the geranium smell. The plants have only got 3 pairs of leaves, just where did they get that smell from?
Scent is a collection of tiny moleculres also. It did not evolve to please humans, but to deter pests. And when do you need it most? When you're young.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
I've often mused on whether compost heaps are really necessary other than to keep gardens, etc, looking neat and tidy. Why not just cut up foliage, not roots and seeds obviously, and let them rot where they fall ? Surely more wildlife friendly and with a reduction in energy expenditure because of no trips backwards and forwards to the compost heap. There will be a nett loss of nutrients but that can be mitigated by replacing them by other means which many gardeners do anyway.
There was a piece on Beechgrove a year or two ago where they visited a garden where the owner did that, just left all the clippings, dead heads, weeds etc on the soil. It seemed to work. Probably best in a large-ish garden with mostly tall robust plants in deep beds, not little things that would be swamped.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
I've often mused on whether compost heaps are really necessary other than to keep gardens, etc, looking neat and tidy. Why not just cut up foliage, not roots and seeds obviously, and let them rot where they fall ? Surely more wildlife friendly and with a reduction in energy expenditure because of no trips backwards and forwards to the compost heap. There will be a nett loss of nutrients but that can be mitigated by replacing them by other means which many gardeners do anyway.
There was a piece on Beechgrove a year or two ago where they visited a garden where the owner did that, just left all the clippings, dead heads, weeds etc on the soil. It seemed to work. Probably best in a large-ish garden with mostly tall robust plants in deep beds, not little things that would be swamped.
Wouldn't it use up the nitrogen though? Believe that's the reason why farmers don't let straw rot on the fields after a combine has passed through.
I've read a bit about that, @JennyJ and @Jenny_Aster. The perceived wisdom seems to be that burying stuff like woodchips and bark is no good as it leads to nitrogen depletion while the wood rots down but that it's okay to leave 'em on the surface to decay. So maybe the same with other garden waste ?
When there's always biscuits in the tin, where's the fun in biscuits ?
@Obelixx. That’s good news for us with the amount of tree bark in our garden soil 😁. You wouldn’t have a link to those test results, would you, or to wherever you got it from ?
When there's always biscuits in the tin, where's the fun in biscuits ?
You could do it if it was mainly shrubs/trees @Winston_The_Gravity_Man , as @JennyJ says, but it would be pretty ugly. Some people do it in veg beds or for sweet peas or similar - but usually by making a trench first, filling that, and then covering with the removed soil. If your garden was big enough, and you were doing it in areas you didn't see regularly, I expect that would be ok. I don't think many folk would fancy it unless they were covering it with those bark/wood chippings [no problem there! ] or something similar.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I'd imagine for many the chop and drop way would be too scruffy, and they worry about weeds regrowing or seeds from the weeds germinating. It's said leaving short grass clippings to fall on the lawn is beneficial but many people remove them too.
I leave some clippings where they fall such as when I’m deadheading or clearing dead leaves. Any larger remaining dead stems I clear away late Spring, I throw to the back of the border. They are visible for a while but soon disappear but then I’m not a fan of bare soil so my borders are full.
We also leave all the Autumn leaves on the borders to let them break down naturally.
If we are too tidy then surely we aren’t allowing a full natural cycle and we are presumably denying some/all soil micro organisms their natural food? There’s increasing evidence that our gut microbiomes are critical to our health, it seems logical it could be the same for our soil.
I’m currently reading Tim Spector Food for Life. He cites studies that show plants fed high levels of fertilisers/pesticides etc have lower levels of polyphenols. These are their natural chemical defences against pests and also adverse conditions. Research is also beginning to show that may be key chemicals for our health. As gardeners it suggests that when reaching fir all these tonics, feeds etc we are disrupting the natural processes and chemical systems. We may get more showy flowers and lush growth but at what cost to our local environment?
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
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"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
There was a piece on Beechgrove a year or two ago where they visited a garden where the owner did that, just left all the clippings, dead heads, weeds etc on the soil. It seemed to work. Probably best in a large-ish garden with mostly tall robust plants in deep beds, not little things that would be swamped.
Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.
If your garden was big enough, and you were doing it in areas you didn't see regularly, I expect that would be ok.
I don't think many folk would fancy it unless they were covering it with those bark/wood chippings [no problem there!
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I’m currently reading Tim Spector Food for Life. He cites studies that show plants fed high levels of fertilisers/pesticides etc have lower levels of polyphenols. These are their natural chemical defences against pests and also adverse conditions. Research is also beginning to show that may be key chemicals for our health. As gardeners it suggests that when reaching fir all these tonics, feeds etc we are disrupting the natural processes and chemical systems. We may get more showy flowers and lush growth but at what cost to our local environment?
East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
Beechgrove even mentioned the best variety ... can't remember just now.
But Google had kept my search: "Bocking 14"
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."