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'Plant life' has followed up 'No mow May, with 'let it bloom June'.
Our garden has produced some more red clover, plenty of white clover and the Yellow rattle is starting to flower.
I'll start planting the poppies, cornflowers and other wild flowers in a few days. These I've sown in trays as scattering hasn't worked too well (maybe not enough rain).
I'll post up some photos of our garden tomorrow, now that there's an easy way to post images - yes!.
Never was able to get the hang of posting up piccys before.
Loads of clover in our front lawn and 2 other species of flower I can't ID. Definitely starting to get more insects hanging around. The back lawn reamins a monoculture putting green (albeit longer).
I've decided which areas I'll let go wild now and have a pal with a utopain garden collecting some seeds to scatter in the autumn. Looking forward to setting the scarifier to DESTROY mode in October.
We are still letting our bank go - the daffodils and tulips have only just really 'gone over', the grass is knee deep, it has more and more flowers on. I am going to leave it as long as I can - but I know from past experience that it will become silly shortly.
This and 'no mow May' seem like ways for people who don't like gardening to avoid doing any during the summer months. You can't mow the lawn now anyway, weather is too dry.
Looking forward to 'Let it lie July'. 🙂
My canterbury bells have just started to bloom which I grew from seed over 2 years ago so I've been happy to see that, just found out they will die off following flowering though so a bit anti-climactic.
Rest of the garden is doing well always chock full of different kinds of bees I've spotted some I've never seen before like the carder bee, got 4 heirloom tomato varieties, two varieties of strawberries, malling promise raspberries and a lot of general pollinators marigolds, fuschias, pansies, lots of poppies, and a bunch I cant even remember the name of combined with some stragglers from the wildflower seeds I went a bit OTT with last year, let the herb planters flower this year too
This and ‘no mow May’ seem like ways for people who don’t like gardening to avoid doing any during the summer months.
I only wish I could use similar ecological justification to stop hoovering inside too.
I only wish I could use similar ecological justification to stop hoovering inside too.
No vacuum June?
Our overgrown path. Lots of herbs and bee friendly flowering plants.
Apart from dandelions, right? Anything but those...
No vacuum June?
Lots of dust August
Our bank is great - we're going to add some more variety to it after this season and then let it rip in future.
The wildflower area has been dominated by the poppy's this year - again we're going to manage that after they die back this year.
No vacuum June?
No suck Sunday's
we started with a bare patch of soil 2 years ago, mostly down to Mrs DB’s efforts and despite the occasional deer incident the front garden has really bloomed this year. Still awaiting the hawthorn hedge to fully establish itself. Also the soil is pretty rocky - the line of boulders are the ones removed from the ground.
Well, the clover blocks from No Mow May have finally stopped flowering so they're getting strimmed off and mown today. 
The climbing rose is in full bloom and is absolutely alive with bees
The let it bloom continuation of no mow May has been our method for over 20 years, some of the grass and hedges won’t be touched until September. The reward for us is lots of different flowering grasses and the privet hedge is just about to bloom, very popular with bees, moths and butterflies. Us humans appreciate it too, our neighbour misses out as he’s already cut his side at least twice!
Great pictures.
Mrs GD is not persuaded of no mow May in terms of dealing with the dog eggs etc.
What I need instead is to find a way of using other spaces we have to create those habitats as best we can. We have a couple of large veg beds where my youngest enthusiastically plants carrot seeds etc and then doesn't weed or maintain them. Those will be my next year objective I think for wild flower planting where they are safe from the Mountfield...
In continuation from “no mow may”, there was someone having a problem with aphids. This year they’re very prolific in our garden, particularly the black ones. We’ve left them alone apart from the odd spray with water, a large cardoon is particularly affected. This morning on closer inspection the ladybirds and hoverflies have arrived and are munching away - my wife says it’s the homemade garlic spray that made the difference - a bit of seasoning!
Nature can balance itself out if allowed to, slugs and snails aren’t a problem now as we’ve got a good variety of birdlife.
