A beautiful sunny day and we are off to a barbecue so fingers crossed that it stays that way. Looking out at our garden which is somewhat wild in places reminded me about an article that I read recently about manicured lawns versus green meadows. We are lucky in as much as we don't have neighbours to worry if some of our grass gets a bit overgrown but if you looked out of your window onto next doors wilderness you might find it a bit annoying.

From an environmental viewpoint a meadow is probably better than a manicured lawn which is trimmed to within an inch of its life and treated with all sorts of chemicals to prevent moss and weeds. But there is no doubt that in its formative stage a meadow does look a bit scruffy. We have a small patch which is cut regularly but along the river there are lots of rocks and the ground is very uneven so it tends to get left.

I would like to establish a wild garden there but we seem to grow a plentiful supply of dock and thistles which will need to be weeded out to encourage other plants to establish themselves and set seed at the end of the summer. Then, as tradition dictates, we will cut back all the grassy areas and hopefully, in this new part, next season will bring other wild flowers and less of the dross.  Anyway I will let you know how we get on and in the meantime if anybody has already done this and has any advice for me I would be delighted to hear from you.

Linda