Rewilding, what u got. ?

[Dodgy69]

Just a little patch within the lawn but already things are happening. Small birds creep amongst it, wild flowers slowly emerging. Early days but it's summot.

[Count Steer]

Just a little patch within the lawn but already things are happening. Small birds creep amongst it, wild flowers slowly emerging. Early days but it's summot.

Spotted a slowworm in our unmowed/'wild' bit recently.

Probably been for a quick dip in the pond.

[Dodgy69]

Rightly or wrongly, when we've been having a pedal we've borrowed a few wild flowers from hedge rows, potted them up until ready to go in.

Be better next year.

[Skub]

We have four coffin shaped raised beds that Mrs.Skub uses for planting wildflower seeds. The bees and butterflies love them. I quite like the idea of a wild bit on the back lawn too. Less fucking grass to cut for one.

[KungFooBob]

When I've not been arsed to mow the lawn for a fortnight I tell everyone it's a wildflower meadow.

[Trinity765]

The work team have a half hour coffee break on Friday and we are not allowed to mention work so it is inevitably about our weekend plans. The boss said that her garden needs doing.....she has said that every Friday for the last month. Today I mentioned that you can buy meadow seed packs and that she would be better off chucking them at it and explain it as rewilding.

[Count Steer]

I'm a fan of 'No Mow May'.


....and June, July, August.....

Last year I only mowed the front and the verge and strimmed the rest at about 2" high. Over the years I've reduced the size of the grassed areas by about 50% and just widened the beds and put in a cascade of raised beds made out of old railway sleepers down a big chunk of the slope. Grass doesn't give much return for the effort you need to put in, just sits there looking green (mostly). Beds you can have something going on all year round + give the wildlife a bit of support. Got 10 African blue basil plants ready to pot on - they'll be covered in bees, hover flies etc until September/October if it stays mild.

[The Martian]

The top end of our garden is wildflowers and insect friendly shrubs etc. One edge of the lawn I don't mow the last foot of to allow it to wild and we grow some of our own fruit and veg.

[Dodgy69]

I think I'm correct, but unless you have an official sign informing folk of it's official status, then it's not officially a wild meadow.

[KungFooBob]

I think I'm correct, but unless you have an official sign informing folk of it's official status, then it's not officially a wild meadow.

No sign = lazy cunt
Sign = lazy cunt, but not that lazy they can't go on Amazon for a sign.

[Ditchfinder]

Rewilding? Christ I spend most of my life trying to 'unwild' it. Having to get rid of the gardener was a life changing decision for me

Despite a 'no-mow summer' on the top section last year it was at least one day a weekend keeping on top of the rest of it. Plus at the end of summer it was 2 days of strimming and clearing to get it back straight again.

I think I'll have to at least keep some paths mown in across the top this year. The moss and thatch accumulation was enough to fill at least 2 of those 1 tonne 'skip bags'. I could really do with my compost heaps getting a wriggle (insert worm joke here) on as they're getting quite big now

[Nordboy]

Oooh, I just posted something about this sort of thing on the beekeeping thread. Watching with interest

[Rockburner]

Our garden is next to an arable field that has about 2-3 acres or so that are never used*, it's a permanent wild-flower meadow.



* The field isn't square, and the corner near us is "out of the lines" - the tractor lines run parallel to the opposite side of the field, so our corner is too awkward for them to bother with.

[Mussels]

Rightly or wrongly, when we've been having a pedal we've borrowed a few wild flowers from hedge rows, potted them up until ready to go in.

Be better next year.

If you get your collar felt take legal advice before accepting a community resolution.

[ZRX61]

[Noggin]

Oooh, I just posted something about this sort of thing on the beekeeping thread. Watching with interest

Before disturbing what's there, is it worth buying some wild flower seeds (pretty sure they are available) and scattering them to see if that works?

[Count Steer]

@Nordboy re your q? on the bees thread about your shady, boggy bit. Something will grow there...it's just a matter of finding out what! We designed our pond - sounds posh but we just left the lowest point on the edge in a particular place so it overflows into what we laughingly call a little 'bog garden'
- stuff grew there quite happily and it's green - but not as damp as planned as the pond hasn't overflowed for a year or 2. Some irises that were in the old pond have somehow established themselves outside the pond so I suppose they like the damp.

