Do you have a nice, flat, green weed-free lawn?

[Benchwayze]

You night like this...

http://www.gardening-forums.com/threads ... ilty.5822/

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[DTR]

Haha, brilliant :lol:

 

[bugbear]

Haha, brilliant :lol:

But surely it applies to whole of gardening, not just lawns??

BugBear

 

[DTR]

Haha, brilliant :lol:

But surely it applies to whole of gardening, not just lawns??

BugBear

I 'm only trusted to mow the lawn. I wouldn't know anything about the rest....

 

[graduate_owner]

Very amusing, and very true.
We lve in the country and have a 'rustic' lawn and orchard which I mow very 3_4 weeks. It would look nice if my two dogs would stop digging holes everywhere. If the weather is too wet and the grass gets long, walking is decidedly risky because of the danger of twisted ankles. So whenever possible, I have to mow for safety reasons. Of course the dogs don't get twisted ankles, they are quite happy with their excavating. I'm thinking to re-name them Komatsu and Caterpillar, possibly JCB and Bobcat.

K

 

[ChrisR]

Evan worse, we pay to have ours dressed with fertiliser/feed and then cut each week. :roll:

Chris

 

[CHJ]

...
I 'm only trusted to mow the lawn. .....

I'm not, trusted that is, I don't do it tidy enough.. craft comes in many forms :wink:

 

[Jacob]

I'm into wild flower lawns. I cut it about 4 times a year max but wait until the flowers are mature between cuts. Cuttings go on compost heap.
Looks very pretty and the bees love it. Must be 20 species or so - clover, vetch, violets, daisies, eyebright, plantain, buttercups etc. all self set.
We've got most of these http://www.lawnweeds.co.uk/weedidentification.html and lots of moss - which makes a very nice lawn itself - like a soft pile carpet.

 

[Benchwayze]

I'm into wild flower lawns. I cut it about 4 times a year max but wait until the flowers are mature between cuts. Cuttings go on compost heap.
Looks very pretty and the bees love it. Must be 20 species or so - clover, vetch, violets, daisies, eyebright, plantain, buttercups etc. all self set.
We've got most of these http://www.lawnweeds.co.uk/weedidentification.html and lots of moss - which makes a very nice lawn itself - like a soft pile carpet.

I always thought that a few flowers would make a compost heap look pretty! :wink:

Nice one Jacob. Sounds like my lawn, and the gaps between the shrubs!! :mrgreen:

 

[graduate_owner]

Hey Jacob,
Did you seed the wild flowers yourself? If so what preparation did you do to ensure the wild flower seeds got established? I would love to establish a wild flower area myself. I do have a field which has a high proportion of wild flowers among the grass and rushes, but it is large, wet and too full of irritating flies. I really want a smaller, more 'controlled' area which we can see and enjoy from the house. I'm thinking poppy, campion, ox eye daisy, vetch etc, to give a colourful, cheerful display ax well as attracting pollinators.

K

 

[Jacob]

Hey Jacob,
Did you seed the wild flowers yourself? If so what preparation did you do to ensure the wild flower seeds got established? I would love to establish a wild flower area myself. I do have a field which has a high proportion of wild flowers among the grass and rushes, but it is large, wet and too full of irritating flies. I really want a smaller, more 'controlled' area which we can see and enjoy from the house. I'm thinking poppy, campion, ox eye daisy, vetch etc, to give a colourful, cheerful display ax well as attracting pollinators.

K

Seeded itself. Just let your lawn go to the dogs! Seems better if the soil is a bit lean so I take the cuttings away and only cut a few times in the year, and not too short.
There was one lonely violet every spring a few years back but there are more each year.
But you can buy wildflower mixes - perhaps cut the lawn short and chuck it on, see what makes it. Some is for verges and meadows so too big for lawns.
Other non-lawn stuff invades borders OK - ragwort, valerian, fox gloves, herb robert, all sorts of wild flowers, very pretty but the neighbours probably think we are just old hippies - they do a scorched earth thing and every thing not wanted is ruthlessly destroyed!!

 

[Austinisgreat]

Hey Jacob,
Did you seed the wild flowers yourself? If so what preparation did you do to ensure the wild flower seeds got established? I would love to establish a wild flower area myself. I do have a field which has a high proportion of wild flowers among the grass and rushes, but it is large, wet and too full of irritating flies. I really want a smaller, more 'controlled' area which we can see and enjoy from the house. I'm thinking poppy, campion, ox eye daisy, vetch etc, to give a colourful, cheerful display ax well as attracting pollinators.

K

On Gardeners World last week Monty cut back part of his wildflower meadow right back to the soil - took two or three mowings, so that he could sow wildflower seeds and give them a better chance to germinate. Grass tends to be so strong it takes over and doesn't allow the flowering plants to develop, apparently, unless you help them.

HTH,

Cheers,

Andrew

 

[Benchwayze]

My lawn doesn't seem to take over the wildflowers, and I am having to 'over seed' with grass every other mowing, to thicken the grass and give it a chance. The only 'wildflowers' we get are dandelions, buttercups and ragwort. The local 'horsey-set' asked me to rip up the ragwort, because it spreads like wildfire, and it's poisonous to animals. It's also the food of the Cinnabar Moth, which is a pretty day-flying, black and red moth. So I am waiting for the caterpillars to pupate. They'll have to keep their horses away from 'my little-acre'! 8)

I have a wild corner inside the wall BTW. Nettles, and plenty of butterflies this year around the 'triffid'; a big bramble. Blackberry and apple pies again in the autumn! =D>

 

[Jacob]

If even the grass won't grow you need to cut without the box, not too short, and leave the cuttings on the lawn and not take them away. It retains moisture, encourages worms and increases fertility very quickly.
In fact you can transform almost any bit of bare earth into lawn by just trimming whatever grows and leaving the trimmings in place.
Ragwort isn't a prob - there's a load of scare stories about it - ignore the horsey types!

 

[CHJ]

.....Ragwort isn't a prob - there's a load of scare stories about it - ignore the horsey types!

That's an extremely irresponsible comment Jacob.

My understanding is although not obliged by law to automatically remove it from your property should you disobey a court order under the Ragwort Control Act 2003, you can find yourself in court and responsible for any livestock deaths, folks requested to remove it from risk areas are well advised not to put themselves at risk of a court order if someone requests a local magistrate to take action.

 

[Jacob]

.....Ragwort isn't a prob - there's a load of scare stories about it - ignore the horsey types!

That's an extremely irresponsible comment Jacob.

My understanding is although not obliged by law to automatically remove it from your property should you disobey a court order under the Ragwort Control Act 2003, you can find yourself in court and responsible for any livestock deaths, folks requested to remove it from risk areas are well advised not to put themselves at risk of a court order if someone requests a local magistrate to take action.

This is part of the mythology.
If you google it you will find that you have got it quite wrong! You are not alone.
http://www.ragwortfacts.com/ragwort-myths.html
http://www.ragwortfacts.com/ragwort-control-act.html
If anybody did go to the trouble of getting a court order (extremely unlikely - has it ever happened anywhere?) then I'd whip it out straight away - I'm not that bothered about the bloody moths!
But it'd be impossible to ascribe any deaths or even illness, to any ragwort - this is a doubtful area altogether.

In fact the best way to kill ragwort (and many other annuals) is to let it seed - it then dies off. If you pull it up it can regenerate from the bits left behind. As would many other plants, nothing sinister or invasive about this.