Our Wild and Woolly Lawn

Photo of our back lawn which looks rather wild and woolly
Skimble playing 'spot the pigeon' on our back lawn recently  
If you were an ecologist and placed a number of quadrats in a random fashion on our lawn, you'd consistently find much more than plain old grass. You see, I've been rather relaxed about having a perfect lawn the past few years, and I think we have something far more interesting as a result.

Until the ash tree's demise last year, we had a back lawn which went from deep shade to a positively Mediterranean climate in just a few yards. Now it's merely light shade where all was dark previously, and all kinds of plants are trying to get in amongst the moss. It's an area which really wants to revert back to being a field again, plus it regularly weathers a veritable snowstorm of dandelions and other passing seeds.

Realistically it's never going to win Britain's Best Lawn.

I've decided life's too short and the hard work needed to try and win BBL is best left to one of our neighbours, who seems to enjoy the hours he spends outdoors primping and perfecting his sward.

I tentatively raised the subject with NAH the other day as he's the regular wielder of The Beast. I wisely couched it in terms which would appeal: less time spent mowing. He's agreed as long as the lawn doesn't have foxgloves growing in it again.

I haven't admitted to the Eryngium I've found in there yet, nor the patches of  Alchemilla, Leucothoe, Stachys, Hesperis matronalis and Centaurea montana I can see - all are escapees from the central terrace and shady beds. There aren't any foxgloves, so all's well with the world.

The increase in wildlife in our garden's noticeable this year and I think much of that's down to our now wild and woolly lawn. As well as the aforementioned garden plants, there are some quite large patches of clover and Ajuga in flower which many bees and other insects love. I often see up to a dozen blackbirds and thrushes digging their beaks into the lawn, so they must like it too.

How's your lawn looking this year?

Comments

  1. Sarah Shoesmith7 October 2015 at 12:48

    As an organic gardener, I will never have a perfect lawn; and I make no apologies for that. The bees love it - and so long as I remove any particularly prickly lawn weeds, so do I.
    In my last garden, the lawn had been rigorously looked after for 20 years, and then I moved in and the weeds were allowed in too. A few years later we had an extremely dry summer. All the lawns in the neighbourhood turned brown, but my weeds and their flowers flourished. It was a lot prettier and more use to pollinators than the dried-out brown lawns elsewhere. Here's to your weedy lawn (with or without foxgloves).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP7 October 2015 at 18:54

      I forgot to mention our lawn stays green in dry summers. Thanks for the reminder Sarah:-)

      Delete
  2. Pauline7 October 2015 at 14:47

    I agree with Sarah, the more "weeds" the better! We quite often allow our circular lawn to grow a bit longer and were amazed the first time at how many wild flowers there were. Longer grass brought in butterflies that didn't usually come to the garden, they lay their eggs on the grass. I think nearly everything benefited and it stayed green all summer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP7 October 2015 at 18:57

      We've had several new butterfly species in the garden this year, plus a lot more commas, Pauline. I'm sure my more relaxed attitude to our lawn has a lot to do with it.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous7 October 2015 at 15:22

    Weeds and moss keep it green, as far as I'm concerned. I leave a whole section completely unmown for the summer - and we get lots of crickets.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP7 October 2015 at 19:00

      Oh yes, lots of crickets here too Helen. Do you remember that flower lawn we saw at Chelsea a couple of years ago? I must look into that again as a follow-up to this post

      Delete
  4. Brian Skeys7 October 2015 at 23:09

    To maintain a perfect grass sward requires a lot of chemical applications. I have mowed lawns in the past following these treatments, you can still smell the chemicals as you mow several days later.
    I am with Prince Charles on lawns, so along as it is green and grows thats ok!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Caro8 October 2015 at 07:27

    I always feel quite saddened when the minimal amount of grass in the gardens here is cut by the maintenance gardeners. All the dandelions, clover and daisies are stripped away. You can tell a lot about your soil by the plants that grow freely in grass as the natural seeders will thrive in certain conditions. My parents lawn was chemically treated for years (a practice I've now called a halt to) and, although no weeds, went brown and parched every summer. No surprises there as they have light sandy soil over builders' rubble!

    ReplyDelete
  6. VP8 October 2015 at 08:20

    Ha, we have clay soil over builder's rubble here, Caro. The natural seeders are thriving :-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sarah 13 October 2015 at 09:07

    Yes, I've never poisoned my lawn either although I do enjoy a vigorous workout every spring with a wire rake and even though my fashionable clover lawn is only 45 square metres it is amazing how much moss I rake out in 15 minutes. I love my tapestry lawn and think low-growing 'weeds' add texture and movement from all the visitors to what would otherwise be a very boring monoculture. I do weed out by hand large dandelions and young thistles and one of my favourite lawn weeds is celandine, especially when combined with blue crocus.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP15 October 2015 at 16:57

      I agree Sarah. I like to think of mine as the 'jewel lawn' ;) I forgot to mention the celandine it has in the spring, thank for the reminder

      Delete
  8. Janet/Plantaliscious14 October 2015 at 20:41

    I have to admit that we are going to get rid of the grass in the front garden, as it is a pain to mow, but in the back we always let it get shaggy, welcome the dandelions and clover, and don't worry about awards of any kind at all. I have learnt that I can't bare to just let a patch of it go completely uncut though, it grows too tall and hides the back border from sight, and is too small an area to edge with neatly mown paths to make it look more intentional. So shaggy wins the day - even if ours isn't nearly as diverse as yours!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP15 October 2015 at 16:58

      I agree it can't be let go completely, Janet. Ours gets mown about once a month.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous14 October 2015 at 21:49

    I tried letting our front lawn get artfully overgrown but I was overruled and it's mown again now – and looking worse in my humble opinion ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP15 October 2015 at 16:59

      I'm surprised I wasn't overruled too, Matt!

      Delete

Post a Comment

I love hearing from you and welcome thoughtful conversations :)

Comments aiming to link back and give credence to commercial websites will be composted!

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee
Read more

The Resilient Garden

Image
  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter,
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi
Read more