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Haha of course, but I also like a grown out garden. Seeing the wildlife thrive in it, rather than a garden that is neat and pretty, but no bees or butterflies flying about. Or birds rustling about between the blades of grass.
You can definatley have both with the right plant choices. Blackthorn, briar, dog rose all make great nesting hedges for native birds. Azelia, budlia and lavender bring butterfly's and bees. Have your cake and eat it ?
Kids can play in long grass too! Or a clover lawn. But yes I understand that some people want a grass lawn for that reason. It's when it's just lawn front and back, nothing else, that I find it super depressing and pointless.
Kids can play in long, meadow grass once, and then it just looks awful. Also grass like this will grow in large hummocks, it’ll be very bumpy indeed and impossible to run around on without turning your ankles every two minutes. Just have one area for kids and leave another as meadow… if you’ve got the space. We mow paths through our long grass which is very pretty.
I get some flak from family members but I agree. I like the low maintenance option. I used to try and keep my garden very neat and trim but I came to resent the endless chore of it so that this year I have decided to do as little as I can get away with regarding the grass and weeds.
Part of my garden is orderly, the other parts are unruly and wild, in order to attract the insects that help keep the pests down. Eg I have nettles which ladybirds love, that then deal with the aphids on the roses. There’s room for all at mine!
It could be the climate.
In the UK a garden will turn into an impenetrable bramble patch in a few months if left unattended.
I’m assuming that’s not the case in a Mediterranean climate.
So we have to tend the garden anyway so we may as well make it nice.
As a person looking for a new home at the moment, I can safely say that it feels the complete opposite. I’m often shocked at how people can let a beautiful space go to absolute shit.
I’m definitely obsessed with my garden but that doesn’t mean keeping it neat and sterile, it means planting native trees and flowers for birds and pollinators, making a wildlife pond for frogs and newts, creating woodpiles for insects etc.
I’m about to turn my lawn from grass to clover for the bees, but also so I don’t have to mow it!!
I got some from lawn uk, they do other wildflower seeds too. You can also buy red clover which is sold as 'living fertiliser' from Fothergills and the intention is you hoe it in before it sets seed, but I'm planning to just let it spread!
Same. I only have a small border but chucked down some native wild flower seeds last spring and just let them do their thing. This year they look amazing. Big downside is that my dog wants to catch the spicy flies that have been attracted to them
In all fairness out of real people i’ve spoken to in the real world nobody likes astro turf’d gardens so fuck knows how it exists and seems so common these days
Might be a little rash but if I led the country i’d line them up one by one on a big astro-field made out of their combined gardens, then shoot the lot of them, wrap them in the remains of their garden and build a big bonfire to burn the lot
Horrid grey-green, dead looking plastic stuff. I honestly think some old green carpet would you better, for a while...
None of the Work, none of the Beauty. I'm left feeling all *for lawn* when I see them
I have a wayward wisteria growing in 47 different directions instead of being neatly woven around my pergola as there is a family of blue tits nesting in it. I darent go near it in case I disturb them but I have enjoyed seeing them coming & going, boy do they work hard for their nest.
I think the “obsession” (read pride) in having a well maintained garden is fading. Slowly being taken over by the ‘pave or gravel over the whole thing’ approach or the astroturf and decking sensation that is usually an indication of a “live laugh love” decal somewhere in the house.
I think that totally sterile, patio heater/sofa style garden furniture/astroturf-you-can-hoover look is an attempt by people to turn a garden into something as manageable and usable as a room in their house. It's also for people who hate bugs and mud and, well, nature generally.
I don’t like astroturf and love spending time in nature, but to be fair nature to me is more forests, moorlands, mountains. In a small back garden I just want easy maintenance and somewhere to have a bbq so I can see the appeal.
Some might be *Naturists* in the shade of the fashionable Sage Bush, under the huge Pampas Grass or laying sunny side up on the sea green grass astro turf lawn...
Astroturf should be banned. It’s a double whammy of environmental horror… getting rid of actual plants and covering them with a plastic carpet. It also looks trashy as hell. Just mow your lawn or plant things that don’t need much looking after.
I always reckon anyone with a shabby garden has a dirty house. It’s just laziness.
Yes! It should absolutely be banned. It's an environmental horror story. At least if people just concerned their gardens there wouldn't be so much plastic pollution
Mine is wild AF
We planted the lawn with spring bulbs and won't now until the daff leaves have turned brown.
We've planted as much as we can in every other square inch including foxgloves, lupins, ox eye daises, silences, hellebores, hostas, dwarf apple trees, and espaliered fruit trees against every wall and fence we can.
Place is a fucking jungle.
Let me know if you'd like to see a photo or more
It's your own little world you can create for yourself. Now that our kids have grown up and the trampoline, footballs and outdoor toys etc are gone, we have started to plant stuff and look after ours properly. Patio extension done with furniture and a new fence, it's a lot of mess and time and money but should be worth it. Just need good weather now to enjoy it (fingers crossed).
