What is a weed and why No Mow May?
A small group of us were shown round an allotment in Stevens Street, Market Harborough during the ‘Great Big Green Week for Harborough and the surrounding districts’.
Our guide was a master composter and keen gardener. Some of the allotments were what some people would think of as pristine with not a ‘weed in sight. Some of us looked at such plots in dismay!
Why the difference? Why wouldn’t the gardeners not want to remove so called weeds? Why was it better when ‘weeds’ were allowed to flourish in a controlled manner?
Our guide had a flourishing wildlife garden in comparison, as well as vegetables and flowers and an amazing diversity of insects.
So what is a weed? Plantlife say a weed is simply, “a wild plant growing where it is not wanted, especially among crops or garden plants.”
They are the conservation group that includes promoting “No Mow May” to help butterflies and bees flourish in grass that is healthy with clover, daisies and dandelions. Their patron is the greatly respected conservationist King Charles, who took on the role in 1999 as the then Prince of Wales and who has been a big inspiration to them.
Interestingly, Plantlife work in all types of habitats like blanket bogs, farmland, woodlands and coast to help all sorts of habitats to not only survive but also to flourish. The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) distinguishes between wild flowers and weeds, though I struggled to find definitions of each.
For example, clover is a wild flower and not a weed and a great benefit to butterflies and bees.
Julie Fagan, volunteer,
Sustainable Harborough Community and Eco Churches
Our 50th Anniversary
