revtothelimit - motorbike forum

Dodgy69 wrote: Fri May 22, 2026 10:32 am 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.

Dodgy69 wrote: Fri May 22, 2026 1:53 pm 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.

Dodgy69 wrote: Fri May 22, 2026 11:36 am 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.

Nordboy wrote: Fri May 22, 2026 2:12 pm Oooh, I just posted something about this sort of thing on the beekeeping thread. Watching with interest

Count Steer wrote: Fri May 22, 2026 6:55 pm @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 wrote: Fri May 22, 2026 7:12 pm

Count Steer wrote: Fri May 22, 2026 6:55 pm @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 wrote: Fri May 22, 2026 7:51 pm

Nordboy wrote: Fri May 22, 2026 7:12 pm

Count Steer wrote: Fri May 22, 2026 6:55 pm @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.