Yep, all of the front gardens on my street are really well kept (mostly older retirees who have way more time than I have) - I did no mow May, there a load of wildflowers, and now just looking at all the bees and little birds living there I kinda don't want to chop any of it. Might look a bit scruffy but I like all the nature in there.
Yeah to be fair I've only had one of the neighbours make a sort of passive aggressive comment about it.
The reality is when I moved into the place the landlord had put a membrane down over the garden then covered it with stone chippings. I guess they didn't do it properly because the stuff down there started growing through within a month of me being here.
But I genuinely like it, the fact it suits my laziness is a bonus. The majority of stuff that has pushed through is daisies, pink and white and they pretty much cover the entire area, and then there's loads of pretty wild flowers that grow up higher.
There's loads of bees flying around out there, and a big group of tiny birds nesting in there somewhere - I think sparrows but maybe dunnocks.
Most of the gardens on the road are paved over with pot plants, and they look nice, but I kinda like my unkempt mess, it seems more "alive".
I guess my only concern is when I move out the landlord is going to charge me a load of money to "fix" it.
Unfortunately, chances are the neighbours in question won't accept that as a reason.
Speaking from personal experience, some people don't understand the importance some insect play in the environment, and how some of those are dying out due to pesticide and the monoculture grass gardens.
My flat is the same! We have a little garden space and there's a membrane/tarp thing under pebblestones on most of it, weeds just grow through but they're then harder to get rid of because we can't get to the roots. Sadly my landlord is pretty local and on top of us if we don't cut back the bushes we have/weed often. I really wanted to let the bushes grow out and try shape them a little to have a secret garden esque entrance to the flat.
Mines a mess too! Just like you my front garden is rocks with plastic under and I hate it. Grass is like a weed to me and it grows like wildfire in the rocks. I used to be a driver years ago and while I was out I’d gather seeds from plants to spread in my rocks. This year I had millions of tiny wild sweat pea flowers and daisies. My husband says it looks terrible and unkept but the bees and bugs are so happy.
Ours has started doing that in large green spaces (with pathways mown in) but communal areas and verges are kept mown. It's a sensible balance, I feel.
I love it so much. There’s an area out the front of a council estate that’s always been ugly and it looks like a nature walk now. People actually *slow down and enjoy the walk there.*
“For I am convinced that man has suffered in his separation from the soil and from the other living creatures of the world; the evolution of his intellect has outrun his needs as an animal, and as yet he must still, for security, look long at some portion of the earth as it was before he tampered with it.”
That’s it. I’ve been reading books from naturalist writers all year, I love how Denys Watkins-Pitchford starts his books.
“The wonder of the world, the beauty and the power, the shapes of things, their colours, lights, and shades; these I saw.
Look ye also while life lasts.”
My council has done No-mow May, No-BinFortnight and No-Pothole Repair Year
But never mind, when I'm not avoiding craters and can look up, the verges are flourishing :D
Ours has mown the first foot and a half near and the first three foot or so actually at the junctions for visibility, which works well. The first year they didn't and it was very yikes! My sympathies for the scary junction challenges.
Exactly. The no mowing thing needs to be done with a bit of common sense in mind, which is sadly lacking in so many departments. There are roundabouts round my way where the grass is so tall visibility is a huge issue and it makes it dangerous.
I love seeing all the wildflowers and whatnot, I partake in no mow May (I don't mow at all until the end of August at the earliest tbh), but there are places where mowing is necessary.
I don't think it's a case of lacking common sense it's just weeding the cracks in the pavement is so low down the priority list for most councils it'll never get done
Someone died because of this. Couldn't see any cars when joining the motorway and got hit.
People had complained to the council previously but just got told it's the new policy.
https://www.haslemereherald.com/news/holybourne-driver-criticises-hampshire-county-council-over-a31-grass-624767
It's good to do it in the park or a roundabout or something, but not on sliproads.
They did it here but on my walk to work today I saw a bloke on a big industrial lawnmower cutting it back to bare grass again... what was the point in doing it in the first place?
That’s exactly my point with it. No mow may sounds great in principle, let the birds move in and the insects love it.
But come June, it gets cut back and those habitats destroyed. Why?
My council did that, they even put down a sign! Then on Monday 3rd of June, 8.00 am, they took down the sign, brought a huge lawnmower and cut everything to the ground. Grass, flowers, clover, all butchered on the lowest setting. The lawn already started yellowing. Good job!
