Weedy Corner

Over time potting compost gets impacted or washes out of containers and you can end up with a half-full contained, with plant roots exposed, and that dries out quickly. 

I noticed that this is true of a number of containers at the end of our ‘patio’ (the garage roof). This area is always in the sun and gets the brunt of all wind or rain too. So a re-jig was timely. 

Some pots were ‘cleaned up’ or topped up. Others moved away as they were not doing well in that position and some more moved in, principally as they have tall, sun-loving plants in them, increasing their chances and our privacy. As always one needs to ensure layers for the best display.

This prompted a move round of containers in other places, principally with the idea of creating a ‘meadow’ area. Obviously, trying to create a meadow in pots isn’t ideal. The only partial solution is to group the containers together that contain wildflowers.

I’ve deliberately crowded plants and potted damp loving ones together to end up with the sort of weedy corner that many fields have.

A few weeks ago I visited Graveney Marshes and saw the model for my weedy corner. I was photographing (or trying to) butterflies and odonata by the raised roadside. A pen had been made leaving a hummocky gap along the road edge between it and a culverted stream. The area would be impossible to cultivate and is a tricky one for livestock too. Left to its own devices it was filled with yarrow and teasel, thistle and hedge parsley and many other plants crammed into an abandoned corner and an absolute larder for bees, bugs and other invertebrates. The stream was alive with odonata, that naturally gravitated toward this corner too.

Rant it out!
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