The Cake - Summer 2022

HOME & GARDEN
IN THE
GARDEN
“Nature never was nor should be tidy”
says writes Penny Royal
It was great to see that last
month was celebrated by
some as No Mow May in
an effort to bring some
relief to our beleaguered
flora and fauna.
But obviously the message
to leave the mowers in the
shed to allow the flora to grow
had not got through to our
councils. Why are they so hell
bent on ridding the roadsides,
roundabouts and any other
public areas of flowers or
grasses that had the nerve
to put their heads above the
earth’s parapet?
Perhaps the most horrendous
sight was the mowing of an
entire verge of bluebells, in
full bloom, on a Goudhurst
Road, ironically not far from
Bedgebury Pinetum.
Local social media was full of
condemnation and rightly so.
The sloping verge had been a
glorious site until the arrival of
the (council?) contractor and
his machine.
With wildlife and wild plants
under threat as never before,
we are constantly being urged
to make life better for birds,
bees, hedgehogs all the other
creatures, despite their habitats
disappearing at an alarming
rate.
Councils across Kent are
wasting hundreds of thousands
of pounds on ridding our verges
of wildlife habitat, money
which could be better spent
helping nature to claim back
land for so many threatened
species. The same could also be
said for those responsible for
maintaining churchyards.
Obviously, for safety reasons,
“Why are they so hell bent on ridding the
roadsides, roundabouts and any other public
areas of flowers or grasses that had the
nerve to put their heads above the earth’s
parapet?”
plants can’t be allowed to block
sightlines at road junctions
but the verge outside my own
home has been scythed to bare
earth more than four times this
year and we don’t even have a
driveway and live on a straight
road!
We should take a leaf out
of the book used in France.
All along their motorways are
unfettered wild plants and trees.
The central reservations are
filled with Amelanchier lamarkii
trees, full of white blossom in
the spring; the verges a sight
to behold with mile upon mile
of millions of cowslips. These
give way to summer flowers
and there is not a strimmer or
a grass cutter to be seen. Every
village seems to covet plants,
whether growing wild or in
delightful hanging baskets,
tubs and even old rowing boats.
We are being asked to help
our wildlife while agricultural
land is being built on, habitat
for wildlife is shrinking and
what little is left is being
scythed for no other reason
than to make our countryside
look tidy. Nature never was nor
should be “tidy”. Penny Royal
32 The Cake • Summer 2022