Old TV gardeners can't cope with change

[lpm]

Poor Monty Don and Alan Titchmarsh. Heading into extinction because they don't understand modern approaches.

It's in The Telegraph so I won't link. Wild gardening, i.e. deliberately welcoming plants that were once considered weeds, is "not gardening" apparently. They seem to think it's some sort of moral crusade, instead of a new way to make a garden look beautiful.

The trend for the unkempt “wild garden” has been steadily growing among avid gardeners, and reached the point that even weeds were featured at this year’s Chelsea Flower show.

But followers of the latest horticultural trend are barking up the wrong tree, according to Monty Don, who has branded wild gardening as “puritanical nonsense”.

The Gardener’s World presenter and fellow expert Alan Titchmarsh have both criticised the recent fashion for adopting a Laissez-faire approach to lawns and weeds...

They appear to feel personally attacked:

[Don said] "It is as though a so-called ‘wild’ garden that mimics natural conditions is somehow worthier and more moral than one in which mankind’s creative skills are more obviously played out.

“This is puritanical nonsense. If you want a truly wild garden then simply walk away. Leave any patch of ground completely untouched by human hand and it will happily become whatever it wants to be.

“The result might be beautiful and richly satisfying as well as very good for wildlife of all kinds, but it will not be a garden.”

Attempts have been made in recent years to promote No Mow May, during which gardens are enjoined to let their lawns grow wild to aid wildlife, but experts are sceptical about putting ecological morality over human pleasure as a motivation for gardening...

Titchmarsh said in his column: “Gardening is about growing things, sowing seeds, taking cuttings and beautifying our little bit of earth to feed us body and soul.

My garden has never been more successful than this year, which I think is purely down to the cool wet spring and delay to any hot weather. In May a whole bank of wildflowers with nettles and cow parsley and forget-me-nots. And now masses of white and yellow, plus a few poppies.

[IvanV]

They appear to feel personally attacked:

[Don said] "It is as though a so-called ‘wild’ garden that mimics natural conditions is somehow worthier and more moral than one in which mankind’s creative skills are more obviously played out.

“This is puritanical nonsense. If you want a truly wild garden then simply walk away. Leave any patch of ground completely untouched by human hand and it will happily become whatever it wants to be.

“The result might be beautiful and richly satisfying as well as very good for wildlife of all kinds, but it will not be a garden.”

If you compare the grass verges of some people on my road who commonly don't mow their verge, and mine, they are not the same. Mine is more species rich and a better imitation of natural Chiltern grassland than theirs. Theirs look more like grazing land that has been fertilised, and hence is species poor and dominated by rank grasses, and other plants such as docks and nettles that indicate an unnaturally over-fertile piece of ground. I suppose theirs might eventually revert to natural meadow, but it will take a very long time.

I got mine like that through gardening: planning, preparation, seeding and on-going management. The on-going management involves a suitable mowing regime that mimics grazing, taking fertility out of the ground by removing the growth. It also prevents trees from growing. Because otherwise eventually I'd get scrubland, with thorns and the like, which might then act as a nursery for larger trees. Because probably beech forest is the natural climax vegetation where my house is located.

It is often recommended to prepare this kind of garden first with weedkiller. I felt I didn't really need that, though I did weedkill a small area to see how it compared. I did manually pull out a lot of "weeds" - plants in the wrong place, grasses that can become common in lawns but not in species-rich meadows.

I think there is something very similar between some types of Japanese garden and my managed meadow. The Japanese, for example, encourage moss gardens - expanses of moss-covered ground between trees. There are also their low maintenance gravel gardens. Given Monty Don's recent visit to Japan, and excellent commentary on it, I'm a bit surprised he didn't recognise this.

[Boustrophedon]

IvanV is wise.

If I let mine grow wild(er) then I would have half an acre of nettles. Those glowing couples sitting amidst a florabundance of wild flowers that you seen in the Guardian have faked it. To get that effect you have to kill all the weeds with roundup, rotavate the soil and plant your wildflower mix of choice.
It's all bollocks.

The only advance over nettles I have achieved is creeping buttercup and cleavers (Galium aparine).

[TopBadger]

My little wildflower meadow is planted... well rolled (meadow grass supplied like rolled turf).

Looks naff until it flowers, but it's low maintenance which is what I wanted... and was a good fit for the poor soil.

[Aitch]

My little wildflower meadow is planted... well rolled (meadow grass supplied like rolled turf).

Looks naff until it flowers, but it's low maintenance which is what I wanted... and was a good fit for the poor soil.

That's the thing about wild flowers - they seem to prefer poor soil. You should see the prices gardening companies charge for special wildflower soil.

[TopBadger]

My little wildflower meadow is planted... well rolled (meadow grass supplied like rolled turf).

Looks naff until it flowers, but it's low maintenance which is what I wanted... and was a good fit for the poor soil.

That's the thing about wild flowers - they seem to prefer poor soil. You should see the prices gardening companies charge for special wildflower soil.

Special wildflower soil? Does it contain snake oil?

I'm not sure if they do better due to the lack of competition that comes with growing in poor soil rather than preferring poor soil to good, but either way, it worked for me! That it's a good little oasis for wildlife is also nice.

[Herainestold]

All gardening is imposing your will upon the landscape. It is just a question of what kind of regime you wish to impose.

[lpm]

IvanV is wise.

If I let mine grow wild(er) then I would have half an acre of nettles. Those glowing couples sitting amidst a florabundance of wild flowers that you seen in the Guardian have faked it. To get that effect you have to kill all the weeds with roundup, rotavate the soil and plant your wildflower mix of choice.
It's all bollocks.

The only advance over nettles I have achieved is creeping buttercup and cleavers (Galium aparine).

That's where these outdated TV gardeners went astray.

It's not about just leaving something and doing nothing. It needs design. There needs to be a visual progression, with wild merging into managed. And of course behind the scenes the wild area needs a lot of work.

I've never used chemicals. Rotavating is enough to clear grass and churn up seeds. Then you need to buy additional seeds to match the soil type.

Then in early spring there needs to be editing. I cut out most of the brambles and nettles, and that's enough to prevent them taking over. Other things surge ahead. The principle that a weed is a plant you don’t want still applies - you get rid of those plants. It's just that you keep loads of plants others would term weeds.

This year I've got a good crop of wildflowers. Last year I got nothing. It's random weather plus trying to learn what works. These elderly gardeners don't want to learn and are getting left behind.