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Discover the difference between a wildflower/formal style lawn and which would be right for you. Wildflower lawns verses formal lawns How easy are they? As a landscape gardener it often puzzles me when people ask for low maintenance gardens, in which they want huge expanses of grass with few beds and borders. It can take some convincing to make them think that actually the reverse would be much less work for them. Or me come to that. Lets think seriously about how much time is spent on keeping a formal lawn looking good. Then think about how much time is spent on a wild flower lawn. On a formal lawn the grass will require mowing at least once a week during the summer months. What about extra lawn care tasks during the Spring and Autumn? Aerating Scarifying Top dressing and seasonal Weed and feed routines. This all adds up to many hours of your life spent looking after a formal lawn. And what do you get in return? Stripes, an endless battle with moss, broadleaved weeds and pests, an ever increasing burden on your wallet and unnatural levels of fertiliser in the soil. Take a deep breath So lets look at the amount of work required to maintain a wild flower lawn or meadow. How often will it require mowing for example? Usually only once or twice a year. This involves a cut, followed by removal of the cut material. This can be done a day or two after mowing to allow seeds to drop back into the soil. What seasonal management does it need? See above. No pest or weed control. No additional chemical or granular fertilisers. No aerating. No scarifying. No top dressing. This adds up to a lot less of your time and money being spent on managing the same area of your garden. And what do you get in return? A long season of colour. Interest from the variety of flowers. An increase in insect life and other wildlife coming to visit the garden. Less stress. More time to relax. A fatter wallet. Fewer machines cluttering the shed. A more natural healthy soil. Less pollution in the atmosphere. An overwhelming sense of wellbeing and superiority when you sit in your garden listening to the neighbours wrestling with their mowers and strimmers.

Showing the qualifications, training and experience that makes Wilderness Tamed stand out from the rest. Location Covering both Northumberland and Durham Being based at the top end of County Durham, close to Gateshead and Newcastle I am well situated for access to the A1 which allows for easy travel into Northumberland & the coast. More local roads lead into Weardale & Teesdale. Working in the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural beauty is part of what makes the job so appealing. Over the hills I can get to the Tyne Valley for Prudhoe, Corbridge, Riding Mill, Hexham and surrounding villages. Qualifications I studied horticulture at Houghall College in Durham from 1988 to 1989. gaining extensive experience in plant knowledge. With skills in propagation, cultivation and identification. After passing with distinction I went on to work in a variety of practical garden situations. From 2007 to 2012 I worked for the National Trust at Gibside. The final three years of this were spent on the Careership Training programme in conservation management. Experience After studying horticulture I worked at several leading North East garden centres including Peter Barratt's, Cowell's and The Beamish Clematis Nursery. I have worked in horticulture since 1989 in various fields and then moved into conservation for the National Trust. The first three years at Gibside was spent coordinating the Grass Snake Habitat Enrichment Project. Then during the Careership Programme learning a variety of conservation skills. I was the Revealing Reptiles Project Officer for Durham wildlife Trust from 2016 to 2018. This involved recruiting and training volunteers to help me survey the whole of County Durham for reptiles. I also gave talks to many local groups. Services Installation and maintenance of ponds Installation and maintenance of wild flower lawns and meadows. Regular maintenance of existing gardens. I offer an online consultation service as well as garden designs provided by a network of professional designers across the UK. Training in scythe use for meadow management, both for individuals and conservation groups. A range of talks on various wildlife friendly garden subjects. Training in reptile and amphibian survey techniques as well as ecology and habitat management.

Learn to mow with our scythe course egift card full days training. Gift a unique experience with our scythe course egift card today! Beginners Scything Course eGift Card Choose the gift card that suits you best. £65 Individual day training course. Supply your own scythe. £85 Individual day training course with scythe supplied by Wilderness Tamed. £110 Discounted couples day training course. Supply your own scythes. £160 Discounted couples day training course with scythes supplied by Wilderness Tamed Scythe Course £65 Amount £65 £85 £110 £160 Quantity Buy Now

Some pictures of groups of people learning to use Austrian scythes. A gallery of past scythe courses Just a few pictures from training courses I've ran over the years. From National Trust properties & Wildlife Trust reserves across the country to local community groups and garden associations. A formidable collection. Learning to peen the blades. Peening workshop. A rack of scythes. Gentlemen testing scythes. Scything in Slaidburn. Competitions at the Scottish scythe festival. New scythers mowing in Yorkshire.