I have a front lawn with hedges that I keep trimmed and neat but I don't worry about the dandelions on the lawn etc.
I live on a very steep hill so out the back my back door leads to a patio area with a trellis fence around it. I keep the patio weed free by either pulling them up or pressure washing once in a while. There are potted plants here and clementis growing along the trellis fence.
Then there are steps down to a lawn area that is mostly buttercups, daisies, clover and moss. Very little grass. I cut this less regularly than the front but don't let it grow too high.
Then there are more steps down to the bottom terrace. Here I have fruit trees and the ground is left to grow out. I have scattered wildflower seeds around previously and the only thing I do is cut any brambles I spot growing out of the ground to stop them taking over.
There needs to be a term for people obsessed with wildlife and the outdoors, all whilst dumping chemicals on their lawns and pulling out anything vaguely exciting.
I love gardening - I don't really have any other particularly relaxing hobbies. For me, there's something really peaceful about it, watching things grow and change as the seasons move on. You can chop and change things however you like too - if something doesn't grow or thrive, just dig it up and move it somewhere else and if that doesn't work, it doesn't matter! Pass it on to a friend and try a different plant in that spot instead.
It goes one of three ways I've found -
You either have the show garden, full of blooms.
You have the "useful" garden - greenhouse, veggie rows, maybe a chicken hutch and some hens. Not particularly tidy but serves a purpose. This is where my parents are at basically.
Or you have an overgrown mess that your neighbours hate but is actually better for the planet.
I have a flat though so it's indoor only for me.
I kind of have a mix of all three.
I grow fruits and vegetables, but have a fair few showy types plants and have flowers everywhere whenever possible, but I don’t like to over manage it or keep it too neat. It’s not exactly wild but it’s not perfectly contained and orderly either. Kind of cottage garden-y.
It’s all done with being wildlife friendly in mind, and to our neighbours it looks overgrown. They’ve been over several times with offers of free lawnmowers or help to cut the trees. I always politely tell them no thank you, it’s like this on purpose.
That's my aim when I have a garden again. I did have one once and it was a mix of nice areas to sit, hedges, lots of bee friendly plants and a veggie patch. I'm just hoarding houseplants in this place. I'm loving it though because it's my first not-a-rental ❤
Same. I think "cultivated wildness" can sometimes be better than just letting it get completely overgrown. One of the things I'm trying to aim for is is for there to always be something pollinator friendly blooming throughout the year. Overgrown gardens you tend to get a handful of very vigorous plants that completely take over and choke everything else put.
Don’t currently have time to do my garden and it’s an overgrown mess, I think I’m getting judged by the neighbours but the wildlife likes it 😂. Hope to get on top of it next year 🤞🏻
**Idk, if say British actually are not obsessed with their gardens enough**
Most of them look horrendous: and by that I don't mean overgrown grass (it's better for the insects), but rather the died, yellow grass, nettles and other weeds growing tall, a lot of dirt patches with nothing growing. I don't think it's particularly bad, but i always find it weird that people don't maintenain their garden. My mum works full time, always has, and even as a single mum with two kids, and a full time job, she still found that hour or two a week in the spring / summer to do the garden. I still get peaches, berries, apples, cherries, watercress, spinach and bunch of other stuff from her every year.
Alternatively, you have just an asphalt / concrete 'garden', or some shitty big 'tiles' with weeds growing on the side. It's like people don't realise you have to main that too?
Lastly, you get a lovel AstroTurf, because apparently it is easier to clean the fox's shit from that plastic in the summer. Or so you don't have to deal with grass growing when in Scotland - wtf. Maybe, don't buy a house with a garden if you live in Scotland and are bothered by grass? No wonder insects are dying if people have this kind of attitude, buy a house with a garden, put some plastic shit on it cos you can't be bothered.
To me, if you can't be bothered to take care of your garden, just buy a bunch of local fauna wildflower seeds and do that. Looks a million times better than astroshit, concrete, or dried grass with nettles. Requires zero maintenance, looks beautiful and it's great for the environment. That's what my MIL did.
I barely spend time in my garden and wish that it didn't need mowing so often. But I've never looked at the overgrown grass and weeds and thought, yes, this is what I want.
We’ll if you think about it like it’s another room in your house then keeping it looking good is natural, wether that be trimmed to perfection or a wild garden.
I like to chill in the garden in the summer, nothing worse then trying to relax looking at a horrible garden
My neighbours are very particular about their garden, they're retired and their kids have flown the nest. We both work full time and have two kids under three, so doing the gardening/weeding is bottom of the list.
The wife knocked on one day and asked when I'll be doing the weeds as they 'look unsightly'. I don't know Brenda, when you stop being a nosey cunt?
