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Turning 1/4 acre into a wild garden

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    #62
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »
    Have my own conversion project going too.


    No sign of sunflowers, but hopefully they will appear later. I have strategically planted plugs of various sorts (yellow rattle, bergamot, gooseberry shrub, etc) and they are still there, but cant be seen in pic. .... Just giant daisy... Dont know where they came from! Still lots of clover in there. Bees love that. Great to hear buzz whenever I go in there.

    Excellent. That is the natural wildness needed and a good mix of plants. Too many people see a particular plant in the area, collect seed and end up with just another monoculture. My only suggestion would be to perhaps cut the daisies before they seed and completely take over and smother everything. The seeds from last year should come - even if not until next year.


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    #63
    lordgoat
    Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 11,359 Mod ✭✭✭✭lordgoat


    There is no need to spray with roundup. Cover the area for a few months. Spraying for wildflowers is the lazy way out. It's too late for this year anyway, so relax plan for next year.

    Cracking photos Rider!


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    #64
    RiderOnTheStorm
    Registered Users Posts: 2,099 ✭✭✭RiderOnTheStorm


    Yea, not the flowers I had hope for, but thats the 'wild' part of wildflower I guess. Still ... very easy on the eye, and looks great in large numbers.

    Srameen: thx, will do that. Good tip.

    lordgoat: photos.... Only just re-discovered how to post them here! Caution: Side effects of gardening may make you more technical!


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    #65
    NIMAN
    Registered Users Posts: 33,139 ✭✭✭✭NIMAN


    I see these yokes called BeeBombs for sale.
    Apparently just throw them at your ar$e and that's you done, wild garden will come?

    https://www.beebombs.com/


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    #66
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 48,519 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    i always assumed seed bombs were designed to be thrown into derelict sites from outside; they're an expensive and inconsistent way to seed a site if you've full access to it.


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    #67
    secman
    Registered Users Posts: 6,241 ✭✭✭secman


    Our percolation bed is our wild meadow


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    #68
    Pretzill
    Registered Users Posts: 4,683 ✭✭✭Pretzill


    The yellow flag irises are putting all else to shame in our wild spot at the moment. Loving all the photos!


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    #69
    NIMAN
    Registered Users Posts: 33,139 ✭✭✭✭NIMAN


    I've noticed a few areas in Derry recently that used to be mown down completely by the council, have only been cut at the edges, with a lot left uncut and to grow wild.

    Not sure if its a policy or if they are just taking the easy way out?


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    #70
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 48,519 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    they started doing it on the big open grass area in the middle of ballymun a couple of years ago (i.e. leaving it unmown). most of that grass area is under a building site now though.


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    #71
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    NIMAN wrote: »
    Not sure if its a policy or if they are just taking the easy way out?

    Same here and I think it's a bit of both. Stick a sign "Left uncut for the bees" and the Tidy Towns judges may be placated.


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    #72
    Graces7
    Registered Users Posts: 32,634 ✭✭✭✭Graces7


    sdp wrote: »
    Beautiful Grace7

    Thank you. What I am doing here is not planting a wild flower garden, but rather running a wild flower refuge! The island is incredibly rich in local wild flowers, and thankfully the verges and abandoned fields have reverted to their former glory. If they ever decide to manicure the verges?

    Hence the aim to bring in some of the plants; dog daisies almost on the tarmac that will get destroyed by a car or tractor.... the Royal Fern that would get mowed if they trimmed the hedges.

    I do not have the money or the physical strength to make a new garden and it would look out of place here but nurturing what we still have is different. Conservation which is what wild gardening is about.. Just been down the lane and my drive is a microcosm of the true wild flower life here. Just a narrow track between wide beds of varied gentle wild flowers that have been here for generations

    There are three very old gnarled fuchsia bushes here that are alive with bees. A wonderful sound. And my small flower garden too..

    Summer!


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    #73
    looksee
    Registered Users Posts: 28,136 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    NIMAN wrote: »
    I've noticed a few areas in Derry recently that used to be mown down completely by the council, have only been cut at the edges, with a lot left uncut and to grow wild.

    Not sure if its a policy or if they are just taking the easy way out?

    This is called an All Ireland Pollinator Plan so presumably it includes the North, a lot of councils have signed up to it https://pollinators.ie/


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    #74
    Graces7
    Registered Users Posts: 32,634 ✭✭✭✭Graces7


    looksee wrote: »
    This is called an All Ireland Pollinator Plan so presumably it includes the North, a lot of councils have signed up to it https://pollinators.ie/

    Good work.

    also saves on exhaust fumes from mowers so extra good work!


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    #75
    Thud
    Registered Users Posts: 2,547 ✭✭✭Thud


    secman wrote: »
    Our percolation bed is our wild meadow

    What mix did you sow on it?


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    #76
    Graces7
    Registered Users Posts: 32,634 ✭✭✭✭Graces7


    My wild flower driveway is looking totally superb in this glorious weather.. Sat by the gate knitting today just revelling in the gold and purple and white and green glory of it. The cats and I have worn a narrow path through the thigh high growth.. YAY!


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    #77
    Varta
    Closed Accounts Posts: 517 ✭✭✭Varta


    What a night for the garden. Balmy and intoxicating. Scented stock, Honeysuckle, Jasmine and, of course, wild flowers. So many scents that you don't get throughout the day. And then the two big discoveries (for me anyway), Black Elder... smells of herbs and citrus, and Sunflower... that childhood smell of rubber ducks and Cabbage Patch dolls - both have to be right up close. It's great to be alive!


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    #78
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    Varta wrote: »
    What a night for the garden. Balmy and intoxicating. Scented stock, Honeysuckle, Jasmine and, of course, wild flowers. So many scents that you don't get throughout the day. And then the two big discoveries (for me anyway), Black Elder... smells of herbs and citrus, and Sunflower... that childhood smell of rubber ducks and Cabbage Patch dolls - both have to be right up close. It's great to be alive!

    The night scented plants are usually those that have evolved to be pollenated by moths.


    This is a group of valuable pollinators often forgotten when people are creating 'bee friendly' wild flower areas.


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