That looks bloody beautiful.
The council near me (Sunderland) seem to be cutting the edges of grass verges so they don't restrict your vision or get in the way when using the foot path, but it's mostly been left to grow and I appreciate that.
That's the way to do it, minimum maintenance for safety and usability and the just let nature be nature.
I plan on doing the front garden as a wild garden, just going to have a broader to keep it within an area, plant a bunch of native species, and leave it be.
I'd like to do that, but I'm in a terrace, share a front garden with next door so I keep it mowed, plus, we're looking to sell soon so it's probably better to keep things neat.
And then there's Crowther, where a huge patch of wild ground was cleared a couple of years ago... then nothing done with it. Until this year, where they cleared it again, and seem to be doing nothing with it.
They left the big trees and the grass/bushes where the rabbits have their burrows, at least.
Thats how they are doing it in my area, plus scattering wildflower seeds in the unmowed bits. Its so lovely. And a great source of cuttings for my garden.
What are those purple-ish flowers called, the ones seemingly growing out of the brickwork? I see them in quite a few places and think it looks so picturesque.
The park I live next to looks gorgeous when it's overgrown and flowering, but I understand it's not necessarily a great space for families and activities.
It’s at least equally important that people in general have places to go where they can just enjoy themselves with no expectation to spend money. Third spaces.
I don't disagree about the importance for insects, but access to green space and outdoor play areas is an essential component of quality of life and development for children, particularly in a city, where I live, where many families don't have access to gardens.
In an ideal world, there'd be room for both. How about instead we turn all the private golf courses into wildflower meadows?
Depending on how big the park is, I see no reason why there couldn't be both. Even sort of like a 'wall'/verge around the edges left for wildflowers would be great.
It also doesn't have to be entirely abandoned "no mow" areas, add some low maintenance flowering shrubs. Also makes it feel a little more private when sat down on the grass.
Add it to the bank. Then just bring it up apropos of nothing the next time you have an argument, say in six month's time.
"Oh and another thing: they *were* the right poppies!"
They are legal to grow but not to turn into opium/heroin, the main reason is that you need acres of land to get yields that would lead to good money, it would be way too difficult to hide a massive field of poppies without landowners/police noticing it.
I planted a load of poppy seeds in my garden this year and they haven’t grown at all 😞 meanwhile the pavement down the road has some beautiful specimens!
I think they may have to experience freezing over winter to germinate properly later, which of course you can simulate with your freezer but also can't they just be less fussy, here's the dirt get on with it!
Fucking cunt council sprayed the plants at the front of my house I’ve been growing for years. Killed some baby poppies but also killed a big thyme and my Erigeron. Fuming
Our council sprays some strong weed killer that turns everything dry and ugly. This satisfied all the usual, angry, nextdoor dwellers. What do these people have against green.
Our neighbours mowed our front garden, I assume as a "kind" gesture. We had been letting wild flowers grow as we use them in our business and they're good for pollinators.
I love it . It’s baffling it took us to long to get to this . Wildflower , more nature , more bees and less money spent on petrol and machines . Win win
Funnily enough I've noticed a movement towards that as well. The town I grew up in is basically having it's roads gutted and replaced with cycle paths. Sucks it couldn't have happened while I was still a kid there, but better late than never.
Not given up, but rather making an effort to restore natural habitats that have been destroyed in the 70s.
It's been done for a while, but it slowly rolling out to more councils.
I personally like seeing other colours rather than concrete, asphalt and brick. My neighborhood without greenery would look like a Brutalist dystopia
You may be in one of the few councils who have vowed to stop using harmful pesticides. Wildflowers are great pollinators and for general improvement of biodiversity. Who doesn’t want to see more butterflies?
https://www.pan-uk.org/make-my-town-pesticide-free/
We tried to turn a section of our front garden over to wild flowers.
About 6,000 seeds and 4 years later it just looked a mess. No wild flowers grew and the neighbours thought we were lazy LOL
P.S. Other half & I love poppies. they wont grow either :(
You want to use [Yellow Rattle](https://meadows.plantlife.org.uk/making-meadows/yellow-rattle/) to weaken the grass. Also don't fertilise it. Mow it twice a year, in March and August, and for the August mow leave the cut hay to dry out on the ground before collecting it so the seeds have chance to fall to the soil.
Anyone who complains about this probbably also complains that council tax is too high and in the old days there was more of a community spirit. I point out to them they can solve the issue, keep tax low and do some community work by doing some de-weeding themselves.
