As the green fades to brown in the garden and the yellow rattle finishes shedding its seeds, early August is the right time for mowing the wildflower garden. Traditionally, meadows were mown to provide hay for livestock during the winter months and animals such as cows or sheep were allowed to graze the stubble left behind in the meantime.
As mentioned before, this stops the sward becoming too dense and shrubby, provides space and light for new seedlings and – by removing the cuttings instead of allowing them to compost – it stops the site becoming too fertile, which encourages diversity.
In the absence of some burly, scythe-wielding Victorian farmhands and a couple of Herdwick sheep, I have to be both mower and grazer on my plot in order to cut growth down to around the desired 5cm mark. It’s always a labour-intensive job attempting this task with just a set of long-handled lawn shears, but it was especially so after this year’s relatively rampant growth. Sometimes I found it easier to simply kneel down and tear handfuls of the stuff out with my bare hands, trying – wherever possible – to leave the rarer plants alone to run fully to seed.
Among the many other valuable aspects of wildflower patches I could really appreciate the shelter that they provide to smaller animals and the microclimate they create close to the soil. As I cut away I noticed that the taller growth had shielded the ground so effectively that it was still very damp despite it having been weeks since the last meaningful spell of rain.
The damp shade and protection from predatory eyes were clearly being enjoyed by the frogs, lizards and slow worms that I discovered as I progressed. I’m sure that they were none too pleased at the intrusion, but they hopped, scuttled and slithered off to shady retreats nearby, so I’ve no doubt they’ll all be fine.
With August now behind me, all that remains is to scatter the seeds I’ve collected and plant the few flowers that I grew on at home in some of the gaps I’ve now created. Although the show is pretty much over for another year there’s should be a small autumnal display before everything shuts down for winter.