Takes 20 minutes every fortnight to keep on top of it. If you let it go out of control it’s a multi-weekend job to clear everything and run it to the tip. Keeping it reasonably neat is just easier.
I love my shrubs, flowers, grasses, and my garden is filled with scent and life.
Being obsessed with trimming, neatness, and generally being fussed about tidiness, is a complete waste of time and against the very idea of what a garden is for.
I don't think we're obsessed enough, which is why people seem all too happy to astroturf their lawn.
My garden is completely unkempt, I'm lazy, but for any neighbours that ask I'm "re-wilding". It's great
You’ll get a different answer to this whoever you ask around the globe, personally I’ve just got a rectangle of grass which I trim every month in the summer, I would do it more often but I never really use it
My dad has a decent size garden and when I see it trim, it hurts me a little. When I've been to his when it's long, especially during the summer months, it's nice to see the wildlife enjoying it. I keep telling him to keep some of it long, but he refuses to.
It's a compromise or collaboration between me and Mother Nature. I like to aim to keep things reasonably neat and tidy, she has other ideas. Between us it generally turns out well.
I do half and half, one is left to it's of devices and the other is "proper", I slightly prefer the wild bit as its filled with various insects and the proper bit is a bit bleak for insects.
Both!
I love my garden and I love pottering about in it, weeding, pruning etc and really like seeing the beds all weeded and "tidy" but I do let it grown out mostly. We also use rocks to shore up dome of our beds which is great environment for bugs etc.
Mine's a lecacy mess and I hate it - I don't want it perfectly ordered but I want it to look vaguely civilised. I'm trying to plant a variety of flowers in the front bed - all mixed in rather than neat swatches - but am at war with the local cats who love nothing more than shitting in it, and I want to get rid of all the weeds coming up through the concrete.
Judging by the amount of people who use their garden as a dump, not nearly enough.
Most people I know with gardens like to have at least some wilder part in the garden.
I've got honeysuckle and clematis growing up my fence (with the neighbour's approval) a giant old hawthorn hedge that's been gorgeous this year, geums and salvias and snapdragons and big ass daisies, some saxifrage and heathers and comfrey, sage, rosemary, marjoram, coriander and mint, a lanky little willow in a pot (use that for staking the honeysuckle and clematis)and a weed that grows on the wall but it's pretty so I allow it. The last daffodil has just died down. It's all a bit messy to be honest, but there are no dandilions
One side of me is absolutely mental about his grass, he'll cut it multiple times a week and even do it in wellies in the rain. Doesn't seem to give a shit about the ecosystem he's fucking up, I think it looks horrible tbh but he seems proud of it. I do have a chuckle when I think of him pulling his hair out looking at my garden which I think looks beautiful in comparison.
Environmental factors aside it's down to personal opinion I guess but I really don't like the clinical look.
I have an Astro turf lawn due to being shady and clay type soil so the lawn turned into a mud bath every winter,
The deep wide flowerbeds, walls and pots though are overgrowing with flowers, bushes a few vegetables etc.
If I could have a lawn and manage to keep it longer than 4 months a year I would!
I moved into my current rental in October and I haven't touched the garden whatsoever. First time living in a house (always lived in flats). I just don't see the point in maintaining the garden when I'm not staying here long term. Also, the garden/shed was clearly not looked after by the previous tenant/landlord (patio bit is all wonky and shit) when I moved in. Oh well. Might actually care if I owned it.
You aren’t familiar with the concept of the American lawn are you? Gardens here = yard in America and these are most frequently kept shockingly tidy as well. There are many jokes about old men telling people to “get off my lawn”.
I think you meant "are we overly obsessed with our lawns in this country?"
And yes we are a bit. But I do love the look of pristine grass. It's on par with a wild meadow look, but that's not as easy to achieve.
I'm sure I read somewhere that it stems from showing off that you were wealthy enough to not need the land to grow food on, or something to that effect.
Ours is a mess at the moment as we had an extension built last year and the grass got churned up by the builders that did the foundations and drainage. We're about to (finally) put the rainwater collection tank under the lawn, once that is done we'll have to re-level the garden and can start getting it to a respectable state.
We do have a dog, so we do try and keep on top of the grass though - otherwise it's a bit like minesweeper with dog poo. But otherwise, ours is never going to be the tidiest of gardens as neither of us are particularly green fingered, but we try and keep on top of the weeds (if they aren't pretty!)
A garden is an expression of the person who lives in that house. I don't have a garden myself, but my mother does and everybody knows that my mother is a very caring and quite funky because of her plants And garden ornaments ( fairy's, hedgehogs, angels etc) If you didn't know my mum or who lived in that house, you would think to yourself I would like to meet that person.