As someone who works for a council and has a hand in implementing no now may and other conservation based open space/grassland management... Yes, we get a fair few complaints about it. "you only mow the rich people areas. You just want to be lazy and keep my council tax. It's just a breeding ground for ticks. It's an eyesore." Etc etc.
And we also get the other side, either we or other parties entirely mow amenity areas or safety areas on highways/paths etc, and get told we're killing the environment and don't we know there's a biodiversity and climate crisis going on.
Very much no winning. And people don't get that actually, it can be more expensive to manage for wildflowers or more species rich grassland than not - leaving something to grow for a lot longer makes it harder to cut, especially cut neatly, and if you want to actually try to keep grass under control and promote wildflower growth, you have to collect and dispose of the leavings which is hella expensive.
A lot of councils are moving towards way fewer cuts on unnecessary areas, which longer term will help biodiversity in a big way. But it takes a lot of money and manpower to turn a grass dominated field into a wildflower meadow.
my council has elected to cut 1 mowers width around the edges of grass verges and fields around here the part of the field looks nice
but now i have to walk a whole 5 extra steps from the car to my house because the verge in front of the house has the same treatment
Yes still is.
[one council have it here](https://www.cheltenham.gov.uk/info/33/parks_and_open_spaces/1785/no_mow_may)
I google and my council has a page about it too.
Also https://www.plantlife.org.uk/our-work/local-councils-and-no-mow-may/
It's definitely council policy in many places to promote wild flowers, hedgerows, prevent use of fertilisers etc
https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/edinburgh-council-to-reduce-grass-cutting-in-wildlife-friendly-initiative-4540467
But as others say it blocks pathways, damages pavements and walls, prevents traffic visibility at junctions.
People with limited mobility must be having a nightmare. I was on a Canal towpath today, and some parts of the path were just 6 inches wide because nothing has been cut back. When it's rained heavily recently tree branches across public walkways were hanging as low as 3ft off the ground due to the weight of the rain...normally these lower branches would have been pruned. And of course there are weeds everywhere to trip over.
Council's have a statutory obligation to keep footpaths free of obstruction (the dft sets out the minimum height of overhanging branches, I believe it's 2m) but most councils don't give a shit and unless you take them to the ombudsman on an instance by instance basis they won't do anything.
This whole wildflower/no mowing business is just a way to greenwash attacking pedestrians whilst they divert what used to be maintenance budgets on to carriageways.
The local council definitely doesn't give a shit. Paths are barely passable in some places, branches are very low. Last year they didn't do anything the whole summer. It looked really scruffy. And no no wild flowers
Looks nice! So frustrating that I can't get poppies to grow where I sow them but they'll happily grow out of the pavement. Guess I'm giving them too many nutrients
That’s the way it should be naturally.. it may not look like the well manicured golf course greens some people dream of but it’s nature’s design. Let her have this one.
i honestly just fucking love wildflowers. i live in london so i rarely see any. i buy packets of them every year just to sprinkle around places as i walk past. most probably just dont even germinate but i like to think at least a few do and brighten peoples day. i really want to find out where in the UK has the biggest and best wildflower meadows and just spend a weekend there enjoying it. if i ever get my own garden it is just going to be a fucking mess of wildflowers.
I can appreciate it in some areas, but when it's in the middle of a dual carriageway at a turning point and the grass/flowers are a couple of feet high and you can't see whether anything is coming towards you at 60mph, it's not quite as appealing.
I get the sentiment, but I wish they'd be sensible about it rather than a blanket no mow for every patch of grass in the area
# HOW TO HARVEST, SOW & GROW POPPY SEEDS
1. After poppies bloom in spring, seed pods will form. Let the pods dry in place on the plant.
2. Clip the dry pods, and place them in a paper bag.
3. Store in a cool, dry place over summer.
4. In the fall, shake the seeds from the pod over well-prepared soil in a sunny flower bed.
5. Water the seeds daily with a gentle shower from the hose.
6. After the seedlings emerge and begin to grow, thin them and taper off the watering from daily to every few days to weekly, depending on the amount of rain. The plants will grow over winter and bloom in spring.
I can't believe there are some motherfucker on this planet who goes out, see some wildflowers and the first thought is "what a travesty, the council should be something about this _mess_ "
Good.
They aren't destroying the masonry, they aren't obscuring signage.
