[Closed] Making a wild flower (mini) meadow

Hi. I'm afraid I didn't see that programme but I am about to sow an area approx 250m2 with a meadow mixture. Rather than me going through it, may I suggest that you have a look at www.meadowmania.co.uk whom we got our seed from. They have good, clear advice on establishing a new meadow. If you need to know more, please feel free to ask. G

Thanks.

Didn't see it. Fantastic idea.

Apologies for not giving you a more personal answer. In the middle of cooking. Will try to soon.

http://www.pictorialmeadowsonline.co.uk/acatalog/index.html

Prairie mixes are good...

Yep, saw that programme and it jogged me into doing something that I've planning for a few years now.

May eventually lead to bee-keeping but not sure if I want to go quite that far just yet. Maybe when I'm seventy something...

sew seeds with a layer of soil on top

That will make a cracking jumper 😀

(sorry couldn't help it)

My understanding is that you idealy need poor soil otherwise the grass takes over and smothers the other plants. Worth at try though.

If I understand right, the topsoil prolly has too much nutrient so the grass will out-compete the flowers you want. So if I were doing it I'd take off turves and about two inches of soil and fork what remains over, then sow your wildflower seed.

You can use Yellow Rattle seed to help slow down any grass, it's parasitic on grass roots, it's an annual flower to boot. But you need to get fresh seed, in Aug or Sept and sow it promptly.

I'd get started by sowing some oxe-eye daisy and cowslip seeds in pots.

And one has to ask what soil you have.

I am not an expert by any means, but I dont think soil quality would be too much of an issue - get the fork and rake out then work through any existing undergrowth and remove the pre-exisitng roots, bulbs, stones whatever gets brought up [[url= http://www2.fiskars.com/Activities/Gardening/Articles/Prepping-Planting-and-Harvesting/Weeding-Effectively ]more info about weeding[/url]].

Beware that cultivating by hand may be quite difficult the manual way 🙄 but also probably the most rewarding (not so bad on your scale I think). On a moist day or after rain it shouldn't be too taxing.

Seed up at an appropriate time (depends on the particulars of the seeds you obtain), sit back, relax and enjoy the fruits.

I understand that flowering can take some time with many of these types of plants (as they get established many can initially appear very 'weedlike').

There is a lot of quality (hard to find) advice on many websites like this info on [url= http://www2.fiskars.com/Activities/Gardening/Articles/Eco-friendly-and-Organic-Gardening/Gardening-for-Pollinators ]gardening for pollinators[/url]. Get stuck in, have fun and good luck. 😀 Be sure to upload some photos of your whip next your patch in the summer.

I bought some seeds from meadomania mentioned above and this was the result.
Just raked over the land and lobbed the seeds down.

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I like a great flower meadow and so needed for all our pollinators.
Most of my summer will be spent in them and other similar habitats, so good on you all for getting green for the wildlife.

If anyone is after a Romanian Scythe, these super hand made grass cutters will soon be heading over fresh from the hands of those village folk who make them.

Not cheap, but super sharp,excellently balanced and ultra therapeutic to use.

Price is in negotiation at present, but they aint cheap.

Did a similar thing at work last year with a whole grass bank within our grounds.

Not my exact area of expertise but after consulting with the grounds maintenance contractor we just stopped mowing the area & the seed bank was good enough to develop a natural wildflower meadow. We had quite a diverse range of flora, ox eye daisies, bee orchids, clovers, long grasses & other species I can't remember. Looked great though.

When it all died we cut it right back & hoping it will establish again this year with even greater abundance.

Whether the nutrient status of the soil is an issue probably depends to some extent how often (if ever) you fertilise the lawn, and whether you clear the clippings when you mow. If you don't fertilise and do take away the clippings (and their associated nutrients) then the soil is probably pretty nutrient poor already, which should be great for meadow flowers. Turning your soil may also help, but this will also bring to the surface buried seeds, and if the soil's quite clayey, it might not be the best thing. Most meadows are relatively (compared to moorlands etc) nutrient-rich, so if you've not been too liberal with the fertiliser/compost in your garden, then establishing a meadow shouldn't be too taxing.