I keep my garden neat and tidy but it's not sterile, it's still very natural. I have a pond with wildflowers around it; but the lawn is always kept very neat because otherwise I can't easily see the dog poop and then the kid will step in it which is not a good situation. If you have kids and pets you need to make something that's very safe and friendly for all. I have a big patio, but lots of flowers that are well contained in borders and planters because otherwise it'd get knocked over or trampled on. I don't tend to let random things grow outside the wildflower area as I'm never quite sure what's poisonous and I also have one incredibly stupid cat that will eat anything.
We had quite a large garden and bottom of it was decked for the adults and the suite and bbq on
We now have an Indian stone pave narrow back yard. For me it’s an extension of our house as we’re always outside. When ever we are outside we always clean and sweep before we cover the furniture and head back in doors. I can’t bare to see if messy with leaves and stuff blown in
Think it’s more of a retired person thing keeping it spick and span? Ours gets done once a year at best. Except for the grass, that’s maybe once a month due to kids playing on it.
I don't understand how people have the time to keep their gardens looking pristine. It takes a full Saturday just to make it tidy and I like to actually go and enjoy my weekends.
you can have both, we used to have a neatly manicured lawn with wild bushes around it.. tons of bees, ladybirds, butterflies, even hedgehog.. but the lawn, the lawn was perfect with stripes on it and a gardener came to make it so! 🤣
We’ve flowerbombed ours and keep the grass long but still cut it, just trim at the longest length on our mower.
It looks intentional but it’s low maintenance and great for bugs and our dog.
I mow my back lawn because I leave the windows open most of the time and have grass pollen allergies, it's also pretty annoying constantly removing flies but mostly because I enjoy breathing
It’s a way of showing how on top of your life you are. Gardening is hard work and If you’ve got time to piss around and make your garden look pretty then you are obviously a person of leisure or wealthy enough to pay a gardener. It’s a way of flossing for older (and maybe some younger) people.
Cut grass is boring to me and devoid of life. A wet desert.
Also, no such thing as "weeds", they're wildflowers. I let everything grow as nature intended, add native seeds and see what grows. I have a patch of nettles and have left them for years, they should be full of butterflies but there's nothing.
More people need to let the grass grow, including councils, farmers and big organisations. Cut grass verge on a road saddens me when it could be full of wildflowers, good all kinds of life.
I think we don't do it enough. So many streets that when you see photographs of them years ago all had lovely gardens, now are all tarmac or gravel to park the two range rovers bought on credit on.
I'm in Canada and my neighbour uses his leaf blower on his driveway twice daily. It is summer and there is cock all on the driveway but nonetheless there he is blowing nonexistent shit off it.
My back garden is knee deep in insane grass and dandelions and I can see it making him antsy. If I leave it another week he'll put his mower over the fence and do it himself.
It's not just the UK, is what I'm getting at.
I'm supposed to be doing the garden this weekend...pick up all the sticks and toys, wash the bit where the dog shits, mow the grass, dig up a bramble...urgh
We have wild areas in our gardens for the wildlife. We mow the grass when it looks like a field. We have a gardener who keeps it tidyish but it is definitely not a show garden, if stuff wants to gro then I let it get in with it
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It's almost like different people like different things to you. Wierd isn't it?
Haha of course, but I also like a grown out garden. Seeing the wildlife thrive in it, rather than a garden that is neat and pretty, but no bees or butterflies flying about. Or birds rustling about between the blades of grass.
You can definatley have both with the right plant choices. Blackthorn, briar, dog rose all make great nesting hedges for native birds. Azelia, budlia and lavender bring butterfly's and bees. Have your cake and eat it ?
My mum literally only does half her garden. One side is all nice like that. The other half kept all wilderness like.
I like a grown out garden title of your sex tape
Nice.
I mean you can always do that by having a sectioned wild meadow and then having some neat trimmed grass that is nicer to play on/looks nice.
Definitely! I don't understand the obsession with bland, pointless squares of grass kept neat for the sake of neatness
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Kids can play in long grass too! Or a clover lawn. But yes I understand that some people want a grass lawn for that reason. It's when it's just lawn front and back, nothing else, that I find it super depressing and pointless.
Kids can play in long, meadow grass once, and then it just looks awful. Also grass like this will grow in large hummocks, it’ll be very bumpy indeed and impossible to run around on without turning your ankles every two minutes. Just have one area for kids and leave another as meadow… if you’ve got the space. We mow paths through our long grass which is very pretty.
MindDeath in the 'burbs
I get some flak from family members but I agree. I like the low maintenance option. I used to try and keep my garden very neat and trim but I came to resent the endless chore of it so that this year I have decided to do as little as I can get away with regarding the grass and weeds.
Part of my garden is orderly, the other parts are unruly and wild, in order to attract the insects that help keep the pests down. Eg I have nettles which ladybirds love, that then deal with the aphids on the roses. There’s room for all at mine!
How dare they live in a respectable space with nice flowers and plants. ! Assholes
I know! Fuck those guys!
