This one’s a work in progress, so the images I’m sharing are not alive with lush greenery and vibrant flowers. Sometimes nature and gardening blogs focus a lot on end results, and it can be intimidating to think “How am I going to get there?” I think it’s important to recognise that when working with nature (and indeed most things worth working on), it’s all a process. You tend not to go from A to B in an instant. With that in mind, please enjoy these images of two fairly boring looking mounds.
The story behind these vaguely sculpted mounds is intrinsically linked to the pond, because by and large they’re comprised of what I excavated to make it (the pond). I suppose in the past I might have considered this massive pile of stuff an annoyance, something I needed to ‘get rid of’, but I ended up seeing it as an opportunity to create something wholly beneficial to a variety of wildlife.
For quite some time now, this excavated soil sat in the garden in one big pile, imposing and relatively featureless. What astounded me though, was just how many plants managed to find themselves there within less than a year. Nature always finds a way. By the end of Summer last year, it was full of Oxeye Daisies, Poppies, Purple Toadflax, Greater Willowherb, Nettles, Docks, Herb Robert, Hedge Bedstraw and more. It was alive with the buzz of bees and the beating of butterfly wings. This messy mound had been colonised naturally had become a productive cog in the local ecosystem, and with no intervention from me. Indeed, this on a micro-scale is a good indication of how we can re-wild our landscapes.
Far from being a simple mound of topsoil though, this is quite a mix of different mediums. It’s got a bit of topsoil in it, but is largely comprised of chalky subsoil, sand, and gravel. This means it’s a very free draining, but relatively “poor” soil (in nutrient terms). Luckily, not only is this kind of soil ideal for a variety of plants, but the plants it is ideal for happen to be incredibly useful for all sorts of wildlife.
The more I read (and the more I thought about it), it became obvious that most native UK wildflowers are actually well suited to poor soils; they have adapted to them and are capable of thriving without easy access to a bounty of nutrients. Plus, because wildflowers are (or at least were) so ubiquitous, pollinators, birds and a variety of insects have adapted to become quite reliant on them for sources of nectar, pollen, food, and shelter.
So, observing this wild-looking mound at the height of Summer 2020, I decided that I would sculpt the mounds and make something a little more considered, while still retaining the wild feel. Two months ago, I began shaping them – trying to keep them as informal as possible – and cut a small pathway through them which, when time allows, will lead to a nice arbour area (and not an old caravan!)
I then bought UK native wildflower / grass mix seed which is suited to chalky soil (I sowed at about 5g/m2, which is a little higher than the standard rate but allowed for my dog disrupting them and birds eating some of the seed). I mixed the seed with dry sand at about a 10:1 ratio (this helps with even distribution of seed). I then scattered (as evenly as possible, up/down/left/right) and lightly stepped over the mounds to ensure contact with the soil.
Up until about a week or two ago, the weather was extremely dry but cold, so I was actually having to water the mounds on a daily basis. However now, at the time of writing, loads of seeds have germinated and I can’t wait to see how it fares over the summer.
Because I sowed quite late in Spring, I’m not expecting many flowers this year but hopefully the plants will get a good foothold before springing back nice and early next year. Then it’ll be a case of using a scythe to cut back after flowering (September/October time), leaving the seed heads on the soil for a short while (for the birds but also to allow the plants to spread) and then the seed heads and cuttings will go on the compost heap.
It’s worth noting that these mounds are not going to look particularly neat; it’ll be full of grasses and all sorts of perennial plants - ironically, some of these plants some would consider weeds. However, as I’ve mentioned a few times now, excessive intervention, weeding, and being too “neat and tidy” in the garden might feel the right thing to do aesthetically, but it is not necessarily the best way to help wildlife. In my view, the more we can do in our gardens that move away from the invented notion of what ‘looks nice’ and move closer toward supporting ecosystems, the better.
It’s tempting to go off on a tangent here about the whole idea of aesthetics, but that probably warrants several posts of its own, so I’ll stop here!
If you do have a garden, even if small, consider trying something like this for yourself. The soil doesn’t need to be great quality and even if it’s not free-draining, there are plenty of wildflowers that will thrive on waterlogged soil. Wildflowers are a great benefit to wildlife; they provide shelter for grasshoppers and crickets, food for beetles and other insects, lots of nectar and pollen for pollinators, habitats for caterpillars and other grubs, as well as seed, nest materials and sustenance for a variety of birds. In addition, they’re beautiful in their wildness and should grow and spread reliably as each year passes by – with little maintenance required.
I’ll keep you updated with the progress. Here’s hoping for a bit more rain to help the seeds along a bit and then lots of warm, June sunshine. In the meantime, here’s a link to the seeds mix I used along with the varieties of plant within.
Typical Major Wildflower Species:
Clustered bellflower Campanula glomerata
Wild Carrot Daucus carota
Eyebright Euphrasia nemerosa
Common knapweed Centaurea nigra
Lady's Bedstraw Galium verum
Field scabious Knautia arvensis
Rough Hawkbit Leontodon hispidus
Fairy Flax Linum catharticum
Birdsfoot trefoil Lotus corniculatus
Black medick Medicago lupilina
Red Bartsia Odontites vernus
Ribwort Plantain Plantago lanceolata
Hairy Plantain Plantago media
Self-heal Prunella vulgaris
Meadow Buttercup Ranunculus acris
Yellow Rattle Rhinanthus minor
Small Scabious Scabiosa columbaria
Greater stitchwort Stellaria holostea
Saw-wort Surratula tinctoria
Wild red Clover Trifolium pratense
Grasses:
Common Bent Agrostis cappilaris
Meadow foxtail Alopercus pratensis
Crested dog's-tail Cynosaurus cristatus
Cocksfoot Dactylis glomerata
Fescues Festuca sp. (ovina)
Smooth-stalked Meadow-grass Poa pratensis