Why is it boggy? Poor drainage/clay/ water coming from somewhere other than just rain*? What's shading it? Can you let some more light in? You might be able to change it to a more hospitable environment.

Main thing is work with what you've got - too much gardening is pummeling the land into submission in order to grow stuff that probably shouldn't be there.

* ah...stream nearby I see, that'll do the trick.

[Nordboy]

@Nordboy re your q? on the bees thread about your shady, boggy bit. Something will grow there...it's just a matter of finding out what! We designed our pond - sounds posh but we just left the lowest point on the edge in a particular place so it overflows into what we laughingly call a little 'bog garden'
- stuff grew there quite happily and it's green - but not as damp as planned as the pond hasn't overflowed for a year or 2. Some irises that were in the old pond have somehow established themselves outside the pond so I suppose they like the damp.

Why is it boggy? Poor drainage/clay/ water coming from somewhere other than just rain*? What's shading it? Can you let some more light in? You might be able to change it to a more hospitable environment.

Main thing is work with what you've got - too much gardening is pummeling the land into submission in order to grow stuff that probably shouldn't be there.

* ah...stream nearby I see, that'll do the trick.

Combination of things, the ground has quite a lot of clay content, was looking at getting some liquid gypsum to spray on to try and break it up a bit. And then the stream, which during the storms was very high and nearly flooded the garden. House was never threatened as that's much higher. We're also surrounded by woodland on all three sides, one of which is mine and something else I need to sort out (moved in August last year), the woodland is all protected so it is what it is.

[Mussels]

@Nordboy re your q? on the bees thread about your shady, boggy bit. Something will grow there...it's just a matter of finding out what! We designed our pond - sounds posh but we just left the lowest point on the edge in a particular place so it overflows into what we laughingly call a little 'bog garden'
- stuff grew there quite happily and it's green - but not as damp as planned as the pond hasn't overflowed for a year or 2. Some irises that were in the old pond have somehow established themselves outside the pond so I suppose they like the damp.

Why is it boggy? Poor drainage/clay/ water coming from somewhere other than just rain*? What's shading it? Can you let some more light in? You might be able to change it to a more hospitable environment.

Main thing is work with what you've got - too much gardening is pummeling the land into submission in order to grow stuff that probably shouldn't be there.

* ah...stream nearby I see, that'll do the trick.

Combination of things, the ground has quite a lot of clay content, was looking at getting some liquid gypsum to spray on to try and break it up a bit. And then the stream, which during the storms was very high and nearly flooded the garden. House was never threatened as that's much higher. We're also surrounded by woodland on all three sides, one of which is mine and something else I need to sort out (moved in August last year), the woodland is all protected so it is what it is.

My parents used to have protected woodland for most of their garden, they did a short course to get a council permit so they could manage it without keep asking for permission to to anything. That was in Wales so England may be different.

[Nordboy]

@Nordboy re your q? on the bees thread about your shady, boggy bit. Something will grow there...it's just a matter of finding out what! We designed our pond - sounds posh but we just left the lowest point on the edge in a particular place so it overflows into what we laughingly call a little 'bog garden'
- stuff grew there quite happily and it's green - but not as damp as planned as the pond hasn't overflowed for a year or 2. Some irises that were in the old pond have somehow established themselves outside the pond so I suppose they like the damp.

Why is it boggy? Poor drainage/clay/ water coming from somewhere other than just rain*? What's shading it? Can you let some more light in? You might be able to change it to a more hospitable environment.

Main thing is work with what you've got - too much gardening is pummeling the land into submission in order to grow stuff that probably shouldn't be there.

* ah...stream nearby I see, that'll do the trick.

Combination of things, the ground has quite a lot of clay content, was looking at getting some liquid gypsum to spray on to try and break it up a bit. And then the stream, which during the storms was very high and nearly flooded the garden. House was never threatened as that's much higher. We're also surrounded by woodland on all three sides, one of which is mine and something else I need to sort out (moved in August last year), the woodland is all protected so it is what it is.

My parents used to have protected woodland for most of their garden, they did a short course to get a council permit so they could manage it without keep asking for permission to to anything. That was in Wales so England may be different.

I'll look into that, luckily (or not), I'm also in Wales