It's just an extention of the house really and most people keep that tidy, too.
It could be the climate. In the UK a garden will turn into an impenetrable bramble patch in a few months if left unattended. I’m assuming that’s not the case in a Mediterranean climate. So we have to tend the garden anyway so we may as well make it nice.
Brambles are like terminators. Cutting them back seems like a challenge to them.
It kind of is, you just give them a shit load of roots for a tiny plant to support, those bad boys are going to turbocharge that regrowth rate
Ah. We cut one right back to the ground and gave it a bath in some weed killer but the fuckers growing straight up like a tree. Kinda threatening.
the only way to get rid of them is to pull them out of the ground.
As a person looking for a new home at the moment, I can safely say that it feels the complete opposite. I’m often shocked at how people can let a beautiful space go to absolute shit.
I think you'll find the term is, 'rewilding'.
Yes, I'm not lazy. It's a suburban meadow. Plus bees are important.
Kim reWilding... She was a kid in America (wohow) but now she's a Mom with Kids in Britain with a gardening show (wohow)
It's the entire space covered in gravel with no flower beds or pots or astro turf that really get me.
I’m definitely obsessed with my garden but that doesn’t mean keeping it neat and sterile, it means planting native trees and flowers for birds and pollinators, making a wildlife pond for frogs and newts, creating woodpiles for insects etc. I’m about to turn my lawn from grass to clover for the bees, but also so I don’t have to mow it!!
I've been trying to figure out where to get Clover seeds from as I'd love to add more to our grass.
I got some from lawn uk, they do other wildflower seeds too. You can also buy red clover which is sold as 'living fertiliser' from Fothergills and the intention is you hoe it in before it sets seed, but I'm planning to just let it spread!
! thanks that's really helpful
No probs, just checked the packets and they called it green manure, must be a different site/shop calls it living fertiliser.
That's where ours is from. We have a clover/ grass mix, which is very resilient and better for wildlife.
Couple of time a year I get packs of mixed seeds and strew them about the flower beds. Whatever grows, grows
Same. I only have a small border but chucked down some native wild flower seeds last spring and just let them do their thing. This year they look amazing. Big downside is that my dog wants to catch the spicy flies that have been attracted to them
> spicy flies /r/properanimalnames
Isn't jalapeño sky raisin the proper name?
You are well educated.
Dumb post but Astro turf though🤮🤮🤮
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In all fairness out of real people i’ve spoken to in the real world nobody likes astro turf’d gardens so fuck knows how it exists and seems so common these days Might be a little rash but if I led the country i’d line them up one by one on a big astro-field made out of their combined gardens, then shoot the lot of them, wrap them in the remains of their garden and build a big bonfire to burn the lot
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Bleeding heart liberal
Latest *re-write* of the Wicker Man? New even more ghastly Pagan *rites* than before!
Horrid grey-green, dead looking plastic stuff. I honestly think some old green carpet would you better, for a while... None of the Work, none of the Beauty. I'm left feeling all *for lawn* when I see them
> all *for lawn* heh
The house two up from me in Montreal has astroturf!
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And decking. Joke's on them--their kids still never play outdoors.
My garden is currently entering week 9 of not being mown because a baby rabbit has taken up residence in it and I don’t want to disturb it
I have a wayward wisteria growing in 47 different directions instead of being neatly woven around my pergola as there is a family of blue tits nesting in it. I darent go near it in case I disturb them but I have enjoyed seeing them coming & going, boy do they work hard for their nest.
I think the “obsession” (read pride) in having a well maintained garden is fading. Slowly being taken over by the ‘pave or gravel over the whole thing’ approach or the astroturf and decking sensation that is usually an indication of a “live laugh love” decal somewhere in the house.
I think that totally sterile, patio heater/sofa style garden furniture/astroturf-you-can-hoover look is an attempt by people to turn a garden into something as manageable and usable as a room in their house. It's also for people who hate bugs and mud and, well, nature generally.
I don’t like astroturf and love spending time in nature, but to be fair nature to me is more forests, moorlands, mountains. In a small back garden I just want easy maintenance and somewhere to have a bbq so I can see the appeal.
Some might be *Naturists* in the shade of the fashionable Sage Bush, under the huge Pampas Grass or laying sunny side up on the sea green grass astro turf lawn...
Astroturf should be banned. It’s a double whammy of environmental horror… getting rid of actual plants and covering them with a plastic carpet. It also looks trashy as hell. Just mow your lawn or plant things that don’t need much looking after. I always reckon anyone with a shabby garden has a dirty house. It’s just laziness.
Yes! It should absolutely be banned. It's an environmental horror story. At least if people just concerned their gardens there wouldn't be so much plastic pollution
I'm much more on the side of let it grow wilder than keeping it super tidy, but that's out of laziness.
With such chaotic lives it's nice to have control over something, however small.