Creating and managing wildlife lawns and meadows for customers in the North East of England. Using native species. Wildlife Lawns & Meadows Wildlife lawns can be a very low maintenance option for busy gardeners. Wildlife meadows, using native wild flowers can add a massive amount of interest to your garden. Wildflower lawn creation will attract pollinating insects to your garden. Decrease your workload in the garden. Wild flowers only require mowing once in a year. Spend more time relaxing and enjoying the garden. The benefits of wildflower lawns & meadows in your garden Preparing the soil in your garden for wildflower turf or seed. Wildflower lawns verses formal lawns. How easy are they? Making life easy. Management of your wildflower garden.

learn all you need to know about prepping for your new wildflower lawn. Preparing the soil for wild flowers This might come as a surprise, but you might have been spending the last few years preparing the soil for wild flowers. If you watch some of my videos about lawns and grass cutting you will hear me mention how 'cut and remove' is the perfect way to manage a wild flower lawn or meadow. Cut and remove? I hear you ask...Thats what most people do when they mow their lawns with a grass box. All the nutrient the grass has taken from the soil in order to grow, is collected in the grass box and dumped in a compost bin. Or worse still a local authority garden waste bin. This constant depletion of nutrients in the soil is just what wild flowers want. It's the opposite of what a lush grass lawn wants. Yet this is how people have been conditioned to mow their lawns. Then they wonder why the grass is struggling to compete with moss and broad leaved weeds. Either that or they combat the nutrient loss from their mowing regime by introducing chemical or granular fertilisers. More cost! This video below shows me sowing seeds in my own small front garden. The ground was previously planted with a mix of perennials and shrubs. If you have a lawn that you are considering removing or changing the simplest way to get it ready for wild flowers is to remove the turf. Hire a turf lifter for this, it makes the job so much quicker. While you're on, hire a cultivator. You'll want to use this to turn the soil. It doesn't have to be deep. Rake the area level once it has been dug over. Firm the soil with a roller. Also easy to hire. Then either follow the video above or lay your rolls of wildflower turf. Make sure you get a full plant list for the seed mix and the turf. Insist that a native species mix is included. None native plants serve no purpose other than colour and some pollen. When should you do all this? Ideally in Spring between March and April but the best time is Autumn between September and November. Whether seeding or turfing, it's a good idea to plant some native bulbs in the soil first. These will provide an extension to the season of interest. Snakehead fritillary, snowdrops, bluebells and old English narcissus are great for adding a splash of colour early in the year.

Using native UK pond plants in your garden pond. Make your pond more wildlife friendly with this simple guide. How to use native plants in your pond It should be obvious why you need to use native plants in a wildlife friendly pond or garden. But I'll lay it out for you here in case you're under any doubt. Exotic species offer very little in the way of benefit to native insects, other than a nectar source for adult insects. No butterfly or moth species are adapted to using exotic plants as food for their larvae. ie caterpillars. Native plants act in several ways to improve a pond. The roots will help stabilise the shore edge of a pond. They will also act as natural filtration by absorbing nutrients from the water. This reduces build up of excess nutrients which can pollute the water or build up as toxins and poison wildlife. Oxygenate the water as they release oxygen from their roots and stems in tiny streams of bubbles. Provide foraging and shelter for small invertebrates and amphibians. Did you know that frog and toad tadpoles start out as herbivores before becoming insectivores. They will eat the jelly of the spawn first, then move on to algae, dead plant matter and leaves of pond plants. This is one of my own ponds in early summer showing the wide variety of plants growing in and around the water. A wildlife pond, whether it be a naturally occurring pond in the countryside or a lined pond created in a garden, should not have plastic baskets filled with plants in it. I strongly recommend planting young pond plants into a substrate on the pond bottom. You don't need special pond soil bought from a garden centre. In my experience, over many years of creating ponds, not only in gardens but for conservation charities, I have never brought in pond soil or compost. In several ponds I've only used course grit or gravel to act as an anchoring substrate for plug plants. The roots will establish in this and as the pond matures, enough plant matter and waste from pond animals will act as a source of nutrients, which the plants roots can absorb and filter out. Pond plants fall into several categories Deep water. Those which root into the bottom of the pond. Some will send up leaves and flowers to the surface. Oxygenators. Rooting into the bottom of the pond, often growing in large clumps. Surface cover/free floating. Seasonal plants emerging to the surface during warmer weather to spread across the surface. Emergent. Growing in the deeper water around the margins and sending up leaves and stems above the water level. Marginal. Growing with their feet in the damp edges of the pond. Most will tolerate being submerged for long periods. Each type of plant plays an important part in the ecology of the pond. Like the layers of foliage in a forest they offer cover to one another. Provide forage for the animal life. Act as food for some invertebrates as well as the aforementioned early stages in a tadpoles life. Provide egg laying opportunities for various invertebrates. Not just within the pond but above the water as well. And emergent and marginal plants allow the larvae stage of dragon and damselflies to crawl from their aquatic home into the open air. From here they will transform and emerge as adults.

