People make fun of us americans measuring using "anything but the metric system"..... well, I've never measured flower seeds by the teacup... Great vid!
for those of us approaching 97 years of age, and with a bigger lawn (I know that size isn't everything) .. is there some Thing You Can Hire to take off the turf without precipitating a coronary crisis?
Thank you for this. I live in America and recently bought a house with a 1.5 acre lot. It’s nearly all lawn and takes so much time to cut and maintain. I’ve been thinking of ways to turn it back into forest or meadow and this really got me thinking. Would love to see a progress update.
Definitely try reducing the frequency of cutting then if your mower can handle long grass. Do you have enough room for some wooded area and some grassland? It sounds like it could be incredible! 😍
@@tecmow4399 Oh, gosh yes. My original idea was to try and turn a good portion of it back into a pine forest. Which is very close to the neighborhood I live in in Suamico, WI, USA. The pine needles fall and kill the underlying grass. It's then like a really nice pine blanket underneath. Good for animals and less maintenance. BUT, I have no idea how to do that. Then I came across your video. Ideally, I'd do both. If you have an email, I'd send you a link to the listing of our home. The pictures are still up.
Our property is a short acre and I have cut back the wild hardwood trees (it was a real mess) to make room for fruit bearing trees, seeded clover as a green manure to improve fertility (it can be mowed). Looking into planting wildflowers in some of the rough areas as foraging material for honeybees. Blueberry bushes are in progress along with a large vegetable garden.
Great video!! Some very good points, I believe if we all added our gardens together we would get an area the size of Kent, heard that on Springwatch if I remember rightly!
Thanks Spencer! Absolutely - it’s a huge opportunity and we can all make that decision almost immediately! There’s no red tape at all. Thanks for the thoughtful comment 😁
I just threw the seed down after I calculated the amount I needed and spread it evenly. If you’re doing a large area you can mix it with a bit of sand so you can see where you’ve been.
The striptease 🤣🤣🤣 this is a great video, thanks for sharing your knowledge and resources on meadow/native planting! I am trying to slowly lower the amount of grass in my yard and turn most parts into gardens (whether native, shrubs, or veggies)! Bye bye grass!
Every gardener at every job drops a clothing or two, but that was a show I'd destroy every strip of lawn in the area and turn it into a yellow rattle-infested meadow for. 😂😂
You could potentially. Yellow rattle needs grasses to establish though so I’m not sure how it would work. You’d probably need to get some grasses going first and sow the yellow rattle into that. I can’t confidently tell you if that’ll work though 😅 I think I remember someone saying they used to start lamb’s fescue in pots and sow it into that
As in the West Midlands? It’s mainly acidic soil here so I’ve heard red bartsia is easier to grow. Given that I’ve seen Yellow Rattle growing within a mile of my house I’m still confident it should work 🤞
@@tecmow4399 I’m American. I’m pretty sure introducing a parasitic species from another country would be a bad idea. It seems like Americans who have made content about meadow-growing don’t ever mention using a hemiparasitic to balance it out, but British people say it’s so important so I don’t want to skip. I did some googling and it’s sounds like maybe Castilleja is our equivalent? It’s a hemiparasitic wildflower that has a native version for just about part of the continent. Do you think that I could use that the way you used yellow rattle?
@@muffininorbit I’m here for this answer too! I don’t want to use the yellow rattle and regret it but it sounds like I’ll be wasting all my wildflower seeds without something!
Ever since learning how bad lawns are for the environment I just think they look so ugly. I understand if people actually use their lawn to play sports or play with their pets but most dont use their front yards for anything! I hope the trend of lawns dies!
They can be considerably less of an impact if chemical use (particularly pesticides for killing so many invertebrates) is low/zero. If mowing frequency is even a little bit lower too it helps. But I agree with you. A front yard that’s excessively watered and chemically bright green to demonstrate status is unbelievably wasteful! Especially in drought prone areas. Do you have any bits of land that you could manage away from being a lawn?
People make fun of us americans measuring using "anything but the metric system"..... well, I've never measured flower seeds by the teacup...
Great vid!
Enjoyed the content (am in the process of turning my lawn into a wildflower area) of the video including the man show in the middle 👍🏼
I'm planning a small medow (2m x 6m) to reduce the area I need to mow. Great to see how you got started.
7.5 K views already! Good for you!
Thank you ❤️
Came here for the meadow. Subscribed for the man show!
This is the type of comment that makes my day 👌🏼🥰🤣 Thank you
Just a few more than 15 views buddy! Great vid 👌🏼
Thank you! I’m pleased with how well it’s been received 😃
for those of us approaching 97 years of age, and with a bigger lawn (I know that size isn't everything) .. is there some Thing You Can Hire to take off the turf without precipitating a coronary crisis?
