I think so too, it does create a different aesthetic for the next month or so as bulbs come through and at first I wasn't so sure, but I have grown to love it because of what it means, showing us first hand the cycle of renewal. And because it's easier haha
I think I'll do a mix. There are quite a few shrubs there already - Kolkwitzia, hydrangeas and a couple called something like macrocordia The Bride but most of the planting is foxgloves, veronicastrum, stipa giagantea, geraniums, alchemilla mollis, and Veronica gentioanoides which seems to spread everywhere. I think most of the plants would probably get through a certain amount of leaves.
I heard Matt Pottage from Wisley talking last week at an NGS thing and he said that they had problems with their soil because generations of gardeners had raked the leaves off every year. I think he's changing the policy - he must have read your book!
That's brilliant, it feels like there's a big rethink of gardening happening and it makes life better for everyone.. hopefully! Perhaps not for Hosta breeders. Your border sounds wonderful, hopefully I can see it one day.
Hi Jack. Wildway Cut and chuck seems such a simple idea! I've done it this year, in the hope of deterring the local cats who see bare soil and immediately think "toilet"! It has worked well, so that's another benefit. Your tips about the debris being a mulch have given me lots to think about. Thank you. Happy Gardening.
Hi Sarah, fantastic, yes that could be a benefit too! They definitely prefer bare soil.
It will be interesting to see how you find it this year. I've done a little bit more snipping of the bigger stems shown in this photo, just to reduce the debris size a little. Other than that though, it's super easy.
Hello Jack, I was really interested in your intro about cutting back and leaving dead stuff on the borders. Would you leave the leaves as well? I have quite a lot of Beech, sycamore and Chestnut trees so in the autumn th borders are thickly covered. At the moment I rake the leaves off and then put on the rotated leaves from previous years. It feels like a lot of work that may be unnecessary on the other hand there are a hell of a lot of leaves!
Hi Sue, that's a very good question and one I receive a lot from clients and online.
It comes down to a balance of how much leaf litter there is, and what you are growing in it. Some plants will happily burst through whereas others can be smothered.
Which leaves you with two choices, one is to reduce the amount of leaf litter around those plants, the other is to change them for something different. I think either option is fine personally as the leaf litter still goes on the compost or made into leaf mulch. But if you do want to minimise effort and maintenance, it's worth considering adjusting the planting.
In one garden there was an area beneath huge oak trees and the planting would be absolutely smothered with a thick layer each year, which was a problem for many perennials. However, it was also a great habitat for hundreds of frogs to hide beneath it! In that situation, we planted lots of shrubs and tough shade loving perennials that would be able to contend with their crowns being covered, and then grow through in summer. Stuff like Persicaria and wood aster, Eurybia divaricatus. We have a little area like this now too and I'm experimenting so far with ferns and brunnera among others.
It is so good for us to think about different ways of doing things. I have been cutting things back and putting them on my compost heap for years but this is just cutting out a step and letting things decompose naturally. We all do things automatically that we’ve learnt or have been passed down to us and sometimes we have to shake things up. I hope we are all adjusting our eye to a wilder, less perfect aesthetic and shifting our perception of our gardens to think of them as habitats as well as places for us as humans. Im going to try this this year, the only thing I’m slightly worried about is RSA with all that chopping into tiny pieces!
I love the idea of cutting clippings around a lopped perennial as mulch. It makes perfect sense.
I think so too, it does create a different aesthetic for the next month or so as bulbs come through and at first I wasn't so sure, but I have grown to love it because of what it means, showing us first hand the cycle of renewal. And because it's easier haha
I think I'll do a mix. There are quite a few shrubs there already - Kolkwitzia, hydrangeas and a couple called something like macrocordia The Bride but most of the planting is foxgloves, veronicastrum, stipa giagantea, geraniums, alchemilla mollis, and Veronica gentioanoides which seems to spread everywhere. I think most of the plants would probably get through a certain amount of leaves.
I heard Matt Pottage from Wisley talking last week at an NGS thing and he said that they had problems with their soil because generations of gardeners had raked the leaves off every year. I think he's changing the policy - he must have read your book!
That's brilliant, it feels like there's a big rethink of gardening happening and it makes life better for everyone.. hopefully! Perhaps not for Hosta breeders. Your border sounds wonderful, hopefully I can see it one day.
Hi Jack. Wildway Cut and chuck seems such a simple idea! I've done it this year, in the hope of deterring the local cats who see bare soil and immediately think "toilet"! It has worked well, so that's another benefit. Your tips about the debris being a mulch have given me lots to think about. Thank you. Happy Gardening.
Hi Sarah, fantastic, yes that could be a benefit too! They definitely prefer bare soil.
It will be interesting to see how you find it this year. I've done a little bit more snipping of the bigger stems shown in this photo, just to reduce the debris size a little. Other than that though, it's super easy.
Hello Jack, I was really interested in your intro about cutting back and leaving dead stuff on the borders. Would you leave the leaves as well? I have quite a lot of Beech, sycamore and Chestnut trees so in the autumn th borders are thickly covered. At the moment I rake the leaves off and then put on the rotated leaves from previous years. It feels like a lot of work that may be unnecessary on the other hand there are a hell of a lot of leaves!
Hi Sue, that's a very good question and one I receive a lot from clients and online.
It comes down to a balance of how much leaf litter there is, and what you are growing in it. Some plants will happily burst through whereas others can be smothered.
Which leaves you with two choices, one is to reduce the amount of leaf litter around those plants, the other is to change them for something different. I think either option is fine personally as the leaf litter still goes on the compost or made into leaf mulch. But if you do want to minimise effort and maintenance, it's worth considering adjusting the planting.
In one garden there was an area beneath huge oak trees and the planting would be absolutely smothered with a thick layer each year, which was a problem for many perennials. However, it was also a great habitat for hundreds of frogs to hide beneath it! In that situation, we planted lots of shrubs and tough shade loving perennials that would be able to contend with their crowns being covered, and then grow through in summer. Stuff like Persicaria and wood aster, Eurybia divaricatus. We have a little area like this now too and I'm experimenting so far with ferns and brunnera among others.
Jack
Love the cut and chuck system, thanks for explaining it here. Would this concept work on the vegetable patch do you think?
It is so good for us to think about different ways of doing things. I have been cutting things back and putting them on my compost heap for years but this is just cutting out a step and letting things decompose naturally. We all do things automatically that we’ve learnt or have been passed down to us and sometimes we have to shake things up. I hope we are all adjusting our eye to a wilder, less perfect aesthetic and shifting our perception of our gardens to think of them as habitats as well as places for us as humans. Im going to try this this year, the only thing I’m slightly worried about is RSA with all that chopping into tiny pieces!