As mentioned on the formal lawns verses wildflowers page, this is an easy process carried out no more than twice in a year. Managing your wildflowers As mentioned on the formal lawns verses wildflowers page, this is an easy process carried out no more than twice in a year. As you will probably guess from other pages on this site my preferred method of mowing is with a scythe. Honestly, they're so much easier and eco friendly than people imagine. So simply mow the wildflower lawn and either immediately rake off the cuttings or leave for a few days to allow seeds to drop into the soil. Wondering if a scythe is a better option than a strimmer for managing your land? Check here for a comparison of the two. That's it! It really is as easy as that. I could end this page here, but I like to waffle on a bit, so there'll be more. You're wondering what to do with all the stuff you remove, aren't you? why not donate it to someone else who wants what you've got. They can spread it over a prepared area of their own garden. Allow the seeds to drop over a few days, then remove the vegetation. It's how many large scale meadows are created, with cuttings from an already established meadow. Failing that, perhaps some locals would like it to feed their pet guinea pigs or rabbits. I know some folk bale their wildflowers and sell the bales for a few quid. In other news, keeping the nutrient level low also means keeping the lawn free from too many Autumn leaves. Here's a quick video all about it.

Highlighting the pros and cons between strimmers and scythes for those wanting to budget for their grassland management. Scythe V Strimmer If you're wondering about the advantages of a scythe over a strimmer then perhaps this page will help you make the right decision for your grass management plans. If your work is in conservation, land management, community groups or as a small holder, then it's well worth taking the time to seriously consider which tool will be best for you. Scythe V Strimmer Cost Servicing costs Spare parts Fuel Full kit £226 None. Can be done in house by trained staff & vols. Optional. Additions to kit if required. None Cost Annual Servicing costs Spare parts Fuel FS 361 PETROL CLEARING SAW £1039 Plus PPE and harness £120 per machine by professional mechanics. Approx £30 per cord spool approx £3.50 Per tank full 0.75lt per hour approximately. Plus oil and grease Pollution Noise. None Environmental. None Atmospheric. None Noise. 100 dB(A) 2) Environmental. Littering of plastic cord. Atmospheric. Unregulated emissions. Engagement & Safety As an engagement tool within conservation the scythe wins hands down. Visitors are naturally drawn to watching a scythe in action. Due to it’s silent operation users can engage with visitors while mowing. Teams can chat with each other while working. The prescribed safe mowing distance between scythers is 3 metres No PPE is required, so awareness of others and wildlife is greatly increased. The lack of vibration means no risk of inducing finger or hand related issues. The mowers fitness levels are the only limiting factor in scythe mowing. As an engagement tool within conservation the strimmer is a repellent. Visitors are naturally annoyed by strimmers and will avoid close contact at all costs. The noise from strimmers makes it impossible to engage with visitors. Strimmer operators can not chat with colleagues. The prescribed safe mowing distance between strimmer operators is 15 metres PPE and harnesses are uncomfortable and reduce awareness of others and wildlife. Vibration from the machine can induce carpel tunnel syndrome, vibration white finger and Raynauds, reducing the time allowed to safely operate strimmers.

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See what is involved on our Reptile & Amphibian Surveys training day Reptile Surveys On the training day you will learn How to spot the specific habitat features, within a wider landscape, that are suitable for reptiles. The techniques used to search for these animals without causing stress or disturbance. Gain knowledge of these little understood animals. Their life cycles, activity throughout the year, and ecology. Gain a respect of the importance of reptiles within a habitat and ecosystem. Important note There is no guarantee of seeing any reptiles on a survey, so attendees are encouraged not to build up their hopes of seeing some. But armed with the experience gained on the training day, they should be more confident of being able to spot them when out in the countryside. Book now to arrange your training Understanding Reptile Habitat When confronted with a large landscape scale area to survey for reptiles, an understanding of the key features they utilise greatly increases your chances of finding them. Survey Techniques Learning how reptiles function and using that knowledge to locate them in a visual search takes time and experience to learn. I will teach you how to approach an area in a way that helps you spot the animals before they become aware of you. Ecology Learn about the life cycles and ecology of our native herpetofauna. Gain an understanding of how these little understood animals function and go about their daily lives. Learn specific skills Survey techniques for reptiles are very specific. Join me for an intensive training day to learn the skills I have gained over 50 years of field work, studying these animals both in the Uk and abroad. Book now to arrange your training

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