To cut back or not to cut back? That is the question!

This week I`ve been doing a bit of wild gardening. This is the time of year to cut back the plants that flowered earlier in the spring - or is it? In this video I look at the reasons for this and whether I should cut back the early flowering perennials in my wildlife garden.
I`ve also found something interesting in my old pond and solved the mystery of the missing frog tadpoles.

[@ThereisaCastleinmyGarden]

Hello Isabel, your video is so timely. I bought a house in France with an abandoned garden. To get to the garden I need to go down a little medieval path. At mid May the side of the path had so many beautiful irises, ranunculus and other wildflowers. And the town cut it all down. It looks and feel horrible. No more butterflies and bees of course. In contrast my garden is very very wild. The problem is that 3/4 of it is covered with brambles….that the wildlife loves. Just today I posted a video asking the very same question : to cut or not to cut…. Am glad that there are other people in the world asking themselves the same question. And you are right we need to take on the role of herbivores. Thank you for your videos.

[@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr]

Wow! Your garden is amazing! Such a shame about the path to it, though. Maybe now you are there you can have some influence. Thanks for watching.

[@ThereisaCastleinmyGarden]

@@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr thank you Isabel! Yes it's a lovely place to be. I watched the video where you received a positive answer from the council over the spraying issue...I think I'm going to contact the mairie here and see what they say!

[@EDuncan-oq9bw]

Thank you Isabel always enjoy uor visits , and the crochet blankets blessings to you

[@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr]

You`re very welcome. I`m glad you enjoyed it.

[@SuperMonkeyBeans]

I'm pretty happy to see spittlebug nests these days. Really cool moths at the end.

[@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr]

That`s good to hear. Thanks.

[@GrandmaSandy]

Thanks so much for another wonderful wonderful video always enjoy the beautiful thing of nature and the beautiful garden

[@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr]

Thanks so much. I`m glad you enjoyed it.

[@christina3056]

Your knowledge is excellent and so interesting - thank you! 😊

[@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr]

You`re very welcome. Thanks for watching.

[@myrustygarden]

I have heard of the missing comments and it happens to lots of channels. My problem is not getting the notifications for new videos people I follow post 🤷‍♀️. This one popped up on the side bar so I knew it was new to me. Anyway I am glad to pop by and enjoy the garden. Have a wonderful week Isabel, Ali 🥵🌞🇨🇦

[@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr]

Thanks Ali, glad you enjoyed it. I just don`t want people to think I have ignored them, if I don`t respond to their comments. It`s because I can`t. But it is a wonder so little goes wrong with youtube really. The wonders of technology!!

[@marilyneves8856]

A really lovely video Isabel! ❤

[@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr]

Thanks, I`m glad you think so!

[@marilynsmith8054]

We feed sunflower hearts and the birds love them. I have done the same. Handing the garden back to nature. This has been one of my best years as I’m 78 now and can’t do as much and my garden has absolutely exploded with colour. I have always hand weeded in the past and I let self seeders do their thing. The only one I try to control a bit and It’s my number 1 perennial meconopsis cambrica the Welsh poppy. The bees love it.🐝

[@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr]

Wilding my garden is good for me too. As I get older and can do less the wildlife benefits. I have lots of welsh poppies too. Your garden sounds fabulous. Thanks for watching.

[@joannanwosu]

I am learning a lot from your channel! My nettle patch has leaves that are folded over and I thought the nettles were diseased or dying 😃. Delighted to think there might be caterpillars in the little pouches. I chuckled at the large herbivore comment; got me thinking about myself as a cow 😂. Lovely video and thanks as always.

[@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr]

You could think of yourself as a horse, or a deer? It`s always worth checking if leaves are looking strange. It can be disease but it can be in response to an insect of some kind. I`m glad you enjoyed the video.

[@Ladythyme]

Love it the way it is!…. Just found your channel….just what I’ve been looking for….. this is just the type of garden I love…..just subscribed ❤…. I agree I cut some back and leave some….i also save the seeds of those I cut for future planting 😊…always thinking of the wildlife in every decision

[@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr]

I`m so glad you found my channel. Welcome and thanks for subscribing. It`s great to meet a fellow wild gardener.