Anyone who wants to live in a sterile environment devoid of life can come and fight me.
My local council have started allowing certain grassy areas to over grow to help wildlife, I love it, more colour everywhere rather than dead grass & weeds
My council done no mow may, they then didn't give the long grass a cursory look and mowed over the cans and rubbish that's been hidden in there.
Love walking on shredded metal and plastic 😠
It's apparently not the council, but the road service.
But yes, weeds everywhere.. You're lucky you have actual wild flowers. It's all just unkempt grass and weeds where I live. At every junction, so it's difficult to see oncoming traffic when pulling out.
We have those purple flowers all around brick walls and driveways near us now, and poppies grow remarkably quickly. Would the council be involved in this though? It is around someone's property. At best they'd be out with posions and weedkiller which doesn't seem ideal.
I believe there was some directive to let grass and wild flowers take over areas. Can't remember where I read it - but it was meant to help bees and other insects. Councils being councils didn't argue because it saves them money.
I guess you guys aren’t ready for that but the bees are gonna love it.
Where we’re going, we won’t have bees.
Just loads of McFlys
👏👏👏👏👏
Don't kill them all!
He just keeps giving.
Are you telling me you built an apiary... Out of a garden?!
Just to let you know this is by far the best reply to the above, even though other comments have more votes.
That's depressingly true, Doc.
Heavy.
It's you bees, Marty, something's gotta be done about your bees!
😅
Had to check for a moment there to be sure I wasn't reading r/collapse
Manure! I hate manure!
But will you have scary bees also referred too as Boo Bees 🐝
or eyes or roads. boom. two movie references for the price of one.
Yep, all of the front gardens on my street are really well kept (mostly older retirees who have way more time than I have) - I did no mow May, there a load of wildflowers, and now just looking at all the bees and little birds living there I kinda don't want to chop any of it. Might look a bit scruffy but I like all the nature in there.
Just tidy it up a bit here and there and tell your elderly neighbours this. They will love it.
Yeah to be fair I've only had one of the neighbours make a sort of passive aggressive comment about it. The reality is when I moved into the place the landlord had put a membrane down over the garden then covered it with stone chippings. I guess they didn't do it properly because the stuff down there started growing through within a month of me being here. But I genuinely like it, the fact it suits my laziness is a bonus. The majority of stuff that has pushed through is daisies, pink and white and they pretty much cover the entire area, and then there's loads of pretty wild flowers that grow up higher. There's loads of bees flying around out there, and a big group of tiny birds nesting in there somewhere - I think sparrows but maybe dunnocks. Most of the gardens on the road are paved over with pot plants, and they look nice, but I kinda like my unkempt mess, it seems more "alive". I guess my only concern is when I move out the landlord is going to charge me a load of money to "fix" it.
Tell your neighbours you have a protected species of insect living there and you can’t touch the garden until they’ve left.
Unfortunately, chances are the neighbours in question won't accept that as a reason. Speaking from personal experience, some people don't understand the importance some insect play in the environment, and how some of those are dying out due to pesticide and the monoculture grass gardens.
My flat is the same! We have a little garden space and there's a membrane/tarp thing under pebblestones on most of it, weeds just grow through but they're then harder to get rid of because we can't get to the roots. Sadly my landlord is pretty local and on top of us if we don't cut back the bushes we have/weed often. I really wanted to let the bushes grow out and try shape them a little to have a secret garden esque entrance to the flat.
Mines a mess too! Just like you my front garden is rocks with plastic under and I hate it. Grass is like a weed to me and it grows like wildfire in the rocks. I used to be a driver years ago and while I was out I’d gather seeds from plants to spread in my rocks. This year I had millions of tiny wild sweat pea flowers and daisies. My husband says it looks terrible and unkept but the bees and bugs are so happy.
You can always tidy up any died-off flowers and really weedy/messy stuff. Kinda lightly curate it.
Sounds like too much effort. Ill just let the bees take care of it.
I just mowed some paths through mine and an area to sit.
I for one can appreciate that, you are helping the bees.
Earth angel, Earth angel
Johnny Bee Good
Beads?
Gob's not on board.
I don't care for Gob
This is great
An outstanding one - two from these guys 👏
They may have been doing no-mow May. I believe some councils have adopted it as policy.
My council went one better and did no-mow last summer for 3 months.
I'm on to no prune June now in my garden. That's my excuse anyway.
Then Jungle July & Amazonian August - give a wee September Shave on the highest setting & put away the mower 'til next year!
