Raking out the bottom of the hedges

A task taking a couple of days at this time of year is to rake the grass out of the hedge bottoms. I am trying to encourage the wildflowers such a red campion and garlic-mustard to grow, so I used roundup about 6 weeks ago to create bare patches at the bottom of the hedges around the wildflower meadow, and along the woodland paths. I have now used the front bar cutting mower to cut right up to the hedge - and then with a hay rake have moved away the long dead grass to expose the new wildflowers coming through below.

This makes a huge difference to the amount of light getting into the hedge bottom, and I hope that with a few weeks left before the frosts start this will give the flowers a real chance to get going. The two pictures below are a before and after of the same piece of hedge. Look at how lots of small green plants (red campion) are revealed when the long dry grass is raked away.

All of the grass cuttings then need to be pitchforked up to the grass heap, so it is a job that takes a couple of days.

I haven't noticed the swallows around for about 2 weeks now, so nature is telling me to get on with the autumn planting and cutting jobs.