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vjnythfavjnythfa Posts: 9
in Wildlife gardening
Dear all, in the olden days there were wild meadows. 
My question is did those folk cut the meadow at all,  as is recommended today or did they just leave it unattended. 
Any ideas? ??
God bless 
VJ

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Posts

  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    meadows were grass with wild flowers not the patches of annuals that people call meadows now. They were cut for hay in summer and later grazed by cattle


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    Absolutely!  If they'd been left 'unattended', they'd have been 'ancient woodland'.  These were the days before artificial fertilisers.
  • bcpathomebcpathome Posts: 1,313
    Those days are gone alas 
  • vjnythfavjnythfa Posts: 9
    It's just very sad,  school holidays wildflower projects,  no IT then. My parents just had a black phone installed and black and white TV, only allowed to watch children's hour. New years eve we all stood for National Anthem. 
    About seven years ago,  I came across a "Scarlet Pimpernel " just on a bit of waste ground by a tree,  sadly the next week it had been buried under concrete by the local council.
    What on earth possess us to destroy our heritage.
    VJ


  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    @vjnythfa I'm afraid it's a generational thing that modern age groups fail to acknowledge.  No TV.  No phone.  'Haymaking' by hand, collected with horses and carts.  Not an era to be a housewife, though.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    It may be a generation thing but it’s been many generations right through history.  Trees were planted solely to chop down when they were of useful size.  Henry V111 had every oak tree felled they could find to build ships.  I don’t think anyone in the past grew anything just for pleasure. 

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • CeresCeres Posts: 2,698
    Sometimes on a walk across the fields you can come across wonderful things.
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    Ceres said:
    Sometimes on a walk across the fields you can come across wonderful things.
    That's lovely but absolutely not a traditional meadow. It's an area of annual plants


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • vjnythfavjnythfa Posts: 9
    nutcutlet said:
    Ceres said:
    Sometimes on a walk across the fields you can come across wonderful things.
    That's lovely but absolutely not a traditional meadow. It's an area of annual plants
    Dear Nutcutlet  how would you go about at least trying to re create an original wild meadow. What plants would you use and where can you purchase them? God bless VJ


  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1JCwemp53g
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqLtDZFOPYQ
    Quite a lot on Youtube, just ignore any that show Poppies, Cornflowers and other bright annual  flowers, they need tilled soil


    In the sticks near Peterborough
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