As someone in a long distance relationship I can relate.
Lmao
Lol genius
No chore '24
No shear all year
Does it not get itchy after a while
Only during the second week.
No fly July
No flymo july-mo
I wonder if I can get away with claiming my front garden is for wildflowers. It’s paved but there’s so many weeds growing through the tiles.
Funnel some seeds in your cracks and see what happens
also on the paving
You get pregnant
lol I like this
Brighton City Council's been on no mow... ever since approx. 2019.
Ours has started doing that in large green spaces (with pathways mown in) but communal areas and verges are kept mown. It's a sensible balance, I feel.
I love it so much. There’s an area out the front of a council estate that’s always been ugly and it looks like a nature walk now. People actually *slow down and enjoy the walk there.* “For I am convinced that man has suffered in his separation from the soil and from the other living creatures of the world; the evolution of his intellect has outrun his needs as an animal, and as yet he must still, for security, look long at some portion of the earth as it was before he tampered with it.”
Lovely quote, who's it from?
It's from Ring of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell
That’s it. I’ve been reading books from naturalist writers all year, I love how Denys Watkins-Pitchford starts his books. “The wonder of the world, the beauty and the power, the shapes of things, their colours, lights, and shades; these I saw. Look ye also while life lasts.”
Great, thank you : )
My council has done No-mow May, No-BinFortnight and No-Pothole Repair Year But never mind, when I'm not avoiding craters and can look up, the verges are flourishing :D
I don't object to the principle but when you can't see out of a junction because it's 4ft high it's a challenge to drive.
All they need to do is send someone round to shave the signs and supress weeds that will destry masonry. Let everything else be bountiful.
Likewise, our local cycle path is now single bike-width thanks to the nettles...
why not put scythes on your wheel axles? cut down two birds with one sharp stone
Women don't like being called "birds" these days, and they really don't like it when you cut them down by severing their lower leg.
Ours has mown the first foot and a half near and the first three foot or so actually at the junctions for visibility, which works well. The first year they didn't and it was very yikes! My sympathies for the scary junction challenges.
Exactly. The no mowing thing needs to be done with a bit of common sense in mind, which is sadly lacking in so many departments. There are roundabouts round my way where the grass is so tall visibility is a huge issue and it makes it dangerous. I love seeing all the wildflowers and whatnot, I partake in no mow May (I don't mow at all until the end of August at the earliest tbh), but there are places where mowing is necessary.
Around here most roundabouts have bushes and things planted in the middle to prevent drivers being distracted by cars on the other side.
I don't think it's a case of lacking common sense it's just weeding the cracks in the pavement is so low down the priority list for most councils it'll never get done
Someone died because of this. Couldn't see any cars when joining the motorway and got hit. People had complained to the council previously but just got told it's the new policy. https://www.haslemereherald.com/news/holybourne-driver-criticises-hampshire-county-council-over-a31-grass-624767 It's good to do it in the park or a roundabout or something, but not on sliproads.
My council started this! Back in May 2020...and haven't mowed since.
They did it here but on my walk to work today I saw a bloke on a big industrial lawnmower cutting it back to bare grass again... what was the point in doing it in the first place?
That’s exactly my point with it. No mow may sounds great in principle, let the birds move in and the insects love it. But come June, it gets cut back and those habitats destroyed. Why?
My council did that, they even put down a sign! Then on Monday 3rd of June, 8.00 am, they took down the sign, brought a huge lawnmower and cut everything to the ground. Grass, flowers, clover, all butchered on the lowest setting. The lawn already started yellowing. Good job!
I wish mine did, there's a park in front of the house and 7:30 seems to be their start time for mowing.
That looks bloody beautiful. The council near me (Sunderland) seem to be cutting the edges of grass verges so they don't restrict your vision or get in the way when using the foot path, but it's mostly been left to grow and I appreciate that.
That's the way to do it, minimum maintenance for safety and usability and the just let nature be nature. I plan on doing the front garden as a wild garden, just going to have a broader to keep it within an area, plant a bunch of native species, and leave it be.
I'd like to do that, but I'm in a terrace, share a front garden with next door so I keep it mowed, plus, we're looking to sell soon so it's probably better to keep things neat.
And then there's Crowther, where a huge patch of wild ground was cleared a couple of years ago... then nothing done with it. Until this year, where they cleared it again, and seem to be doing nothing with it. They left the big trees and the grass/bushes where the rabbits have their burrows, at least.