On birdlife can I recommend the free app called “Merlin”? Now my Dad’s died I’m having to identify birdsong myself, it’s absolutely fabulous and revealing of birds that I’d no idea visited our garden.
Happy listening!
Merlin is amazing - tells me the goldfinches, which we've not seen in the garden for a couple of years, are still nearby.
Bunny hop
Festival rubra
Dactyls glomerata
Not sure maybe Festival pratensis
Maybe Alopecurus mysuroides
An Agrostis
A Poa
Lolium perenne
Ooh thanks a_a, nice to know the grass names. All found in our uncut lawn.
Yes 'Merlin' bird song app is great. Found out about it last week. My brother was walking in the forest of Dean and it alerted him to a firecrest. He didn't see the tiny bird but he knew it was there as he heard it.
Exciting for us, as last night at dusk a hedgehog came rootling in the long grass, then snuffled around for about half an hour. Hope it comes back tonight as there'll be more slugs and snails around in the wet.
Festival rubra
Dactyls glomerata
Not sure maybe Festival pratensis
Maybe Alopecurus mysuroides
An Agrostis
A Poa
Bloody auto correct, that's Festuca not Festival!!
The new opening credits for BBC Countryfile, appear to show 2 mtbers sitting on a clifftop overlooking the sea. Nice.
Now July of course and the long grass has moths and butterflies round and in it, not as many as there should be but the Earth is dying… I’ve still left hedge cutting as the privet is still blooming, moths in particular enjoy it and there is a blackbird around feeding young still, nesting season is still with us!
My first picture posting!
Now August and thinking of cutting the hedges, still a blackbird feeding though so I’ll proceed carefully. Letting plants be pays dividends in the long run, the long grass has flowered and is greening up underneath and quite dense with lots of insects round it. The pictures are of ragwort, once a notifiable “weed”, this has been next to the old greenhouse where I hope to build a small brick, stone and slate “ruined” shelter in winter. If you look closely you can see the black and yellow striped caterpillars of the black and red cinnabar moth on their favourite food plant. 
I gave some of the grass it’s annual cut today, I’m leaving the cut grass on the ground for a few days so the insects can tunnel down deeper. The Cinnabar caterpillars above have started moving down the plant and will overwinter in the grass before emerging in all their black and red glory in spring. The mystery of the wasps nest has been solved, I’m allergic to their stings so I like to know where they are… we’ve got one in the eaves but I’ve seen and heard them chewing my shed and fence for nest material but couldn’t spot the nest. My mowing activities have livened them up a bit and they’ve revealed themselves to be using a hedgehog box under one of my shrubs, they’ve cut the grass in front to give them a clearer flight path. I’ll steer clear until winter I think and not poke anything in the entrance - it can result in a hospital admission- ask me how I know!
Monty Don was giving good advice regarding cutting the meadow or long grass sections of a lawn:
Make a bit of noise and maybe move a stick through the grass to warn any small creatures before strimming or hand cutting.
I shall be cutting in a week, leaving the grass to lie, then raking up. There are still some new wildflowers making a show. Also time to cut the hedges (before our elderly neighbour has another fit).
Next year I'll be sewing the wild flower seeds and planting them up from seedlings, scattering hasn't worked too well.
I've finally strimmed our wild areas of banking. The cuttings lay for a week before I cleared them up, hoping to lay some more seed down.
We're planning on adding to it next year - there's such poor variety of plants in there currently.
No Mow May seems to have been a success around our area.
Now it's time to carry on the good work of letting nature take over a little.
Please join me in:- Let It Bloom June. I thank you.
Our poor quality lawn is now 99.743% tired daffodils and moss
Up here in the far north west are very much still in no mow despite it being June. The last week or two has seen a big leap forward in blooms and growth, lots of interesting insects appearing. We have a large area of little moustache like weeds, they have amazingly started to flower with fire orange heads on long thin stalks. Remarkable.
We have seeded some comfrey and teasels, plus transplants. Once a teasel is established you'll never be short of them!
