Cutting grass?

Week 22

“I cut the grass,” commented a colleague, “I no longer cut the lawn.”

My colleague is not only pleasant but appears to be a short-grass supporter, although I would not call him a Stripy Lawner. There is a classification of gardeners well overdue, from traditional Stripy Lawners at one end, to do-nothing Rewilders at the other. I am a Renaturer, which makes me more traditional than a Rewilder but not as traditional as my colleague, who occupies the mid-ground. No stripes, a portion of his garden rewilded, and still using fossil fuels. That defines much of this country, so allow me to call him a Betweener to complete my personal classification.

To me, gardeners thus occupy one of four categories: 1) Stripy Lawner, 2) Betweener, 3) Renaturer, 4) Rewilder. As with all classifications, there will be some gardeners hovering between one category and the next but as a general overview, this four-category system appears to work. The barrier between Betweener and Renaturer is 50%. That is, a gardener can only claim the title of Renaturer once 50% of their land is returned to Nature. Less than 50%? That makes you a Betweener.

Tractor lawnmower — Keep this in the shed - it is No Mow May

It is now so-called No Mow May, a concept introduced by Plantlife[i], a charity that is the global voice for wild plants and fungi. Plantlife is spurred onwards by the finding that two in five species are currently at risk of extinction. No Mow May is simple. During May you leave the lawnmower in its shed and start mowing again, if you must, in June. The aim is to allow Nature back into a garden’s life and May is certainly when gardens go crazy. Suddenly, on my land, everything has turned green, and is busy going greener. The month of May is named after the Greek goddess Maia[ii], the Roman goddess of fertility and the mother of Hermes[iii]. It is when everything grows, and that includes humans.

Yet my colleague’s words set me thinking. Why do we cut the grass at all? Certainly, high up on the Lakeland fells that surround me, the only things to shorten grass are livestock and wild animals. Otherwise, grass remains long in Spring and Summer, shrinks back during Autumn and by Winter has shrivelled to nearly nothing.

If grass is left to its own devices, it continues to grow taller and eventually looks untidy, if tidiness is how one assesses gardens. I judge my land by how it functions, so whether grass is manicured or haphazard does not matter to me. What counts are the birds and the bees, the many pigeons pecking, the pheasants strutting, and the insects by the zillion that I now see around me. Only yesterday evening I saw six wood pigeons pecking furiously at my long grass, as they made a feast of the insects that have made my land their home.

Rewilded meadow — The land is bursting with life - common bistort now flowering

However, tall grass can also become patchier as it grows vertically at the expense of sending out new shoots[iv]. For Stripy Lawners, if no more than one-third is taken from the top of a blade of grass, and the total leaf height is maintained at a minimum of five centimetres, the grass will continue to spread. It is also good to vary the direction of cut, as this encourages the grass to grow vertically, rather than to always lie down in one direction. I have no clue why I am writing this, when mowing lawns is not what I do.

I do not even possess a lawn mower, and if I cut my grass, it is with a scythe and some time in autumn. I am certainly no worry for those around me when it comes to noise on Sunday mornings[v]. If I underwent a character change and started to mow my grass, it would decimate the spread of flowers that now decorate my land - carpet bugle, dandelion, common bistort, yellow pimpernel, wild garlic, garlic mustard, pignut, speedwell, cuckooflower, buttercup, daffodil, tulip, oxeye daisy, yellow rattle, while camassia is just coming through. I do not have the heart to fell any of them, so my long grass must remain.

Grass is a remarkable piece of vegetation. It is so successful that many of us no longer see it as a plant, although that is what it clearly is. It is extremely important to many people’s lives and is a global source of food. There are more than 9000 known species of grass. At its base, grass has roots that grow down into the earth, a base (crown), a stem (culm), nodes that join stem segments together, and alternating leaves that extend out from the culms, above each node. The lower part of a grass leaf is the sheath, and the upper part is the blade. In most grasses, a ligule surrounds the connection between the sheath and the blade. A ligule can take the form of a thin membrane or a fringe of hair-like projections. Grass leaves collect their energy from photosynthesis and the plant reproduces either by stems (stolons) that grow along the ground, or below the ground as rhizomes. Grass has flowers (florets), too, although these are more obvious in some grasses than others. Sometimes you must be up close and personal to grass to see its flowers. The flowers produce the spores that pollinate other grass flowers, and seeds are the result[vi]. There is no faulting grass.