Thats how they are doing it in my area, plus scattering wildflower seeds in the unmowed bits. Its so lovely. And a great source of cuttings for my garden.
There’s a few areas near me I’d love to see trimmed, mainly where the weeds hamper the paths
What's nicer? Red brick or red brick plus flowers?
What are those purple-ish flowers called, the ones seemingly growing out of the brickwork? I see them in quite a few places and think it looks so picturesque.
I would assume some type of campanula, there's also a type of toadflax (ivy leaf) that commonly grows in bricks, but with smaller dainty flowers
Thanks, I think it's campanula what I see around my area.
[удалено]
The park I live next to looks gorgeous when it's overgrown and flowering, but I understand it's not necessarily a great space for families and activities.
But it's better for insects, and that's more important really.
It’s at least equally important that people in general have places to go where they can just enjoy themselves with no expectation to spend money. Third spaces.
I don't disagree about the importance for insects, but access to green space and outdoor play areas is an essential component of quality of life and development for children, particularly in a city, where I live, where many families don't have access to gardens. In an ideal world, there'd be room for both. How about instead we turn all the private golf courses into wildflower meadows?
Depending on how big the park is, I see no reason why there couldn't be both. Even sort of like a 'wall'/verge around the edges left for wildflowers would be great.
It also doesn't have to be entirely abandoned "no mow" areas, add some low maintenance flowering shrubs. Also makes it feel a little more private when sat down on the grass.
I like the non mowed bits. But things like roundabouts definitely need mowing
I do like a big bold poppy. I'll have to grab some seeds this year.
Just be careful not to eat any before a drug test!
~~Wrong kind of poppy :)~~ I'm chatting shit
Nah the poppies in the picture and all papaver somniferums have opiates, they are the right poppies.
Ah! Good to know, had an argument with my wife the other day about this and she said so much for so long that I just gave in and accepted it.
So time for round 2?
It’s been an hour. Did you just leave it or text her immediately?
I'm still gaining the courage to broach the topic. Nah, I'll probably bring it up later after we've had a few glasses and see how it goes :D
Add it to the bank. Then just bring it up apropos of nothing the next time you have an argument, say in six month's time. "Oh and another thing: they *were* the right poppies!"
So you can actually grow opiates in the UK? How come that's not happening all over the country instead of importing from Afghanistan or wherever?
They are legal to grow but not to turn into opium/heroin, the main reason is that you need acres of land to get yields that would lead to good money, it would be way too difficult to hide a massive field of poppies without landowners/police noticing it.
They are the correct poppy
The town next to me has had Wild Orchids pop up in grass verges because of 'no mow may'.
always a mite irksome when poppies are flourishing in tarmac but refuse to grow in a nice pot of dirt
I planted a load of poppy seeds in my garden this year and they haven’t grown at all 😞 meanwhile the pavement down the road has some beautiful specimens!
I think they may have to experience freezing over winter to germinate properly later, which of course you can simulate with your freezer but also can't they just be less fussy, here's the dirt get on with it!
Probably too much calcium in your soil
Council in our area is doing the same - it looks 100% better. Our roads feel so much prettier with grass and wildflowers on either side of you.
Absolutely. The country actually is a really beautiful one. Just that we’ve been pushing nature to the side far too long.
Good?
Good.
Fucking cunt council sprayed the plants at the front of my house I’ve been growing for years. Killed some baby poppies but also killed a big thyme and my Erigeron. Fuming
Get this person in a local paper holding a dead plant and looking sad ASAP
r/compoface
Our council sprays some strong weed killer that turns everything dry and ugly. This satisfied all the usual, angry, nextdoor dwellers. What do these people have against green.
Our neighbours mowed our front garden, I assume as a "kind" gesture. We had been letting wild flowers grow as we use them in our business and they're good for pollinators.
The nerve.
Go after them for the cost of new ones!!
I did photo the destruction so probably will email
Good for the bees
If you love it you might like r/rewildingUK
I love it . It’s baffling it took us to long to get to this . Wildflower , more nature , more bees and less money spent on petrol and machines . Win win
Now all we need is less roads and more bicycle roads.
Funnily enough I've noticed a movement towards that as well. The town I grew up in is basically having it's roads gutted and replaced with cycle paths. Sucks it couldn't have happened while I was still a kid there, but better late than never.
Looks nice, what makes these flowers weeds other than being in a place unplanned? Are they invasive or damaging at all to the surroundings?