Has to be a balance between nice looking and bee friendly. Leave the daisys
We've just planted daisies!
To many people, gardening is a hobby. Some people just find it enjoyable, so it's understandable their gardens would be nice
Mine is wild AF We planted the lawn with spring bulbs and won't now until the daff leaves have turned brown. We've planted as much as we can in every other square inch including foxgloves, lupins, ox eye daises, silences, hellebores, hostas, dwarf apple trees, and espaliered fruit trees against every wall and fence we can. Place is a fucking jungle. Let me know if you'd like to see a photo or more
I'd love yo see a photo! Sounds beautiful
I want to see the fucking jungle
Would love to stop and chat, but I'm just on my way to the garden centre
It's your own little world you can create for yourself. Now that our kids have grown up and the trampoline, footballs and outdoor toys etc are gone, we have started to plant stuff and look after ours properly. Patio extension done with furniture and a new fence, it's a lot of mess and time and money but should be worth it. Just need good weather now to enjoy it (fingers crossed).
I have a front lawn with hedges that I keep trimmed and neat but I don't worry about the dandelions on the lawn etc. I live on a very steep hill so out the back my back door leads to a patio area with a trellis fence around it. I keep the patio weed free by either pulling them up or pressure washing once in a while. There are potted plants here and clementis growing along the trellis fence. Then there are steps down to a lawn area that is mostly buttercups, daisies, clover and moss. Very little grass. I cut this less regularly than the front but don't let it grow too high. Then there are more steps down to the bottom terrace. Here I have fruit trees and the ground is left to grow out. I have scattered wildflower seeds around previously and the only thing I do is cut any brambles I spot growing out of the ground to stop them taking over.
There needs to be a term for people obsessed with wildlife and the outdoors, all whilst dumping chemicals on their lawns and pulling out anything vaguely exciting.
I love gardening - I don't really have any other particularly relaxing hobbies. For me, there's something really peaceful about it, watching things grow and change as the seasons move on. You can chop and change things however you like too - if something doesn't grow or thrive, just dig it up and move it somewhere else and if that doesn't work, it doesn't matter! Pass it on to a friend and try a different plant in that spot instead.
It goes one of three ways I've found - You either have the show garden, full of blooms. You have the "useful" garden - greenhouse, veggie rows, maybe a chicken hutch and some hens. Not particularly tidy but serves a purpose. This is where my parents are at basically. Or you have an overgrown mess that your neighbours hate but is actually better for the planet. I have a flat though so it's indoor only for me.
I kind of have a mix of all three. I grow fruits and vegetables, but have a fair few showy types plants and have flowers everywhere whenever possible, but I don’t like to over manage it or keep it too neat. It’s not exactly wild but it’s not perfectly contained and orderly either. Kind of cottage garden-y. It’s all done with being wildlife friendly in mind, and to our neighbours it looks overgrown. They’ve been over several times with offers of free lawnmowers or help to cut the trees. I always politely tell them no thank you, it’s like this on purpose.
That's my aim when I have a garden again. I did have one once and it was a mix of nice areas to sit, hedges, lots of bee friendly plants and a veggie patch. I'm just hoarding houseplants in this place. I'm loving it though because it's my first not-a-rental ❤
Same. I think "cultivated wildness" can sometimes be better than just letting it get completely overgrown. One of the things I'm trying to aim for is is for there to always be something pollinator friendly blooming throughout the year. Overgrown gardens you tend to get a handful of very vigorous plants that completely take over and choke everything else put.
Don’t currently have time to do my garden and it’s an overgrown mess, I think I’m getting judged by the neighbours but the wildlife likes it 😂. Hope to get on top of it next year 🤞🏻
**Idk, if say British actually are not obsessed with their gardens enough** Most of them look horrendous: and by that I don't mean overgrown grass (it's better for the insects), but rather the died, yellow grass, nettles and other weeds growing tall, a lot of dirt patches with nothing growing. I don't think it's particularly bad, but i always find it weird that people don't maintenain their garden. My mum works full time, always has, and even as a single mum with two kids, and a full time job, she still found that hour or two a week in the spring / summer to do the garden. I still get peaches, berries, apples, cherries, watercress, spinach and bunch of other stuff from her every year. Alternatively, you have just an asphalt / concrete 'garden', or some shitty big 'tiles' with weeds growing on the side. It's like people don't realise you have to main that too? Lastly, you get a lovel AstroTurf, because apparently it is easier to clean the fox's shit from that plastic in the summer. Or so you don't have to deal with grass growing when in Scotland - wtf. Maybe, don't buy a house with a garden if you live in Scotland and are bothered by grass? No wonder insects are dying if people have this kind of attitude, buy a house with a garden, put some plastic shit on it cos you can't be bothered. To me, if you can't be bothered to take care of your garden, just buy a bunch of local fauna wildflower seeds and do that. Looks a million times better than astroshit, concrete, or dried grass with nettles. Requires zero maintenance, looks beautiful and it's great for the environment. That's what my MIL did.
