Why Kew Gardens is reviving ancient scything to boost modern biodiversity
In short: The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew are blending cutting-edge science with ancient tradition. By using traditional scythes to manage their grounds, the horticulture team is actively working to create wildflower meadows and improve local biodiversity, proving that old tools still have a place in modern conservation.
While Kew Gardens is known for using advanced technology to study the natural world, the team occasionally looks to the past to solve contemporary ecological challenges. In this episode, Charles and the horticulture staff demonstrate how the manual labor of scything helps transform managed lawns into thriving wildflower meadows.
This practice highlights a commitment to sustainable land management. By choosing ancient techniques over modern machinery, the team at Kew is able to foster environments that support a wider variety of plant and insect life, demonstrating that historical methods can be highly effective tools for modern garden maintenance.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Cutting grass like it’s 999BC: Scythes at Kew | Dig Deeper episode 17 | Kew
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