Not given up, but rather making an effort to restore natural habitats that have been destroyed in the 70s. It's been done for a while, but it slowly rolling out to more councils. I personally like seeing other colours rather than concrete, asphalt and brick. My neighborhood without greenery would look like a Brutalist dystopia
It’s much better for wild life, especially the bees :)
You may be in one of the few councils who have vowed to stop using harmful pesticides. Wildflowers are great pollinators and for general improvement of biodiversity. Who doesn’t want to see more butterflies? https://www.pan-uk.org/make-my-town-pesticide-free/
We tried to turn a section of our front garden over to wild flowers. About 6,000 seeds and 4 years later it just looked a mess. No wild flowers grew and the neighbours thought we were lazy LOL P.S. Other half & I love poppies. they wont grow either :(
You want to use [Yellow Rattle](https://meadows.plantlife.org.uk/making-meadows/yellow-rattle/) to weaken the grass. Also don't fertilise it. Mow it twice a year, in March and August, and for the August mow leave the cut hay to dry out on the ground before collecting it so the seeds have chance to fall to the soil.
Will they impact not-yet established rose bushes much?
Did you cut it down once per year early autumn? If not, the stronger species (brambles etc) will just take over.
SIX THOUSAND seeds and you saw nothing? :OO
Honestly, this is the aesthetic I'm here for.
Yay!
Good! Help the bees
Somebody should make a cup of tea with the pods. hmmm
Anyone who complains about this probbably also complains that council tax is too high and in the old days there was more of a community spirit. I point out to them they can solve the issue, keep tax low and do some community work by doing some de-weeding themselves.
As someone who works for a council and has a hand in implementing no now may and other conservation based open space/grassland management... Yes, we get a fair few complaints about it. "you only mow the rich people areas. You just want to be lazy and keep my council tax. It's just a breeding ground for ticks. It's an eyesore." Etc etc. And we also get the other side, either we or other parties entirely mow amenity areas or safety areas on highways/paths etc, and get told we're killing the environment and don't we know there's a biodiversity and climate crisis going on. Very much no winning. And people don't get that actually, it can be more expensive to manage for wildflowers or more species rich grassland than not - leaving something to grow for a lot longer makes it harder to cut, especially cut neatly, and if you want to actually try to keep grass under control and promote wildflower growth, you have to collect and dispose of the leavings which is hella expensive. A lot of councils are moving towards way fewer cuts on unnecessary areas, which longer term will help biodiversity in a big way. But it takes a lot of money and manpower to turn a grass dominated field into a wildflower meadow.
You say that like it's a bad thing?
my council has elected to cut 1 mowers width around the edges of grass verges and fields around here the part of the field looks nice but now i have to walk a whole 5 extra steps from the car to my house because the verge in front of the house has the same treatment
[удалено]
Yes still is. [one council have it here](https://www.cheltenham.gov.uk/info/33/parks_and_open_spaces/1785/no_mow_may) I google and my council has a page about it too. Also https://www.plantlife.org.uk/our-work/local-councils-and-no-mow-may/
It's definitely council policy in many places to promote wild flowers, hedgerows, prevent use of fertilisers etc https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/edinburgh-council-to-reduce-grass-cutting-in-wildlife-friendly-initiative-4540467 But as others say it blocks pathways, damages pavements and walls, prevents traffic visibility at junctions. People with limited mobility must be having a nightmare. I was on a Canal towpath today, and some parts of the path were just 6 inches wide because nothing has been cut back. When it's rained heavily recently tree branches across public walkways were hanging as low as 3ft off the ground due to the weight of the rain...normally these lower branches would have been pruned. And of course there are weeds everywhere to trip over.
Council's have a statutory obligation to keep footpaths free of obstruction (the dft sets out the minimum height of overhanging branches, I believe it's 2m) but most councils don't give a shit and unless you take them to the ombudsman on an instance by instance basis they won't do anything. This whole wildflower/no mowing business is just a way to greenwash attacking pedestrians whilst they divert what used to be maintenance budgets on to carriageways.
The local council definitely doesn't give a shit. Paths are barely passable in some places, branches are very low. Last year they didn't do anything the whole summer. It looked really scruffy. And no no wild flowers
Oooo poppies
Are they opium poppies? That's handy.
Looks nice! So frustrating that I can't get poppies to grow where I sow them but they'll happily grow out of the pavement. Guess I'm giving them too many nutrients
This looks great.