I was thinking of doing this a few years ago but with a 2 acre paddock we've got. The advice I got was that I'd need to kill off the grass that's there now, plough and reseed..... So I didn't bother. But were the kids swings used to be is coming up that would be suitable so might do that.

If you have got nettles then...

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/wildlifegarden/atoz/n/nettlepatch.aspx

http://www.nettles.org.uk/nettles/wildlife.asp

Wow thanks for the brilliant advice.

Macavity - the nettles were planted in the 'wild area on purpose, however I've planted more in other areas.

The ground I intend to sew on is completely covered in grass, so it sounds like I need to get that up.
Not so happy about digging up the daff bulbs, as they make a lovely splash of colour in spring. Was hoping to sew around them.

As I understand it the flowers take a few years to get going, I've also bought a pack to sew in the woody, shady sections of the garden sections.

Ian Munro - that is stunning.

Ours is a real wildlife garden, it's not full of perfect, preened and pruned beds and the lawn is left with clover and daisy in. just want to make it more so.

Let's hope the badger/s (regular visitor) doesn't dig everything up.

I'm totally inspired by this thread and am going to order some seeds from Meadowmania.

Interesting stuff - I had a go at doing this on a little patch of ground in our back garden last year, but it didn't really work. I might order some of the seed from meadowmania and give it another go.

oooo what a lovely-wonderful thread this is!
wildflower is such a beautiful aspect of gardening,some super duper advice above.

Today we got started and dug out the area for seeds, a hard task of strimming, and digging up the turf in pieces. Tomorrow I'll be sowing, hoping for some colour in the summer.
A few daffodil bulbs got dug up in the process, however it'll be worth it.

Anybody else got going, or are you well on the way?

If its not too late I can post up some advice tomorrow, used to do research on hay meadow and chalk grassland and a fair few mates were in that programme.

If I were you I'd sow a cornfield annual type mix as a nurse crop for the proper meadow stuff

I think it is an annual. Also got some woodland wildflower seed for a shaded area.

Any advice welcome - thanks.

We planted ours today, we opted for the clay soils mix as its going on top of a load of clay sub soil and then scattered some extra 100% wildflower mix in for extra blooms 🙂

Annual seed mixes, look colourful and are made up of species which are weeds. Insects love em and they look nice and because they are made up of weeds will come up like mustard and cress on any cleared earth pretty much. They will however degrade rapidly over time as not all wil self seed, so you'd need to re sow every couple of years.

Hay meadows on the other hand contain grass and perennial herbs. These are a lot slower to establish and harder to keep established. If the soil is too nutrient rich the grasses will take control and out compete the herbs, which are the things what look nice and insects like. In order to reduce the nutrient level of the soil you could spend a year or so growing the grass long, then cutting it back and removing the clippings. Then strip the turf back to bare soil before you sow. You could sow an annual mix with the meadow mix in the spring to give some colour whilst you wait for the perennial herbs to establish. Someone mentioned sowing hay rattle to control the grass growth, its a nice flower and worth sowing but whether it has any functional effect on structuring plant communities is open to debate, I have my doubts though. You could after you have stripped the turf add some saw dust which could be helpful (stimulates fungal growth in the soil).

some good advice here:
http://wildseed.co.uk/

@ a-a

RHS at Rosemoor said they used yellow rattle to slow down grass in their wildflower meadow. That was four or five years ago though, and I haven't been back.

could spend a year or so growing the grass long, then cutting it back and removing the clippings. Then strip the turf back to bare soil before you sow. You could sow an annual mix with the meadow mix in the spring to give some colour whilst you wait for the perennial herbs to establish.

My only concern is the area to be seeded is very close to my raised vegetable beds, so I'll be keeping the weeds in check more often.

Thanks for the advice.

Yeah its touted a lot but rhinanthus only grows in infertile soil, its a bit like the chiken and the egg. I've never seen any evidence to change my mind that it wont help in more fertile soils. Used to work with a guy who did his PhD on it too.

thanks

How is everyone's meadow coming along?
Our's is showing a bit of colour, a few oxeye daises, some yellow flowers and I'm hoping that this little bit of fine weather will burst other plants into colour.