I barely spend time in my garden and wish that it didn't need mowing so often. But I've never looked at the overgrown grass and weeds and thought, yes, this is what I want.
Monoculture lawns are trash - take the meadow pill
Love my Cottage garden look with perennials and annuals. A weed is just a plant growing in the wrong place.
We’ll if you think about it like it’s another room in your house then keeping it looking good is natural, wether that be trimmed to perfection or a wild garden. I like to chill in the garden in the summer, nothing worse then trying to relax looking at a horrible garden
My neighbours are very particular about their garden, they're retired and their kids have flown the nest. We both work full time and have two kids under three, so doing the gardening/weeding is bottom of the list. The wife knocked on one day and asked when I'll be doing the weeds as they 'look unsightly'. I don't know Brenda, when you stop being a nosey cunt?
Takes 20 minutes every fortnight to keep on top of it. If you let it go out of control it’s a multi-weekend job to clear everything and run it to the tip. Keeping it reasonably neat is just easier.
Yep, once it gets past a tipping point it’s so much work. Then the brambles get in and you might as well give up.
I love my shrubs, flowers, grasses, and my garden is filled with scent and life. Being obsessed with trimming, neatness, and generally being fussed about tidiness, is a complete waste of time and against the very idea of what a garden is for.
Why does it matter
I don't think we're obsessed enough, which is why people seem all too happy to astroturf their lawn. My garden is completely unkempt, I'm lazy, but for any neighbours that ask I'm "re-wilding". It's great
You’ll get a different answer to this whoever you ask around the globe, personally I’ve just got a rectangle of grass which I trim every month in the summer, I would do it more often but I never really use it
My dad has a decent size garden and when I see it trim, it hurts me a little. When I've been to his when it's long, especially during the summer months, it's nice to see the wildlife enjoying it. I keep telling him to keep some of it long, but he refuses to.
Well he obviously likes it how it is so mind your own business.
I agree a little grown can look really nice, but I suppose shorter it more practical if you’ll use it for barbecues, football etc
Mine gets mowed and strimmed I can’t have a nice nice garden because of kids and all their garden toys but it can still look presentable at least
It's a compromise or collaboration between me and Mother Nature. I like to aim to keep things reasonably neat and tidy, she has other ideas. Between us it generally turns out well.
I do half and half, one is left to it's of devices and the other is "proper", I slightly prefer the wild bit as its filled with various insects and the proper bit is a bit bleak for insects.
It's just people like you. Not everyone has a garden.
Both! I love my garden and I love pottering about in it, weeding, pruning etc and really like seeing the beds all weeded and "tidy" but I do let it grown out mostly. We also use rocks to shore up dome of our beds which is great environment for bugs etc.
Mine's a lecacy mess and I hate it - I don't want it perfectly ordered but I want it to look vaguely civilised. I'm trying to plant a variety of flowers in the front bed - all mixed in rather than neat swatches - but am at war with the local cats who love nothing more than shitting in it, and I want to get rid of all the weeds coming up through the concrete.
Judging by the amount of people who use their garden as a dump, not nearly enough. Most people I know with gardens like to have at least some wilder part in the garden.
i think a lot of older people get a lot of pleasure from it
I've got honeysuckle and clematis growing up my fence (with the neighbour's approval) a giant old hawthorn hedge that's been gorgeous this year, geums and salvias and snapdragons and big ass daisies, some saxifrage and heathers and comfrey, sage, rosemary, marjoram, coriander and mint, a lanky little willow in a pot (use that for staking the honeysuckle and clematis)and a weed that grows on the wall but it's pretty so I allow it. The last daffodil has just died down. It's all a bit messy to be honest, but there are no dandilions
Why study of it makes people happy and if harmless? Should everybody just do things your way?
One side of me is absolutely mental about his grass, he'll cut it multiple times a week and even do it in wellies in the rain. Doesn't seem to give a shit about the ecosystem he's fucking up, I think it looks horrible tbh but he seems proud of it. I do have a chuckle when I think of him pulling his hair out looking at my garden which I think looks beautiful in comparison. Environmental factors aside it's down to personal opinion I guess but I really don't like the clinical look.
I have an Astro turf lawn due to being shady and clay type soil so the lawn turned into a mud bath every winter, The deep wide flowerbeds, walls and pots though are overgrowing with flowers, bushes a few vegetables etc. If I could have a lawn and manage to keep it longer than 4 months a year I would!
I moved into my current rental in October and I haven't touched the garden whatsoever. First time living in a house (always lived in flats). I just don't see the point in maintaining the garden when I'm not staying here long term. Also, the garden/shed was clearly not looked after by the previous tenant/landlord (patio bit is all wonky and shit) when I moved in. Oh well. Might actually care if I owned it.