This week is London’s Chelsea Flower Show, when the nation goes garden crazy. Bigwigs line up for their television and radio interviews, although only rarely am I impressed by either bigwig or interviewer.

“It is time to return to horticulture,” said one bigwig, as he was being interviewed by a mainstream newspaper. I gasped, as the implication was clear. Stripy Lawners were horticulturalists, the rest of us were not. A friend reinforced that to me only yesterday.

“I’ve got a proper garden,” he said, “so it takes me hours to maintain. All you need do is watch.”

Dear me.

Horticulture can be clearly defined. In the USA, it is that branch of agriculture concerned with growing plants that are used by people for food, medicinal purposes, and aesthetic gratification[vii]. Meanwhile in the UK, horticulture is the sector of agriculture responsible for the production of fruit, vegetables, and ornamental plants[viii]. Who said a rose was ornamental, but a bluebell was not?

Orange-tip butterfly egg on cuckooflower stem — Orange-tip egg on cuckooflower stem (courtesy Peter Brash)

The fact is that a renaturer, me, does experience aesthetic gratification from what they do. Much of what grows on my land is edible and almost all has or has had a medicinal purpose. Stripy Lawners, Betweeners, Renaturers and Rewilders are all horticulturists. Each sees their role as different, and each believes passionately they are correct. There is no such thing in horticulture as us and them. The term is a matter of perspective.

Thanks to Peter Brash, the ecologist, I feel triumphant. Peter was clearly pleased at what he found as he identified a cuckooflower stem carrying the egg of an orange-tip butterfly. The number of butterflies and moths is increasing rapidly now, as is the number of cuckooflowers. The egg had turned bright orange, which is what they do after a few days. After a week the egg hatches into a green, camouflaged caterpillar, which is instantly cannibalistic. A month later the caterpillar becomes a light brown, curved chrysalis, remaining hidden in the vegetation until next spring, when out will come another orange-tip butterfly[ix]. Fantastic. Renaturing is doing what it should. The orange-tip is one of the few butterflies in this country whose population is increasing, so it is not presently a species of conservation concern[x].

Oxeye daisy — Oxeye daises are here, now in their hundreds

The oxeye daisies are in overdrive and popping up in the most unexpected places. It is said that “He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me,” the common children’s game to identify an appropriate suitor, started with the oxeye daisy[xi]. The flower may look single but is not. It is a composite flower head consisting of lots of yellow disc florets surrounded by plenty of white ray florets. The yellow centre holds ample nectar, which pollinators adore. On my land the pollinators are spoilt for choice. The oxeye has also been strongly linked to divination, especially in France, where it has been used in romantic predictions. It has even been administered in traditional medicine, as well as to make tea.[xii] So if you are struggling in love, drop by my land and talk to an oxeye daisy. There are plenty available.

An unexpected bonus is yellow rattle[xiii], the so-called meadow maker, or nature’s lawnmower, which has started to appear. I have played no part in its arrival and did not plant a thing. One morning it was just there. Yellow rattle acquired its name from the rattle of its seeds, when its yellow flower begins to fade later in the year. It was once seen as an indicator of poor grassland by farmers[xiv] but these days no renaturing or rewilding project would be complete without it. It thrives in grasslands, and apparently my land, while feeding off the nutrients of nearby plants, and still manages to look attractive. Yellow rattle is hemiparasitic, as it gains its nutrients by penetrating the roots of neighbouring green plants with its own roots. It is the single most important plant needed when creating a wildflower meadow for the first time[xv]. Once it starts growing, there is not much else needed to be done, as yellow rattle will do plenty of the hard work for you. Its effect is easy to see. When I look at the yellow rattle on my land, the grass immediately around the yellow rattle is clearly shorter than the grass further away.

Like so many other wild flowers, yellow rattle has been claimed to have medicinal uses, although the scientific evidence in support was never persuasive[xvi]. Yet even when any medicinal uses are ignored, the presence of yellow rattle is brilliant. Let me see what it does.

***

Acknowledgement

Take it from me - none of this would be possible without the help of RSG Horticulture. Rufus, who runs it, has far more energy than me and is full of ideas and skills.

References

Cutting grass?

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