It’s the lusty month of May, when everything goes blissfully astray *… and let’s include our gardens in that. Prompted by recent copious sunshine and rain, all green things are racing skywards - and that includes many that you may think of as weeds.
Many of these weeds are, however, beneficial rather than noxious. But if these weeds are winning, why not keep them as offerings to the local wildlife? Even better, let your borders run rampant by creating your own mini wildflower meadow.
This is music to the ears of nature-lovers like me. I’m mainly in the office and not often in my garden, so I have to be pretty relaxed about the fact that I can’t tell where my lawn ends or the borders begin, or that most of the plants in my garden got there without my help.
Here’s how that’s panning out as of this morning. I quite like it.
My garden 'edges' are really going for it, with all sorts of things – including bluebells – blooming from nowhere.
It's not tidy, but it is buzzing with spring life - hoverflies and bee-flies, frogs and newts, at least four species of bee, yellow butterflies, red and black ant colonies, blue damselflies, and the resident birds: our winter dunnock has recently become a twosome, so has the robin. There are corvids galore and two noisy families of starlings nesting in my attic (they'd better get everyone fledged before the swifts get here and claim the spot!). If they're all happy, then I'm happy (and it makes life much easier as I spend less time gardening).
I'm sure that most people's gardens are in a more orderly state, but hopefully there's always a bit of room to walk on the wild side. Here are some ways to add or encourage wildlife-friendly wildflowers in your plot.
WHAT TO GET RID OF
Of course, your garden has to work for you as well as nature. Nobody wants nettles in the lawn, thistles on the patio, brambles up the fences or bindweed, well, anywhere. There are plenty of harmful and invasive species that will need very stern management. Get rid of anything you don't want in places you don't want it.
The beauty of wildlife-friendly gardening is to create an enjoyable or productive space for yourself, and a welcoming space for wildlife. Great if these can co-exist on the same spot, but for many of us it’s a case of setting aside a corner or nook in your garden and encouraging wildlife-friendly plants, including wildflowers and things traditionally considered weeds.
ADD SOME WILDFLOWERS
Here’s how to plant a wildflower meadow in a corner of your lawn or a spare flowerbed. Basically, you can sow them straight onto bare, dug-over soil (no compost, as native wildflower species do better on poor soils because there’s less competition). Wildflowers that can be sown this month include many cottage-garden favourites: field poppy, nasturtium, sunflower, bellflower, cornflower, corncockle, marigold and foxglove. Most of these will flower by the end of this summer. Try this great bee-friendly seed mix you can sow this month, or this one to attract butterflies.
If you're about to convert part of your lawn to wildflower meadow, stop using any fertiliser or weedkiller now and keep it mown down over the summer to weaken the grass, then sow in autumn. If you still have fertile soil, many meadow flowers will be out-competed, so you'd be better off with cornfield species such as cornflower, corn poppy, corn marigold and corncockle, and mix in some barley and wheat grass for good measure.
My garden's pretty rampant, so I often start wildflowers off in pots, where they won’t have to compete against other plants - I got a great crop of mallow last year this way, and teasels the year before - the latter grew to 8-foot high lilac pom-poms, brought in clouds of goldfinches over the winter, and continues to self-seed in the corner.
This year I’ve got these underway in pots until they’re big enough to be planted out. (I can’t actually remember what they are, because my daughter lost the seed label… it happens)
LOOK OUT FOR THIS MONTH'S BEE FAVOURITES
My aquilegias (columbine) self-seed everywhere. Fine with me, as I love them! This one's produced deep purple buds in the past couple of days that look set to open in another day or two. The lungwort here is also bringing in the bees.
Bees are finally banqueting - building up their strength and hopefully their numbers. The apple and cherry trees are looking fantastic round here at the moment, and bees love those - along with the rosemary, But there are plenty more native flowers that'll bloom for bees between now and June, including lungwort, aquilegia, dead-nettles, comfrey, foxgloves, red campion, clover and white woundwort.
Here's how to sow a bee-friendly patch.
LET DANDELIONS LIVE
Most people have no problem growing dandelions; I have some pretty beefy specimens all over my garden. I admit I do remove them from paths and vegetable beds, then either feed them to my pet rabbits or peel, dice and dry the roots to make wholesome dandelion tea or coffee.
The rest I leave – they’re tricky to remove, they’re bright and pretty, and they’re very beneficial for a host of bee and butterfly species - as well as goldfinches which can feed on the puffball seed-heads. Here’s what our Nature’s Home garden correspondent Adrian Thomas has to say about why we should love dandelions.
AND EVEN THE NETTLES!
I have scores of children around, so I don’t want stingers growing all over the place. However, I’ve found some growing in my wild area (above), and they’re currently blossoming with white flowers. My kids know what a nettle looks like, and these ones are out of the way, so I’m going to let them stay – at least until they’ve finished flowering.
Why? Because butterflies and moths love the flowers, and both the small tortoiseshell and the peacock depend on the stinging leaves to keep their growing caterpillars safe from predators, so they can safely reach butterflyhood. In late summer, the flowers turn to seed which birds can help themselves to. Nettles can also be turned into refreshing tea, strong twine and healthful soup!
So there you go - you'll see lots of changes in your gardens this month as everything comes into full bloom - and hopefully lots of interesting birds, bugs, bees and butterflies as well! We look forward to hearing all about it.
* Adapted from Camelot lyrics by Frederick Loewe