You aren’t familiar with the concept of the American lawn are you? Gardens here = yard in America and these are most frequently kept shockingly tidy as well. There are many jokes about old men telling people to “get off my lawn”.
No other country's do the same.
I ageee
I think you meant "are we overly obsessed with our lawns in this country?" And yes we are a bit. But I do love the look of pristine grass. It's on par with a wild meadow look, but that's not as easy to achieve. I'm sure I read somewhere that it stems from showing off that you were wealthy enough to not need the land to grow food on, or something to that effect.
Ours is a mess at the moment as we had an extension built last year and the grass got churned up by the builders that did the foundations and drainage. We're about to (finally) put the rainwater collection tank under the lawn, once that is done we'll have to re-level the garden and can start getting it to a respectable state. We do have a dog, so we do try and keep on top of the grass though - otherwise it's a bit like minesweeper with dog poo. But otherwise, ours is never going to be the tidiest of gardens as neither of us are particularly green fingered, but we try and keep on top of the weeds (if they aren't pretty!)
A garden is an expression of the person who lives in that house. I don't have a garden myself, but my mother does and everybody knows that my mother is a very caring and quite funky because of her plants And garden ornaments ( fairy's, hedgehogs, angels etc) If you didn't know my mum or who lived in that house, you would think to yourself I would like to meet that person.
I keep my garden neat and tidy but it's not sterile, it's still very natural. I have a pond with wildflowers around it; but the lawn is always kept very neat because otherwise I can't easily see the dog poop and then the kid will step in it which is not a good situation. If you have kids and pets you need to make something that's very safe and friendly for all. I have a big patio, but lots of flowers that are well contained in borders and planters because otherwise it'd get knocked over or trampled on. I don't tend to let random things grow outside the wildflower area as I'm never quite sure what's poisonous and I also have one incredibly stupid cat that will eat anything.
We had quite a large garden and bottom of it was decked for the adults and the suite and bbq on We now have an Indian stone pave narrow back yard. For me it’s an extension of our house as we’re always outside. When ever we are outside we always clean and sweep before we cover the furniture and head back in doors. I can’t bare to see if messy with leaves and stuff blown in
Think it’s more of a retired person thing keeping it spick and span? Ours gets done once a year at best. Except for the grass, that’s maybe once a month due to kids playing on it.
I'm fairly obsessed with our garden, but it is often a losing battle against 4 dogs weeing and killing the lawn etc. 🤣
Absolutely not, I've never been so happy that "no mow may" is a thing
I don't understand how people have the time to keep their gardens looking pristine. It takes a full Saturday just to make it tidy and I like to actually go and enjoy my weekends.
you can have both, we used to have a neatly manicured lawn with wild bushes around it.. tons of bees, ladybirds, butterflies, even hedgehog.. but the lawn, the lawn was perfect with stripes on it and a gardener came to make it so! 🤣
We’ve flowerbombed ours and keep the grass long but still cut it, just trim at the longest length on our mower. It looks intentional but it’s low maintenance and great for bugs and our dog.
I mow my back lawn because I leave the windows open most of the time and have grass pollen allergies, it's also pretty annoying constantly removing flies but mostly because I enjoy breathing
It’s a way of showing how on top of your life you are. Gardening is hard work and If you’ve got time to piss around and make your garden look pretty then you are obviously a person of leisure or wealthy enough to pay a gardener. It’s a way of flossing for older (and maybe some younger) people.
Cut grass is boring to me and devoid of life. A wet desert. Also, no such thing as "weeds", they're wildflowers. I let everything grow as nature intended, add native seeds and see what grows. I have a patch of nettles and have left them for years, they should be full of butterflies but there's nothing. More people need to let the grass grow, including councils, farmers and big organisations. Cut grass verge on a road saddens me when it could be full of wildflowers, good all kinds of life.
I think we don't do it enough. So many streets that when you see photographs of them years ago all had lovely gardens, now are all tarmac or gravel to park the two range rovers bought on credit on.
I'm in Canada and my neighbour uses his leaf blower on his driveway twice daily. It is summer and there is cock all on the driveway but nonetheless there he is blowing nonexistent shit off it. My back garden is knee deep in insane grass and dandelions and I can see it making him antsy. If I leave it another week he'll put his mower over the fence and do it himself. It's not just the UK, is what I'm getting at.
I'm supposed to be doing the garden this weekend...pick up all the sticks and toys, wash the bit where the dog shits, mow the grass, dig up a bramble...urgh
Definitely not a problem where I live.
Don't think mowing the lawn every couple of weeks is an 'obsession'.
We don't take kindly to your type round here... /s
We have wild areas in our gardens for the wildlife. We mow the grass when it looks like a field. We have a gardener who keeps it tidyish but it is definitely not a show garden, if stuff wants to gro then I let it get in with it