[@sheilafarren5359]

Love your video and I like to watch them with my grandson he’s learning about wild life gardening

[@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr]

I`m so pleased your grandson is learning about wildlife gardening. Gosh, what a privilege to be able to encourage the young generation! Thanks for letting me know.

[@rundumnatur777]

Hi, Isabel! You always pick up on the latest topics. To cut or not to cut is always a question, especially in this strong growing season. But I think like you, only cut half and never cut flowering plants (unless I can no longer walk through them). I always ask myself the question: what are really my own ideas and what are inherited educational patterns... But it is very important to leave at least a small area of the garden completely wild for wildlife. Your tit family is really adorable and of course I am also very interested in your pond dwellers and the pretty moths. All the best from Gabi in wet southern Germany. 💚☔

[@SMElder-iy6fl]

I left my side garden wild and found my neighbor in it mowing! She progressed to trying to kill a bush in it (the pollinator to my winterberry). When I ran out to stop her, she chased me through my front yard uttering threats! Eventually, after 2 futile calls to the police, I had to put up an expensive fence to get her out of my yard. She sprays for mosquitoes and the poison comes into my garden, so I don't know if my wild area is of any benefit, but it is wild again.

[@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr]

OMG! What a horrible neighbour! How awful for you! I`m so sorry you went through that. It makes me thankful for my neighbours, who are very neat tidy gardeners but seem to quite like my wild garden - from a distance.

[@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr]

Hello Gabi. Cutting back and tidying up the spring flowering plants is what I would normally be doing. It`s part of the rhythm of the gardening year and there is a safety and reassurance in that. This is the first year I have questioned it. It is difficult when you challenge something you have always thought and done. But that`s what I am doing all the time now. And of course - making videos about it. Best wishes from Wales.

[@nicholasryan5401]

Beautiful natural looking garden for pollinators, Its the bees knees.

[@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr]

Thank you.

[@flowerfairy1950]

Hi Isabel, as you questioned you came to the same conclusion I did 🧡 cut half! As you say we need to be the herbivore. Having said that, I have plenty of my own 😢 I noticed today a large patch of Borage had been munched on and decimated. The only relatively safe space in 3 acres is the Pollinator Patch. You are doing a great job and have created a wonderful environment 🧡

[@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr]

Yes, I know some people have their own large herbivores. In the uk there are deer, and rabbits, and maybe other things, but there is nothing like that where I live. Thanks so much.

[@sherryallen4537]

Hello Isabel, new subscriber here, interested in wild gardening. We have stopped mowing our grass and are gradualy changing our yard to a woodland. I too love texture and color. I am mindful of what would benifit from my plant choices. Any suggestions for dealing with slugs? All the best to you from Massachusetts!😊🌲🌳

[@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr]

Hello in Massachusetts. Thanks so much for subscribing and welcome to my channel. It`s great to hear you are wilding your garden. My garden is slug city! I wish I knew what to do about them. I have tried everything over the years, but nothing works really and now I just try and grow things that slugs don`t like. And I encourage predators like the birds, hedgehogs and frogs - but they don`t seem to make much of an impression. So I am learning to live with them as they are wildlife too.

[@drawyrral]

A large herbivore would leave a large present after it's leafy meal. I'm sure you don't want to do that. 😝

[@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr]

Ha Ha, Yes he probably would!!

[@bay-m4j]

You make gardening look effortless. It might look wild to you but it doesnt to me! I'd like to cram my garden with flowers and plants, wild or otherwise. I can't - its dominated by slugs and snails.

[@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr]

Thanks so much. I have lots of slugs and snails too so I try to grow things they don`t like. Also all the birds, hedgehogs and frogs are supposed to eat the slugs too!! Thanks for watching.

[@bay-m4j]

Your flowers look beautiful. It's a delight watching your videos, especially the newts and moths. I spotted a 5 inch long slug in my compost heap yesterday. Beat that! It was so big (like a wee snake) I left it there! 😊

[@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr]

Thanks. I`m so glad you enjoy the videos and the creatures. I would be quite happy to have a five inch slug in my compost heap. In my veg patch - not so much!

[@drawyrral]

I ask myself, what is beauty?

[@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr]

In the eye of the beholder.

[@connydm729]

​@@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr Very well said 😉