A mechanical turf/sod cutter should help you out there
Loved it Tom. Your voice is quite soothing. Loved the breakaway to your braces and soda break. 😂🥵😳
Thanks, Keith! People sometimes accuse me of liking the sound of it :D
Thank you for this video and doing everything you can for wildlife! Your incredible!
Thank you so much for the kind words 😊
Awesome video, Tom. Thanks! Can't wait to start my own meadow
Thank you! I can’t wait to see that! Maybe we should do the guerrilla gardening thing then!
Thank you for this. I live in America and recently bought a house with a 1.5 acre lot. It’s nearly all lawn and takes so much time to cut and maintain. I’ve been thinking of ways to turn it back into forest or meadow and this really got me thinking. Would love to see a progress update.
Definitely try reducing the frequency of cutting then if your mower can handle long grass. Do you have enough room for some wooded area and some grassland? It sounds like it could be incredible! 😍
@@tecmow4399 Oh, gosh yes. My original idea was to try and turn a good portion of it back into a pine forest. Which is very close to the neighborhood I live in in Suamico, WI, USA. The pine needles fall and kill the underlying grass. It's then like a really nice pine blanket underneath. Good for animals and less maintenance. BUT, I have no idea how to do that. Then I came across your video. Ideally, I'd do both. If you have an email, I'd send you a link to the listing of our home. The pictures are still up.
If you add me on insta I can send you my email via DM?
Our property is a short acre and I have cut back the wild hardwood trees (it was a real mess) to make room for fruit bearing trees, seeded clover as a green manure to improve fertility (it can be mowed). Looking into planting wildflowers in some of the rough areas as foraging material for honeybees. Blueberry bushes are in progress along with a large vegetable garden.
How did this project turn out? @michaelmacco ?
Great video!! Some very good points, I believe if we all added our gardens together we would get an area the size of Kent, heard that on Springwatch if I remember rightly!
Thanks Spencer! Absolutely - it’s a huge opportunity and we can all make that decision almost immediately! There’s no red tape at all. Thanks for the thoughtful comment 😁
@@tecmow4399 No worries! And yes you are right, it’s very important and can be started instantly, no problem take care
Oi, where's the rest Tom? Cheered me up no end Part 1. When do you get down to the nitty gritty of sowing?
I just threw the seed down after I calculated the amount I needed and spread it evenly. If you’re doing a large area you can mix it with a bit of sand so you can see where you’ve been.
The striptease 🤣🤣🤣 this is a great video, thanks for sharing your knowledge and resources on meadow/native planting! I am trying to slowly lower the amount of grass in my yard and turn most parts into gardens (whether native, shrubs, or veggies)! Bye bye grass!
I think the principles are similar in Minnesota to the UK. Thanks for your kind words!
ruclips.net/video/qosK_5HJ3QM/видео.html
Every gardener at every job drops a clothing or two, but that was a show I'd destroy every strip of lawn in the area and turn it into a yellow rattle-infested meadow for. 😂😂
😂 give me a shout if you’re nearby!
Some good tips there.. I really want to do this.... yellow rattle ... could I use the no dig method with card board and compost?
You could potentially. Yellow rattle needs grasses to establish though so I’m not sure how it would work. You’d probably need to get some grasses going first and sow the yellow rattle into that. I can’t confidently tell you if that’ll work though 😅 I think I remember someone saying they used to start lamb’s fescue in pots and sow it into that
@@tecmow4399 thanks m8t
Do you have any tips for figuring out what might be the equivalent of yellow-rattle in our own part of the world?
As in the West Midlands? It’s mainly acidic soil here so I’ve heard red bartsia is easier to grow. Given that I’ve seen Yellow Rattle growing within a mile of my house I’m still confident it should work 🤞
@@tecmow4399 I’m American. I’m pretty sure introducing a parasitic species from another country would be a bad idea. It seems like Americans who have made content about meadow-growing don’t ever mention using a hemiparasitic to balance it out, but British people say it’s so important so I don’t want to skip.
I did some googling and it’s sounds like maybe Castilleja is our equivalent? It’s a hemiparasitic wildflower that has a native version for just about part of the continent. Do you think that I could use that the way you used yellow rattle?
@@muffininorbit I’m here for this answer too! I don’t want to use the yellow rattle and regret it but it sounds like I’ll be wasting all my wildflower seeds without something!
Ever since learning how bad lawns are for the environment I just think they look so ugly. I understand if people actually use their lawn to play sports or play with their pets but most dont use their front yards for anything! I hope the trend of lawns dies!
They can be considerably less of an impact if chemical use (particularly pesticides for killing so many invertebrates) is low/zero. If mowing frequency is even a little bit lower too it helps. But I agree with you. A front yard that’s excessively watered and chemically bright green to demonstrate status is unbelievably wasteful! Especially in drought prone areas. Do you have any bits of land that you could manage away from being a lawn?