left patches permanently to grow to the “dense stands” of 2-3 feet, I’m pretty sure we’re not going to have waterfowl nesting while our two boys play football round them!
– As for the spiders and the snails and the insects: do they like soft rush any more than than they like all the other stuff that the soft rush is displacing? Certainly the pollinators aren’t getting anything from it.

Honestly, I’d be happy enough to learn how great it is if it meant I could do less for longer with the knowledge that it’s worth it.

You could take up some of the lawn and sow a clover or herb lawn.

Isn’t that just another way of saying “kill what’s there and start again”? 😀

@anagellis arvensis yes, common spotted orchid. 

I’m not sure what it is, I thought it was early purple?

Could be, one has laterally squashed spots on the leaves as I recall, can’t remember which though.

Beechgrove on BBC2 at the moment has an interesting article on grasses/meadows