Did anyone see this programme yesterday evening? It dealt with creating
a 1620 flowery mead which Chris Beardshaw did by planting perennials
such as Knautia arvensis into mown grass. There was no mention of the
fact (unless I slept through that bit) that within a week or so the
grass would need cutting or of how that would be done. Presumably
seventeenth century grass-cutting methods would allow cutting right
round small plants, but I can't imagine how it would be done now without
employing an army of gardeners with nail scissors.
Was a non-maintainable plan put into place briefly and just for the
cameras, I wonder.

Snap! I thought exactly the same thing. I was busy pottering and doing
other things so I missed the object of the exercise - "the flowery
mead".

I suppose one would only have to hand snip the grass in a very small
area around each plant before getting the mower out - and the area of
mead wasn't exactly huge. In Victorian times they had ample labour for
such things.

I actually noted the plants they were putting in: Hawksbit, Field
Scabious and Campion. Hmmm. Next time a Ranunculus appears in an
otherwise weed less green lawn, out with the scissors and make it a
feature! Except that I think part of the charm was in the regular
spacing of the meaded plants.


They did in fact go into the problem of grass growth at some length, and
they also considered Ranunculus species to be included.


--
Art
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