Leaving small/ large areas to do their own thing.

I have a large garden, around 2 acres, I leave about an acre to do it’s own thing and this year it is full of buttercups, clover and other wild flowers, nettles, forget me nots, yarrow and other flowers round the perimeter in the hedgerow. We have wild bees nesting too. The remainder is enough for me to manage (or not as the case may be), but I just do what I can and don’t worry about it.

I just paid about £15 for two scabious plants Dinahmo!

During lockdown I discovered parts of our back garden I had never touched before and I cleared all the weeds out, mostly wandering Jew if we are allowed to call it that these days. It came out quite easily but had spread everywhere. Also ivy which had got up some of the trees. Sadly it is all reverting back now, didn’t take long.Lots of pesky oxalis - the more you pull it up, the faster it grows. Some positives were the potatoes I chucked out had grown and I found quite a few nice ones underneath.

I asked because DH and I are poles apart on this issue, he likes straight lines and everything manicured within an inch of its life even although he would not know a clematis from bindweed !

At the moment I have bee orchids, lizard orchids and pyramid orchids, scabious, salvia, spiked star of bethlehem, rock rose, ox eye daisies, poppies, pink and white clover, bladder campion, stitchwort and a couple of vetches. We didn't plant any of these - they gradually appeared after what had been an oil seed rape field was left to go fallow.

We have mid-wife toads - tiny little things - and a couple of nights ago, after rain, I saw one with a patch of eggs on each side of his back. (the males carry the eggs).

We have golden orioles and usually have between 4 and 6 nightingales but none have returned this year. I'm trying to find out why and am wondering if it's because the winds bringing sand from the Sahara might have affected their flight or the strong cold winds we had too.

Every day when I wander around our plot I get great pleasure from seeing plants as they appear. It's one of the things that kept me sane during lock down.

Whatdayisit

Callistemon that would be lovely.
It would be enjoyable to work in other people's gardens as a working holiday in exchange for bed and board!

You weed, I'll cook!!

I think it's the same as mine though, whatever it is, it grows from one tap root into a tea plate sized thing, then flowers, seeds and spreads.
Because it's flat the mower just skims it.
I've given in with it now.

We also have bindweed, awful stuff. That can't go into the garden waste.

Callistemon that would be lovely.
It would be enjoyable to work in other people's gardens as a working holiday in exchange for bed and board!

Nah Callistemon, I've had a look at the Lesser Trefoil but it's much smaller even than that. I'm stumped!

I am a weeder it's just so relaxing.
You could come and relax in my garden Whatdayisit ?

Weeds amongst the roses are definitely a plant in the wrong place as are the ones in the pots. We seem to have a few oak trees growing in the pots this year, thank you Mr Squirrel!

I have a wildlife area which i maintained a bit but i didn't touch it last year due to long covid. So hopefully there should be some wildlife happily wallowing their. Bone of contention as husband reckons mice.
I keep the front tidy but obviously have a lot of bee friendly plants like verbena bonariensis and i am a fan of salvias so i have a bit of a collection going.
I mow weekly just can't let it go. But we have got more borders than lawn. I am a weeder it's just so relaxing. But i have never used pesticides

Why do my chives flourish in cracks in the paving slabs but not in a pot?
We don't eat them often but the bees love the flowers

We haven't weeded or fed the lawn for years, there is some grass but mainly weeds.

Tiny little yellow flowers, so low growing that it escapes the mower and it looks almost like a flowering moss.
I used to try to get rid of that, spent ages with an old kitchen fork which scrapes it together and then it could be pulled out but I've given in now. It is invasive though.
Is it Lesser Trefoil?

When we moved here it was just a patio and lawn. I got rid of the lawn planted trees shrubs grasses and endless flowers. It is a haven for wildlife we have a large area of wild flowers and weeds. My son and I built a pond area and a large raised bed. Now my raised bed is full of young veg such as peas beans potatoes lettuce and lots of herbs. Wild flowers rise above the veg to attract insects and I love it. Just sitting there watching different varieties of bees alone really makes me happy. I have never been interested in a show garden only a living garden. I don't use any bug killers or peat products and I make compost. I consider I am so lucky to have this garden to work in sit in and help nature.

Me too Callistemon, in fact this year, despite several applications of "weed and feed" after mowing, I can't remember when I last saw so many daisies! I've got a few little violets, some self heal and another flower that I can't identify. Tiny little yellow flowers, so low growing that it escapes the mower and it looks almost like a flowering moss.

We have a 'daisy lawn', it's lovely. I've also seen violets and some herbs seem to have spread into the lawn too.
We don't have it cut every week and it's never cut closely.

I've just checked my wild garden and it's basically a right mess. There's long grass nettles dandelions and a few buttercups. I'm trying to keep it as the hoverflies love it but I would like a few more flowers ?

Actually I am now, had a lovely show of dandelions in my lawn, which is actually more weed than grass, after reading about the benefits to wildlife. I was reading today about leaving weeds to grow, as they are native to these islands and are better for the native ? ? insects.

The top end of my garden, just between the greenhouse and the compost heap, is left unweeded. I try to plant the rest of the garden densely so that few weeds can survive and need little control.

We have left a small area 'wild' it was full of weeds last year but this year looks amazing.

I have so many nettles in the garden that I-keep some antihistamine near the back do as I’m always stinging myself.

We have a massive area around our oak tree which is 'meadow' so it's part planted/seeded with yellow rattle, jack by the hedge, poppies etc but there are grasses and weeds amongst it. Then out the back gate we have thigh high weeds/nettles with a mowed bit so we can get onto the field. Then a mowed lawn/nice pots etc

We have a large church yard in the centre of the village which a group of (recently arrived) enthusiasts wants us to rewild. It looks dreadful and older village families find it disrespectful to say the least and squalid to say the worst. The last thing to cause division of this magnitude was the Civil War, never very far below the surface in local controversies!

I do not have the wildflower lawns of Monty Don and Prince Charles. Those kind of lawns, need preparation and nurturing and occupy even more time than grass cutting.

Me neither, despite all the wildflower seeds I scattered, after carefully scraping small areas first to prepare the "lawn" which is more weed than lawn anyway. I did get some interesting wild flowers but it wasn't what you could call pretty and, as it was at the front, I gave in this year after 4 years of striving.
As my knowledgeable neighbour pointed, out, poppies and cornflowers grow in the ploughed fields rather than amongst grass.

I do have a small wild area in the back and also plenty of weeds where I don't want them. Forgetmenots seem to have taken hold in the veg garden and chives grow in the cracks between paving slabs. The bees love them.

I don’t have a wild area but I do grow a very wide range of plants and my garden is alive with insects and wildlife. I only use a very occasional weed killer if I’m desperate and never ever use pesticides.