Although leaving your garden wild is a good excuse not to spend lots of money on expensive plants and not to do lots of backbreaking work, the positive reason is to give wildlife a chance. We’ve lost so much of our wild habitat and our many gardens could play a significant part in recovery. Of course most people like to have a tidy bit or cultivate vegetables but it’s often possible to leave some of the garden alone. Apart from the obvious things such as using weedkiller and pesticides, hedge trimming, mowing and strimming are also harmful processes causing noise and destruction of nesting spots, food for birds and wild flowers. These things may have to be done but timing is crucial.

This article looks at why you shouldn’t mow in May:
https://www.gardensillustrated.com/feature/lawn-mowing-when-flowers-may/

and this one about leaving your lawn alone as much as possible:
https://www.gardensillustrated.com/plants/planting-ideas/gardens-benefit-wildflower-guidelines-roadside-verges/

Julia Waterlow, TTL