Do less, be greener in your garden

[Montero]

Nothing earth shattering but a nice article - hadn't previously realised consciously that longer grass is a more effective dew catcher.

A slacker's guide to climate-friendly gardening

Your less manicured garden has the potential to combat tackle climate change and help wildlife survive.

theconversation.com

 

[Stephen Palmer]

We need much more of this kind of thing.

 

[hitmouse]

I largely agree with this. Worth noting however, that unless one plans a complete rewilding (and even then), a bit of low-key stewardship is necessary to maintain a functional orchard/veg patch/ copse/hedge/garden.

For various reasons, including aesthetic and ecological, as well as curiosity, we left the grass uncut under our apple trees for nearly 12 months. Decided to cut it last month for the health of the fruit trees, and to make it easier to pick the apples and prune the trees later this winter. What was essentially a 40x50m patch of 4 foot high grass and wildflower (post flowering) took 2 fit adults 2 days to cut and clear. Surprisingly inefficient. My plan for the future is to go over the patch every 6-8 weeks during the growing season with the mower set to cut long. I can do that in an hour or so, A maintained lawn, but not a finicky one.

 

[JunkMonkey]

I haven't cut any grass (or much of anything else) in my garden for 30 years. It's a jungle out there.

 

[Foxbat]

I cut my grass but leave the edges pretty wild with plenty of wild flowers growing. I have a good crop of insects doing the rounds of my apple trees and have had visits over the years from hedgehogs and badgers (not a good thing because I live next to a busy road and I've had to shovel the remains more than once).

I also planted ferns and foxglove many years ago. Both are thriving and bees love foxglove.

 

[Lostinspace]

Sometimes rewilding is just due to incompetence. I don't know how to grow autumn raspberries without getting them overrun by other plants. I suggest that a Roundup Ready variety of autumn raspberries would be an excellent idea. To illustrate, here is a view from this morning of my partial wilderness, which is loved by bees.