Does anyone know about moths? I'm quite keen to set a trap up one night to see what's about. Is it too early? Should I wait a bit? We are a few weeks behind Edinburgh in terms of season id say
Some of the grasses and flowers are just coming into their own in North East Derbyshire, buttercups are blooming and the fox and cubs are just about to start. Now is the time to think about bashing your cowslips, kick them, walk on them, just like cows do to spread and sow the seeds. Ants will do the work for you with the primroses… It’ll be September before I mow large areas of mine.
The oxeye daisies in the road verges have been very noticeable in recent week. Never really noticed them before so perhaps the council did no mow may. Hopefully they will continue to leave them for let it bloom in to June and beyond. Apart from at junctions I can't see why verges need mowing.
@kormaran-are the orange flowers Fox and cubs?
My grandpa was an entomologist, as a child I remember many exciting summer morning rushing out to see what had landed in his egg boxes. As soon as the weather warms up a bit then the moths should be out.
Our little excitement today was spotting a blue Damoiselle (so?) on the long grass, then the tiny day time mint moth.
Yes! I think they are, in fact madame kormoran said the same thing about 5 minutes ago, then I saw your post. It's a cracking day here and they've properly started coming out. We've got hundreds in an area we have cleared some spruce from and the sun is encouraging everything now it can get in.
I think it’s also called hawkweed too (fox and cubs) with a Latin name Pilosella aurantiaca? You can mow the flowers off and they come again, what few bees are left love them.
@wheelsonfire yes, I see that on the Google. The bees are on other flowers at the moment, maybe they will move on to them as more come out.
It's fascinating, they would have been mowed and never flowered in the past. Same with the Speedwell
Our actual wildflower project area is being put to shame
There’s an article in “The Observer” today, usually there’s a link that I email to myself and then post up here, but not today! It’s about embracing “weeds” and promoting a book that sounds quite good - the article is entitled “A sign of Hope” and the book is - https://guardianbookshop.com/understorey-9780715655207
There is hope, but I think years of perfectly mown lawns, with weed and moss killer sprayed everywhere, have been ingrained into a certain generation. I actually am part of that generation, but realised many years ago (when insects and wild creatures were declining), that change was needed and have embraced it.
Small changes that people can make (if they have a garden) will make a difference.
Bad photo, but this is our first common damsel fly.
Might have missed the boat this year but we have a couple of areas where I think we can create wildflower spaces without it acting as a dog poo hiding zone. We've already had some success with bee friendly stuff as well but could do better with this stuff I'm sure.
One of the target areas is a raised bed that's just a mess of non flowering weeds. Any suggestions for late flowering stuff that we could populate it with? I've got some time today and next weekend to get bits in.
Not too late to set seeds, three for starters - Calendula (marigold), cosmo, eschscholzia (California poppies). Or radishes and rocket and let them go to seed. Do well on a dry bed
Edit - Cosmos, not Cosmo!
I've a bit of a dilemma at the mo. I have a bullace (brill early season flowerer for insects), but it's being rivalled by a dogwood at the mo.
Not too sure which to keep? Any suggestions?
Really pleased with how our front lawn is going. 2 summers ago the folk who lived here were full-on lawncare enthusiasts who used it as a practice putting green. Now we have a couple of varieties of clover, some birds foot trefoil, buttercups and a couple of other things I can't identify, all from a bit of masterful neglect. It doesn't look like a wildflower meadow but it's now home to a whole host of wee beasties.
I scraped back a bit of turf and popped in some seed balls earlier this year more in hope than expectation. Theres some different foliage there but no flowers as yet, but this is early days here in the North!
Native cranesbill (geranium), foxgloves, scabious, verbena, salvias, sea holly and (controversial) a buddleia bush, lavender and raspberries all loved by bees.
We've left one part of the garden wild for a couple of years. Keep the nettles down with a strimmer but otherwise leave it to whatever grows. We've plans to seed some more insect/animal friendly stuff later this year, but one thing you notice is how full of life it is...
Re nettles, we pull ours out with gloves on and put them in a bin of water to soak and make nettle tea. It is excellent for feeding plants. It smells like cow poo so put a lid on!
