It’s time to think about what you need to take out of your garden now, not just what you will be planting. Weeding and thinning out plants that spread, plus the latest on that difficult shady corner and the mini meadow update.
0:00 Welcome
0:32 The purple flower is Allium ‘Purple Sensation’
1:30 The iris is ‘Sable’
1:38 The pink rose is ‘Gaujard’ and the grey foliage is Artemisia
2:13 The low maintenance plants video is https://youtu.be/yiPB7n6ELc4
3:38 The ‘unknown’ weed is celandine
3:47 The video on ‘How to Win the Weeding Battle’ is https://youtu.be/SvHFHym6cjM
4:11 The blue flowers are Cerinthe major
4:19 The bright green plant is Euphorbia robbiae and the allium is ‘Christophii’
6:13 What to do with a difficult shady corner: https://youtu.be/C6F6Reobj78
7:46 Progress of the mini meadow in the front garden
9:12 The edging is called Everedge
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46 Comments
Bindweed 😢😢 my neighbour has a over 60ft bed just have bindweed. They keepy spreading to my side, I need to keep checking and digging every day, we did offer to clear the bindweed for her as she is not doing gardening, but she said she doesn't mind them. 😭 living here for 6 years, digging everyday 🙁
So much good information! I'm planting lawn grass right now. I thought of doing something similar and this gives me a lot of ideas, thank you 💕💕🌞🌞
Bindweed was the bane of my front beds. It gets pulled on sight!
The mini meadow mess is really sweet.Meadows need a lot of space
How to create a luscious lawn without chemicals would be interesting
Lawn, cultivated,as a contrast to borders is relevant for small space
So true that we just have to weed, and I will never use fabric again
As long as cultivation prevails why not grow some weeds and allow mess
One year we mowed a path through our lawn and left it to grow as a wild meadow as it looked so beautiful at the time. The problem was after the flowers had died the grass turned yellow and brown and it looked awful and took an age to recover so I came to the conclusion that meadows have a place in the fields around us but not in a small or meadow sized garden especially if you’ve got beautifully maintained borders.
I imagine the front lawn would be a bit of a pain to get a mower into anyway: around the side, up those steps and over the shrubs; or through the house (heaven forbid) – for little added effect. The meadow's an excellent idea to modernise your front garden 😊
I enjoy your videos very much. I find them very informative. My favorite is how you say good bye. You send us off so cheerfully. I love it!
So glad to see you cautioning people against using gravel. No one ever mentions its drawbacks.
🧑🌾🇨🇦🧑🌾I suppose our garden is Middle size as well. Nice to visit with you Alexandra!
Yes you will need to weed like crazy especially at my old house which probably had more different kinds of quick growing vines than I can list .
Thank you again for the useful tips. Enjoy your updates!
Weeds definitely grow robustly in gravel. We had luck using high concentrate vinegar sprayed regularly. It’s a good alternative to toxic herbicides and works very well on a sunny day.
Thank you for your videos
Thank you for this.I have recently cut back some Euphorbia. I had no idea how toxic the milky sap is.I ended up at 'Minor Injuries' with a very sore eye. Fortunately there has been no long lasting damage but it was an uncomfortable reminder to wear gloves and not touch eyes.
What you consider rather warm for your climate is my ideal temperature.
Yesterday, we reached about 37 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) and today is only slightly "cooler."
I'm trying to clear away weeds (wild campanula) to make space for a mail-order clematis I received a few days ago.
Thinking I was smart, I brought out an umbrella to shade me as I went to work in the hot sun. It's extremely windy today and perfect condition for setting my open umbrella skyward. Epic fail.
the plant at 3:39 is called celandine or swallowwort (chelidonium majus). the yellow sap was historically used to treat warts, it is slightly toxic.
Lasy year I made some gravel paths. I put thick professional grade landscape weed barrier down underneath and cardboard under that. This spring I have some grass (like a native weedy grass) coming right up through the landscape fabric!! I couldn’t believe it. Weeding is a gardening fact. Nature always finds a way to out fox our best efforts 😂
I had to get rid of both of my euphoria as they spread like wildfire. Even now I still find mini plants popping up!
I love your videos. I always learn something from each one.
Really excited to she what happens over time with the meadows.
