To let the garden overgrow to an extent

[Enchantmentz]

My local council have terminated garden waste collections for the time being due to the current situation, so only have limited room in garden waste bin. I imagine there will be fires over the coming months depending how long this goes on for.

However, I have two gardens and I have been thinking to maintain the (larger) one for as long as possible and spread wild flower seeds all over the other and see what happens, I already have a wild flower bed ready to go there. I will ofcourse monitor the grass situation depending on how the flowers go.

I have always wanted to do this to an extent but haven't because I doubt people would approve of it.

Anyone else had their garden waste cancelled in their area and what do you think?

I don't know, you might just end up with bindweed and brambles. And that would be a nightmare to take control of again. Do you have a compost bin?

user I don't have a compost bin but I might look into getting one. I am not green fingered so I might just be having a rose coloured view of a pretty garden to look at. I was thinking to research wildflower seed batches first rather than just chucking a random selection down. My flower bed of wild flowers last year was pretty but not the kind of flowers I would want to grow just anywhere.

I stopped doing garden waste once they wanted to add a fifth full size wheelie bin to the 3 foot by seven foot front path and charge £125 a year for 6 collections (where the bin would inevitably fill up with other people's waste overnight).

Other than stopping spikey things from impaling any unsuspecting garden user or from engulfing the entire house as per Sleeping Beauty's Castle, I leave it all to get on and do plant-type things unmolested.

It's brilliant. No mowing, no weeding, no pruning. but I did work on getting just the right conditions/setup - it's Mediterranean beach/Occitanian lavender field out the front, British woodland conditions out back, due to extreme differences in soil, sunlight and heat. Tons of wildlife, flowers, plants - DP says the back reminds him of home (the arse end of Devon).

You would need to plan it, rather than just abandon it and expect perfection. But it's a brilliant idea.

Garden waste cancelled. My green bin is full to overflowing. I have a large garden. I’m not really sure what to do if this goes on all summer!

I think your idea might be nice, I’m not a flower person though - I’m thinking of trying to grow some veg instead, if I can clear a patch.

We booked our garden collection as bin was full. Then we let our daughter lop, chop and pull out weeds thinking the bin will be emptied. Got the email yesterday saying the collections are cancelled and our money will be returned. Starting to look at composting bins. On the upside dd now knows how to lop tree branches and may well have successfully killed off the bramble Bush, bloody thing was as bad as a triffid.

Our garden waste was tipped into the same bin motor as the regular landfill this week. Wonder if ours will be sacrificed in future too.

Wildflower meadow or somesuch sounds great. Just remove weeds so they don’t seed everywhere. And keep an aye out for ragwort.

MitziK your gardens do sound nice, I understand the difference in garden climate, if that is a thing. My small garden gets a lot of light during the day and the other is very damp and shaded for best part of the day and has what looks like moss going over it so I doubt it would be pleasant for flowers of any kind. I will look into it further before committing to any
anything although, general maintenance and pruning seems much more appealing than dragging the lawn mower around.

You could always make a compost heap, it will rot down okay. I always used to have a heap in a hidden corner. It will make good compost in about a year. Council provided compost bins are a relatively recent thing, we always managed without in the past! You don't need to use a compost bin either, just make a tidy pile. Don't put put perennial weeds on it and if you put grass clippings on, layer them with other waste or they go slimy. I always think the councils are doing very well because they charge for the bins then eventually get free compost. Do they sell it I wonder?
How about growing some veg? Failing that, you can buy wild seed collections. Have a look at Boston Seeds, they do some really good mixes. Of course, they may be inundated with orders because of the current circumstances but worth a look anyway.
Whatever you decide to do, don't let your garden run wild and uncared for, it will be a heck of a job to get it back. Have fun and enjoy the outdoors.

Dontrainonmyparade I like the idea of veg patches, however I would have to rope someone in the dig the beds out. Last years flower bed prep was a lot of effort for me and quite tiring. I do have vague ideas of raised beds though but where I would like them needs a lot of stones lifting.

hotbin composter is great for small gardens, especially if you have a shredder to chop things up before they go in the composter.

if you want a wildflower meadow, you need to mow twice a year and compost the clippings (not leave them on the ground). otherwise you will just get a mess of nettles & brambles.

You need to prepare the ground before you sow the seeds for a wildflower meadow - should be at least 50% bare soil and the seeds raked or trampled lightly in. Yellow rattle can be used to suppress grass.

Or you could just mow less often and see what comes up. Did this for my small lawn last year and got some pretty flowers. It has primroses right now. Lots of people would disapprove, but it’s great for wildlife. Short grass mown every week is rubbish for wildlife.

Wilder gardens with weeds (like dandelions) that are overgrown (to some extent!!) are much better for the environment, insects, bees and wildlife than manicured gardens.

Ours are suspended too, just as DH has attacked all the shrubs and pruned stuff back, as well as filling it with grass from mowing front and back lawns. Even if we ignore everything else, we’ll need to keep the lawns under some sort of control. No compost bin here, either, and nowhere useful to put one, even if we can get one delivered. We need to come up with a new plan!