Some of the bluebells on our beat.
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That much nectar…? I knew they were a vital source of early nectar but that’s amazing. Since I flipped the mental switch from ‘weed’ to ‘glory’ on dandelions, I’ve had a wonderful time enjoying all the free sunshine in my garden. The goldfinch like the seeds in the dead heads too. So I planted them some teasel last year and for next - now they’re here, let’s put on a buffet… My sister is coming to house sit next week and I’ve had to give explicit give instructions to not do any weeding. I don’t pull anything up unless it’s ugly, any more. The only taming is keeping the edges of the lawn, sharp and purposeful. Everywhere else, if the weeds get muchy, I plant something with more tenacity. The only battle I have left is the bloody mares tail. I’m winning in the front garden. Battle is still bloody in the back.Most of our fields are just graze, though there are buffer zones at the edges, especially where we've fenced to the top of a bank.
There were gaps in the hedges when we bought them. Have planted a few trees in some then filled the gap with hawthorn whips. 8 years later, they have just reached the height that they've been cut with the surrounding hedge.
The buffer zones have been left to go wild though I did plant a couple holly and hazel saplings.
The verges are incrementally being planted with daffs and bluebells. A couple patches each year. Also behind the fence on the inside.
We also put an old, leaking water trough by the entrance and planted it up.
On the insect front, listening to a woman speaking on radio 5 a couple days ago. She was saying that a single dandelion produces enough nectar to feed 8 bees for a year.
I envy you your wild land. I have a hawthorn hedge across the bottom of my garden that’s in good nick - previous owners knew what they were doing, it’s super-dense and blocky, not gappy and leggy, and just teeming with life. It runs to a wide 6-bar fence giving views over the field behind. As part of the deeds, I can’t close the access off. If the farmer wants to drive his tractor through my garden, he apparently can. The half of the buffer that’s mine, I’ve left to nettles and brambles. It stops scrotes hopping the gate into my garden and the butterflies like it. I have half copper beech, half… huge shrubs of indeterminate name forming a hedge down the lefthand side. There’s also a section of bamboo that I really don’t like - non-native, bit 90s - but the birds absolutely love it. And it isn’t spreading at all because the soil is essentially a brick where it’s growing. I’m trying to embrace it. The other boundary is just a fence but it’s solid, nice looking and silvery weathered, there are 3 fruit trees and an amelanchier growing along it and I have plans for climbing roses. I put a wisteria in to grow over an existing arbour and over wires to the fence, but I’ve since learned they tear fences down so that might have been foolish.
Excitingly, great tits have started nesting in my biggest bird box. It seems late - the fledgling sparrows were out today, being charming - but whatever.
I’m not an obsessive gardener, so treading the line between nature and nurture suits me. But if I had land like yours… I’d also be daffodilling the hell out of those verges. The farmer opposite me has very dull verges against a gappy hedge. I wish someone like you owned the field. The lambs are crying out for daffodils! I should just nip over the road and plant some this autumn.
NopeAll those who can remember Geography should know the name of this right
. strato something or other ? Sent from my SM-S901B using Tapatalk
I've seen a definition that says a weed is a plant growing where you dont want it.
Grass growing over a reasonable area that you mow is a lawn.
Grass growing through cracks in your patio, in your borders or in your veg plot is a weed.
Yeah that sounds about right. The garden we have is on a large piece of land that belonged to an old lady who moved to America. Her wish was the land would be given to the residents but some shady lawyer tried to sell for building land🙄 After some hassles its now a land trust but the reason I mentioned this is because I do think in general that most people are clueless about what needs protecting as there was some hundred year old plum trees that some idiot had taken down to accommodate an allotment plot that he no longer bothers with and has no idea that others might miss such trees.I've seen a definition that says a weed is a plant growing where you dont want it.
Grass growing over a reasonable area that you mow is a lawn.
Grass growing through cracks in your patio, in your borders or in your veg plot is a weed.
We told em to leave the trees in our plot, albeit the popular trees do grow like weeds
I’m thinking of going to Chelsea next year because it sounds like it’ll give me ideas for the way I actually want to garden now.
Today I have stripped, sanded, primed and sprayed an old table that came with the house. It would have been cheaper to buy a new one, so I’m polishing my halo over landfill and extending something’s life rather than buying new. It was not the cheap fix I was anticipating when I’d bought all the stuff.
However. I could not be more thrilled with the colour.
Also, can any sheepy people explain why all the sheep have chunks of wool missing and random long patches ?
![Plant Green Mammal Sheep Grazing]()
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Had a feeling someone would mention himWestie will have the answers
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