Yellow rattle is pretty and has a curious flare to it.
I was noticing the diagonal pattern of the walkway and wondered if you will include any of those lines with the intentional mowed effect the garden designer mentioned.
Your garden is gorgeous! I’ve heard of wildflower plugs to go into mini meadows, so you don’t have to rely on seed germinating you can just dig out a clump of grass and replace with a wild flower plug. Something you could try perhaps?
Brilliant video! 👏🏻
…and it looks like we're all fighting those perennial weeds at the moment. They've really been loving this spring 🙄
Love the edging, is it possible to to remove small plug areas in the meadow and plant seedlings or seed.
I don't know if the weed barrier materials sold in the UK is different than here in the US, but I've used it where I have difficult weed and ground cover problems by adding garden soil to the top of it, like mini raised beds, and planting on top of it. It blocks out the more stubborn weeds, and it makes it easier to remove self seeding weeds. Roots of ground cover type weeds peel off easily if they get in on top. For plans planted in the ground, cut an X or * opening, not a hole. Then the plants push thru the opening, rather than a hole that leaves a gap. I also put it under all mulched areas, including those of gravel. Self seeding weeds in gravel can be raked out, rather than pulled out of the ground.
I enjoy your garden very much. I'm in Utah, USA and I've been fertilizing and watering variegated ground elder. It's sold here as a ground cover. I'm jealous of gardeners who have water naturally.
We converted our boulevard strip (between sidewalk and road) into a mini-meadow and delineated it by mowing a border and a couple paths through it. It's amazing how intentional that makes it look (and of course now the flowers are blooming, even more so). We took the opportunity of the city digging it up for some work and reseeding it, to add our own seeds to the mix and it seems to have "taken" well.
Interesting and look forward to see what transpire in your front garden. Thanks for sharing 👍❤️😊
I always put down cardboard or thick layer of newspaper down, wet it and then mulch. Keeps light from germinating weed seeds.
Great video! My beagle like to dig holes in fresh earth so I use a sturdy weed suppressing fabric around areas where I have planted new shrubs or larger perennial plants. The fabric discourages her digging although I also use tall decorative fencing for extra insurance. I'd prefer using only cardboard otherwise! I use a cedar wood chips as mulch as well as compost, both rather pricey! But so effective. ☺️💚
I have never come across any book that tells you that hardy osteospmums and hardy nemesias self seed freely. I must have dug up hundreds and given many away over the years.Also I have found the RHS to be completely wrong when describing plants.
I had the same problem last year in allowing my lawn to grow so that initially it looked unkempt and neglected; but it improved as rye grass and naturally flowering, non-invasive weeds such as daisy, butter-cup etc took over in parts starting in June to September. Hence this year I'm working with nature to grow a particular type of meadow that's natural for the area rather than fixated by the idea that it has to be of one type. Also, Jane Moore's advice in making it look intentional is so profoundly true since weeds can either signify neglect and laziness or intelligent creativity depending upon how they're used in a garden. Personally, I'd ditch the artificial edging and instead mow around the perimeter and down the center say to create two zones.
I live in Canada Born in England 🇬🇧 but I want a garden just like yours.
I really enjoy your blog and advice or observations. I'm wondering if you would consider adding the name of plants on the screen that you show in the garden. Oftentimes there is a plant which I don't know the name, and I'd love to know if it would thrive in my zone.
Oh dear. After writing that comment at the beginning of this video, I see you did add names. Thank you. Perhaps even more names? Not when there is a multitude of plants, but when there are a couple.
I love the structure in your garden and also the different levels
Thank you, I was lost trying to decide which way to go with my 12 acre farmhouse but after watching a number of your videos I have distilled many ideas down to a theme that is true to my style and and ethos . Thanks again.
Never had much luck with Cerinthe, must try again next year. Are you going to Hampton I wonder ?
What does "Growing like a bunch of clappers" after the rain mean? Or did I misunderstand the statement? I liked it whatever it meant. lol Just curious. PS. I have a Mini Meadow now too because of you.
I love watching your videos… you are truly inspirational. Thank you for sharing
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There is Yellow Rattle in Miriam Rothschild's "Farmer's Nightmare" Wildflower mix.