Water-pepper

Persicaria hydropiper Bitterpilört i juli och i januari Eva Ekeblad, 2001

The the S-weed Meadow is more accurately an unoccupied piece of ground, where grass and herbs are left to their own devices, except for being cut once a year - not really a harvest, since no hay is made. Not worth the cost of the labour. Most of the cut material is transported away immediately to the dump - a small remainder left to be absorbed into the new growth.

Day of the Meadow, Göteborg, August 5th, 2001

  Yes, today the Day of the Meadow is celebrated in Sweden. By now meadow flowers have produced mature seeds - this weekend is the proper time for tending, when enthusiasts keep the old agricultural methods for haymaking alive.
  There is information about when and where at the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, for you who read Swedish.



   The true enthusiasts for the biodiversity produced by more labour intensive forms of agriculture in our history use scythes for mowing - but, for the fainthearted, there is recommendable machinery with an equivalent clean cutting effect (no frizzling, tearing, rotating plastic strings).

  The hay is then allowed to rest and dry on the ground for a few days, preferably turned over a couple of times, and then collected in some suitable form for further drying. This way the seeds will have time to be shed to reach their purpose.
  The S-weeds found in the "meadow" patch across the street are evidently not of kinds that depend on this sensitive treatment.

For the electronic picture postcard below - it's from Bangor, Wales - I send thanks to Martin Owen, who tells me that in his part of the world the management of roadsides often follows some regime tailored to encourage diversity. One of the results being that these Common Spotted Orchids - Dactylorhiza fuchsii - appear in all sorts of unexpected places.