GROWING CONCERNS

A new relaxed gardening regime has invigorated an old churchyard and boosted wildlife, says Mary Keen

This year has been designated the year of plant health and, according to the C of E’s General Synod, it is also the Year of the Burial Ground. Furthering these combined ambitions in our local churchyard seemed a worthwhile occupation for a group of locals with time and energy to spare. Professional facilitator Peter encouraged one ex-head mistress, two solicitors, two company directors, Sally the vicar and me to get going with a project.

A plan was made and circulated, listing our aims for the next few years, and then we started work. A neighbourhood ecologist provided a document for an annual biological survey; we also had advice from a local conservation officer.

The churchyard has not been used for burials for more than half a century, and in recent years volunteers have mown the whole area. The entrance is lined with beautifully maintained borders, lawns on either side. This is where wedding photos are taken and will be left as it is. But our first action was to let most of the rest of the grass grow long, creating cut paths through the churchyard in the hope that wild flowers would surface and pollinators would find them. As we leaned on socially distanced tombstones to plan our course of action, we worried there might be comments about untidiness. At first there were a few, but once ox-eye daisies and lady’s bedstraw appeared, people began to see the point of the new relaxed regime.

To the north of the building, brambles and bindweed were never going to attract compliments. But brambles provide nesting places and berries for birds, harvest mice love to nibble the

young shoots, and in spring they are a food plant for several moths. Some brambles stayed, others were levered out with a mattock. Nettles are good for wildlife too, especially if cut back in summer to produce a fresh crop of leaves. Hedge bindweed is a menace; strimming should subdue it in time.

The long grass turned out to be false oat, which is better discouraged if we want wildflowers, so it will be cut before it seeds. The rest of the grass will be tackled around the end of July and carted away to compost heaps created by Peter. Four heaps (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) already produce enviable compost; they are carefully monitored and run at high temperatures.

Perfectly sieved compost from John was useful for covering the cut flower patch, once it had been cleared of brambles and bindweed. But the preparation was tough, so rather than dig, we have covered extra growing space for next year with layers of cardboard and compost. We split and moved clumps of snowdrops to line a path around the back of the church. Old coppiced sycamores were felled and stacked in piles to provide shelter for hedgehogs. The garden of remembrance, once lovingly planted, now shaded by trees, has been cleared ready for replanting with species linked to memory and Christianity.

We take it in turns to work in the churchyard, which has become a lively and beautiful haven; villagers seem to enjoy walking through it and reading the signs that explain what is happening.

Sally hopes that seeing all this evidence of God’s glory will fill her church as soon as it reopens.

Long grass and wild flowers are increasingly seen in country churchyards