Having scattered a couple of packets (i.e., about two million seeds) of wild meadow mixture over our side border, we are still waiting for that elusive meadow to somehow miraculously appear. We suspect we might be waiting an awful long time, especially as our ‘garden’ has soil that is so free-draining it’s virtually a dustbowl.

This year we have, therefore, opted for a more laissez faire approach to gardening. Some weeds, such as red dead nettles, groundsel, dandelions (which are actually a benefit to your soil) and possibly some spurge, will be tolerated, but nasties like chickweed and goose grass will be removed. I see it as a form of artificial selection, exactly the same as what keen orchid growers would do, but without the need to prepare for flower shows at the end of the season. Our dead nettles have already had lots of interest from bees, and we hope also to provide lots to see and do for butterflies and any other insects who fancy paying us a visit. (Please please please let a buddleia self seed out there. Pretty please?)

To anyone who asks, I always stress the educational value of a weed garden; botany, I believe, really should be on the national curriculum. As I’ve already hinted, it’s not a free-for-all out there: we are actively practising proper ‘crop management’. And, if nothing else, at least we’re preventing soil erosion; without our efforts, the whole town could soon become a desert.

Secretly, though, part of me hopes that some of the thick tussocks that have sprouted near the edges of the weed patch might eventually join up and provide permanent ground cover. What could be better than that — a free lawn!