Will post some pictures when the poppies are out.

[url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8293/7852574500_0b8b102662.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8293/7852574500_0b8b102662.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/n_b_t/7852574500/ ]Wildflower meadow[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/n_b_t/ ]Notoriously Bad Typist[/url], on Flickr
[url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8434/7852574128_a8f4a7d436.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8434/7852574128_a8f4a7d436.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/n_b_t/7852574128/ ]Wildflower meadow[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/n_b_t/ ]Notoriously Bad Typist[/url], on Flickr

It's finally started to bloom. Rain has squashed quite a few flowers, which are mainly poppies, daises, wild herbs and some I don't recognise.
Yes the garden needs trimming and those are the raised veggie beds in the foreground.

Any "meadow" with poppies in it aint a meadow, pretty though.

Well done you lot, good to see it.
I've just been asked to look after an orchard with 200 apple trees and 8 bee hives that fiends have purchased, including juice processing plant and the equipment to process the honey.

Both the trees and Bee's have been neglected over the past year, so year, both yields of goodness have suffered as a result(with the weather not helping).

I plan to liven up both by sorting out the ground flora so that a healthy stock of bees is there to improve pollination of the fruit baring trees. The grass below has been uncut all year preventing much in the way of ground flora in which to keep the bees well stocked ready for the winter so that in the spring, a good sized hive can efficiently pollinate the trees, maximising fruit growth . At least that's the theory, anything to prevent them from swarming off in search of a better source of food.

So a good mixture of woodland seeds for the shaded areas with a variety around the perimeters. Lots of research, digging, cutting, pruning, etc, will hopefully mean by next year, honey production should be high and the following year juice will be in full flow.

Might even get a little forest garden going in there, so a self regulating area providing a mix of fruit and veg through the year.

I may even talk sense after a bit of learning.

Aye it's getting late now!
I met a chap at a local fair who was in his 80's and a bee keeper. He said he ran courses and took my name and number. Unfortunately I never heard and fear he is no longer with us.

Good luck with everything Sharki it sounds right up your street.

Saladdodgeer of these parts keeps bees and is localish to me, so i'll hopefully be enlisting him and his good lady for advice.Naturally i need to work with the local beekeepers group.

Sadly there's few cider apple trees yet 😉

I've also a few tonnes of charcoal seasoning ready to burn next year. I feel a busy one coming on.
I'll still find time though to be out with the Canon, clicking away like an obsessed loon.
And on that note it's almost moth o clock.

🙂

I bought a pack if meadow flower seeds, a mix of poppies, corn flowers and some of our own leopards bane. Strong primary colours with one or two pinks in between. We've barrowed up some extra leaf mould and compost, sprinkled and tramped them in. They are in a sunny south facing spot though it is exposed a bit to the prevailing west wind. It's been a bit warmer lately so hopefully they'll be up soon.

Here's a couple of before pics.

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Got those free seeds from the Soil association and a load more wild meadow seeds, raked a nice sunny patch, kept it watered, anything plant like that does grow gets eaten by slugs straight away and it all appears to be going to grass. If the flowers can't be bothered, no wonder the bees are in trouble. Stuff the lot of em. 😥

Slugs need love too.

Your wild flower meadow may have failed but your slug kitchen was a huge success.

All links in the food chain.

Great mcmoonter. Not sure about the compost though, mine are planted in very poor soil.

Have just put down another lot of wildflower seeds in a more shaded area. Still hoping that last years will reappear and make a colourful splash. Also many foxgloves seeded themselves, bees love them.
The mini meadow did its job and brought in a noticeable increase in bugs, bees, butterflies, all sorts really, even giving cover to the frogs, who in turn will gobble up the slugs.

Looking forward to everyone's photos again.

I'm thinking of doing this with the front garden because [s]I can't be bothered to mow it[/s] of the poor bees.