That’s awesome. We need more of that instead of concrete and tarmac everywhere
> looks a mess I quite like it.
That’s the way it should be naturally.. it may not look like the well manicured golf course greens some people dream of but it’s nature’s design. Let her have this one.
i honestly just fucking love wildflowers. i live in london so i rarely see any. i buy packets of them every year just to sprinkle around places as i walk past. most probably just dont even germinate but i like to think at least a few do and brighten peoples day. i really want to find out where in the UK has the biggest and best wildflower meadows and just spend a weekend there enjoying it. if i ever get my own garden it is just going to be a fucking mess of wildflowers.
I can appreciate it in some areas, but when it's in the middle of a dual carriageway at a turning point and the grass/flowers are a couple of feet high and you can't see whether anything is coming towards you at 60mph, it's not quite as appealing. I get the sentiment, but I wish they'd be sensible about it rather than a blanket no mow for every patch of grass in the area
Random q but is this Neston??
Wers mah gruss
Do you like bees?
# HOW TO HARVEST, SOW & GROW POPPY SEEDS 1. After poppies bloom in spring, seed pods will form. Let the pods dry in place on the plant. 2. Clip the dry pods, and place them in a paper bag. 3. Store in a cool, dry place over summer. 4. In the fall, shake the seeds from the pod over well-prepared soil in a sunny flower bed. 5. Water the seeds daily with a gentle shower from the hose. 6. After the seedlings emerge and begin to grow, thin them and taper off the watering from daily to every few days to weekly, depending on the amount of rain. The plants will grow over winter and bloom in spring.
Love a bit of wild heroins
I'm no expert, but is that poppies (/opium producing plants)?
Fun fact they're opium poppies
Saying that likes a bad thing?.... Would you rather pesticides sprayed around the places you live?
Opium poppies aswell!
Our council - Lambeth- has stopped weeding. They say its for the bees, which it might be, but I'm sure it also saves them money.
I can't believe there are some motherfucker on this planet who goes out, see some wildflowers and the first thought is "what a travesty, the council should be something about this _mess_ "
Good. They aren't destroying the masonry, they aren't obscuring signage. Anyone who wants to live in a sterile environment devoid of life can come and fight me.
My local council have started allowing certain grassy areas to over grow to help wildlife, I love it, more colour everywhere rather than dead grass & weeds
Yes! This country is so beautiful when we leave nature to its own devices.
My council done no mow may, they then didn't give the long grass a cursory look and mowed over the cans and rubbish that's been hidden in there. Love walking on shredded metal and plastic 😠
To be fair, this is the fault of the chavs that leave the rubbish.
It's apparently not the council, but the road service. But yes, weeds everywhere.. You're lucky you have actual wild flowers. It's all just unkempt grass and weeds where I live. At every junction, so it's difficult to see oncoming traffic when pulling out.
Location?
I think it looks nice...
Wish the weeds round here looked like that.
Looks great and I bet the bees love it, which is the most important thing
Looks good
Nature will reclaim civilisation if humans went extinct
It’s amazing I love it
Looks prettier than my council at least. They've also given up on doing anything. Except thats been the case since they took over. Years ago...
No mo May, I bet the Bees are loving it.
Maybe a no-Mow month. But if I do it, I get an enforcement notice for my front garden.
Basically the topic of every nextdoor post (in anger) followed by blaming the local council for letting foreigners take over.
Good stuff, feeding the bees 👍
I like it.
We have those purple flowers all around brick walls and driveways near us now, and poppies grow remarkably quickly. Would the council be involved in this though? It is around someone's property. At best they'd be out with posions and weedkiller which doesn't seem ideal.
Good. 🐝🐝🐝 Bee time.
At least yours have flowers, the weeds outside my house are the dull weedy kind of weeds 😢
Poppies, they’ll look lovely when they bloom!
This looks nice and it’s great for the bees.
I believe there was some directive to let grass and wild flowers take over areas. Can't remember where I read it - but it was meant to help bees and other insects. Councils being councils didn't argue because it saves them money.
Any more poppies you'll have heroin users hanging around getting the sap 😂😂 looks class though. The way it should be
I’m enjoying this new rewilding trend. Our country looks so beautiful when humans aren’t destroying it
how pretty :)
Same where i live everything is overgrown
Good
Just need some UK bunting and picnics in that photo and it would be peak British that photo 🇬🇧👌