Chamomile lawn

[RBailey]

Hi All,

Not strictly period property but I just though I would post an update on our front garden.
It was madly over grown and we removed it all, lowed the ground level overall and a gravel French drain against the wall then then lavender on the front wall and a chamomile lawn.

This is the second summer and it is definitely getting there (where ever that is).


The Chamomile is interesting as it behaves nothing like grass (not a surprise) but I have struggled to find reliable information on what works best.
I seem to be having the most luck rolling it to intertwine the plants and then using a strimmer to keep the flowers under control.
(I let on patch go to much to flower last summer and it wend very stalky and patchy.)



I hope you like it, any questions please shout.

Cheers,
Richard B.

 

[malcolm]

I've never heard of a chamomile lawn before. I suppose I could look it up but there is all sorts of nonsense on the internet and it's much better to find out about these things first hand.

Grass is dead easy - it tolerates cutting and weeds don't. Why did you take that route? What are the issues if any? And most importantly what depth of soil do you need and is that one of the things you can plan on a replacement flat roof?

 

[RBailey]

Chamomile is “supposed” to be less work, which it is but not a lot less than well looked after grass.

As it gets more and more established hopefully it will also get less and less work. (The main work is manual weeding which does diminish the more you do / the more established the chamomile is.)

Also on the plus side it smells amazing, stays green in drought, bees love it and it’s something different.

I would also claim that it is a historic lawn covering but that’s more valid with elaborate palaces than simple cottages.

Sorry I don’t know the needed soil depth but the roots aren’t that deep. It doesn’t need very rich soil but it does need good drainage. I dug in a lot of grit.

 

[88v8]

Looks good.
As I recall it's a lawn for looking at rather than walking on, but a very nice period feature.

Ivor

 

[MatthewC]

I've never heard of a chamomile lawn before.

There's an old TV programme called "The Camomile Lawn" (IIRC, they had no "h" - I guess either works) which might still be on catch-up somewhere, possibly the Beeb.

 

[RBailey]

As I recall it's a lawn for looking at rather than walking on, but a very nice period feature.

Thanks. Yes, more for decoration but a bit of walking helps.

There's an old TV programme called "The Camomile Lawn" (IIRC, they had no "h" - I guess either works) which might still be on catch-up somewhere, possibly the Beeb.

Yes, it was originally a book, not my sort of read though.

Cheers,
Richard B.

 

[CliffordPope]

Yes, it was originally a book, not my sort of read though.

Cheers,
Richard B.

Mary Wesley - good read, as are all her books in my opinion. The original Aga Saga.

When we moved here in 1985 there was a stony track and yard at the back of stones, rubble, lumps of concrete etc. Camomile grew wild on it in profusion, and it seemed to like being driven on. I tried making tea from it but it was disgusting - perhaps a different variety?
After a few years it vanished, and I have never found a single plant here since.
We've got a gravel drive and yard now. Other weeds love it, but not chamomile.

 

[NHEarthWitch]

Hello, first time post/replying here. I hadn't thought of chamomile myself; but my Cottage has deplorable soil quality and I'm in the process of scraping what little decent soil there is off & setting it aside. Then I'll be scraping things down and putting in good drainage before resetting a proper gardening area but I'm planting everything that isn't "Garden" with different varieties of creeping thyme; rather than having any space be wasted with unusable grass. I really like your idea of chamomile and I think I might have to implement some of that as well.

 

[Dumsey]

Hello, first time post/replying here. I hadn't thought of chamomile myself; but my Cottage has deplorable soil quality and I'm in the process of scraping what little decent soil there is off & setting it aside. Then I'll be scraping things down and putting in good drainage before resetting a proper gardening area but I'm planting everything that isn't "Garden" with different varieties of creeping thyme; rather than having any space be wasted with unusable grass. I really like your idea of chamomile and I think I might have to implement some of that as well.

Wild flowers prefer poor quality soil apparently. Yellow rattle is used to strangle out grasses and to help the flowers grow, when planting wild flower plug plants or scattering seeds

 

[Zebra]

Mary Wesley - good read, as are all her books in my opinion. The original Aga Saga.

When we moved here in 1985 there was a stony track and yard at the back of stones, rubble, lumps of concrete etc. Camomile grew wild on it in profusion, and it seemed to like being driven on. I tried making tea from it but it was disgusting - perhaps a different variety?
After a few years it vanished, and I have never found a single plant here since.
We've got a gravel drive and yard now. Other weeds love it, but not chamomile.

I was wondering if someone would mention tea... that's funny that you said it was disgusting...