WHAT
EVER I DO, to my little meadow area – clear, plant
with a crop of swedes (rutabagas) to lower soil fertility,
re-seed – it
always seems to be the docks (left) that grow most prolifically.
Never mind, I like drawing docks, but if I want some of the more colourful
meadow flowers
to grow, I’m going to have to weed the docks out one-by-one or, more
simply, give the area another mowing, putting the trimmings on the compost
heap in order to lower the fertility of the meadow and so encourage a greater
variety of wild flowers.
Small
white
This looks like a weedy version of cow parsley (right,
with sketch of speckled wood sunning itself on the hedge nearby) but I guess
that it is smaller than
average because I mowed the area a few weeks ago.
With a crimson wash to the
seed-head and a fine velvet down on the sheaths clasping the stem, I’d
say this grass is Yorkshire Fog, Holcus lanatus.
We
ate out on the patio this evening, with a citronella candle to discourage any
midges.