You can do it with comfrey too, excellent feed. I have read seaweed tea is also good if you are coastal
Friends of mine made a little fence to go around a wild space, nothing massive just a few metres. The fence keeps the dog out and looks great with the grasses and plants poking through, flowers and whatnot. With the lawn trimmed up to the edge it looks classy
None of this is new. But reminding people of it is important.
[img] https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AP1GczNzD1FCeffepBOQtFw4MKf-B7Jaw_3bFjkCVOpUUdnDFKzXaJcgdP2DO9cUZ3Upczuc_pC-RITFjiAeP8q-NwmoisSsB6OXnT3qntevTm8ZhoUWDV6p=w2400 [/img]
Our front garden, with neighbour’s on the left that I mow for him, and part of our back garden below the woodland and a huge honeysuckle that has taken over an old pear. Both lots of grass are very different, fine and wavy at the front and courser at the back, flowers coming on the grass and amongst it now.
Keep up the good work, every little bit of “neglect” helps!
While we're on the subject of pesticides, my smallholder neighbour sent me this little gem of good news about pesticide residues in horse manure. I had never heard of it before but as I was about to get a trailer load for my veg patch it was timely. Needless to say, I won't be getting it now
http://sjsmallotments.co.uk/wp/aminopyralid-herbicide-in-manure-is-back/
Suburban front garden mini-meadow has come on nicely in its second year, less dominated by clover this June. The yellow rattle has also thrived, so that's kept some of the grasses back in specific patches. If I can get even one neighbour on the street to also give it a shot, I'll consider it a bit of a victory!
It was a heavily managed short grass lawn before, but crucially the estate was originally built on chalk grassland (I know!) so there were some nice species in the seed bank to start working with.
June 16th blooms day
I've got a coupe of patches I can leave, but most of the grass is being taken over by soft rush. It's not that soft, actually pretty spiky, grows three times quicker than anything else, spreads by rhizomes and if I let it get as far as seeding, there's 5,000 seeds per seed head.
I'd love to leave it for longer and give more of the flowers a chance, but I'll have 90% soft rush in no time. If it was pretty and/or useful to anything but itself, I'd be happy, but it it's neither! Any ideas?
It's quite an interesting plant, very good for wildlife and it has been used for tea making and mats!
I'd keep it but dog some out each year to control it
You could take up some of the lawn and sow a clover or herb lawn. I'm not an expert, but there will be someone who could advise you a bit better,
Is that common spotted orchid?
I’m not sure what it is, I thought it was early purple? The leaves do have spots on them and it’s similar to the ones around the limestone areas of the Peak District. However there are lots in a field nearby (3 miles) which is a reclaimed peat/gritstone moor. I’ll have a better look tomorrow.
I’d keep it but dog some out each year to control it
Can I borrow your dog?
It’s quite an interesting plant, very good for wildlife
[i]"Soft rush is an important component of wetland ecosystems, where it plays a variety of roles. It can help to stabilize wetland soils, preventing erosion and sedimentation. Its dense stands provide cover and nesting habitat for a variety of bird species, including waterfowl, rails, and marsh wrens. In addition, soft rush provides food and habitat for a variety of invertebrate species, including snails, insects, and spiders."[/i]
- soil is clayey, so stays soggy longer than most, but I don't think it qualifies at wetland, or in need of stabilisation.
- Even if I left patches permanently to grow to the "dense stands" of 2-3 feet, I'm pretty sure we're not going to have waterfowl nesting while our two boys play football round them!
- As for the spiders and the snails and the insects: do they like soft rush any more than than they like all the other stuff that the soft rush is displacing? Certainly the pollinators aren't getting anything from it.
Honestly, I'd be happy enough to learn how great it is if it meant I could do less for longer with the knowledge that it's worth it.
Isn't that just another way of saying "kill what's there and start again"? 😀You could take up some of the lawn and sow a clover or herb lawn.
@anagellis arvensis yes, common spotted orchid.
I’m not sure what it is, I thought it was early purple?
Could be, one has laterally squashed spots on the leaves as I recall, can't remember which though.
Beechgrove on BBC2 at the moment has an interesting article on grasses/meadows