Monday 25th August
Each year I let the garden lawn go wild, only mowing it once a year and when I say mow, I mean scythe to be precise. The grasses grow tall from spring to the end of summer before I give it a thorough cut and rake, removing all the nutrients from leeching back into the soil to give wildflowers a real chance.
At first I’ll be honest, it was tough going. A thick, never ending sward full of rank grasses like perennial rye and cock’s foot. Four years on it is a different story. The grasses have thinned out dramatically with yellow rattle, common knapweed, yarrow, wild carrot and bird’s-foot trefoil being opportunistic and spreading all over the lawn and the general biodiversity has massively increased. It is now such a quick, easy and fun job to scythe the lawn I am left to wonder why more people aren’t considering the same and ditching the mower.
Low maintenance, incredible for flora diversity, safe for wildlife, no machinery, no fuel and just generally brilliant for the environment. What’s not to love?