Bunnyhop, the plot was really poor soil as I used to site my bonfires there. There is also some spoil from when we resurfaced the drive, we thought it prudent to give them a little nutrients to give them a start. We'll see, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

mcmoonter - looking forward to the outcome (as always).

Bumblebees
A Sting in the Tail by Dave Goulson
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01sfnq9

We have a sort of meadow patch at the top of the garden. We tend to let it grow a bit wild in the early summer and then cut it to lawn in the latter half.

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The daffs look a bit poor this year so I think we should pull the non flowering ones out and put some wild seed down. We had a pack that we got from Jura house gardens years ago and it gives lots of wild flowers in the top section already but I will look in to the links above.

Close up of meadow section but it is pretty poor quality (evening) photo and not much is coming through yet. The Bluebells are just starting about five weeks behind last year.

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You need horrible dry poor quality soil otherwise the wild flowers won't grow.

We seeded our last year on a bank of clay we dug out of some footings, we had a fantastic display of poppies for a good while and a few other flowers, cut back at autumn, weeded in early spring, now have a really green bushy bank, hope to get a more varied selection this year as some varieties take a while to establish.

Our contribution to the bees is to abandon all hope of ever ridding our lawns of dandylions.

Would it be a stupid idea to buy a load of seed and spread it along the local canal bank? Currently the area I'm thinking of is mud and patchy grass. Not worried about the legality more any moral or environmental issues that would arise from encouraging wild flowers where no wild flowers currently grow.

Not read the whole thread, but when my parents moved into their new house a few years back, rather than having a large grass lawn, they put in a big oval shaped wild patch, allowed it to grow, planted some wild seeds etc etc.

Looked nice, and saved having to mow the lawn. However, it soon became unruly, and weeds started to take over the rest of the garden.

They now have an oval shaped pond...

Seeds of local provenance would be the most appropriate.
Dont need dry soil, wet soil is fine just would need different species.

One way of reducing soil fertility ready for wild flower sowing is to grow a nutrient-demanding crop like potatoes in the soil the year before. Don't manure them, obviously.

or just keep growing the grass long, cutting it an remove the clippings, adding some carbon with help to, sawdust is a good bet.

A couple of weeks after I planted the seeds, hundreds of tiny green shoots are popping up. Fingers crossed they flower.

Elsewhere in the garden our first Meconopsis Poppy of the year burst into bloom. Some pretty orange and yellow Cambrian poppies are out in the greenhouse too.

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jp-t853 - lovely meadow.

mcmoonter - your poppy is stunning.

Little showing of our wildflower meadow yet. However some of the foxgloves and cow parsley type plants are coming along nicely.

My brother worked for an advertising agency. One of their projects involved poppies. They had thousands of packs of seeds they hoped train and car passengers would scatter from the windows. I don't know how well the campaign did, but he was left with loads of seed packs left over.

I've scattered some in front of the studio along with those I bought. We've planted out stuff brought on in the greenhouse and have popped a few poppy seeds with them. The soil is proper poor gravel scrapings from the drive, they appear to be loving it.

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We've managed to get a hose pipe up to the studio to help things along. It won't take much longer before everything is out. Next year we will clear a little more scrub and plant some more.

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Ooooh lovely.

Our's has turned mostly to grass, however I did plant a few foxgloves from the other side of the garden and these gorgeous white and pink flowers have done rally well.
Lack of water isn't helping. Our 3 water butts have run dry as they get used for the veg patches

Poppy progress. Things are picking up after the rain, something new comes out everyday. There is a lot of cornflower and one or two marigolds in the mix. When they all come out and the barley ripens it will be really pretty. It's great fun every morning looking to find what else has flowered. I felled a Laurel to clear a space to plant some more.

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A month on and things have really come along. I've pruned back more of the overhanging branches to allow more light in, the flowers seem to be enjoying it.[img] [/img]

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By George mcmoonter! That's absolutely beautiful!!!! Thank you!
You're a lucky man.....

Thats lovely and will be great for pollinators but I feel the need to point out that those are not meadow plants and that is not a wild flower meadow. Wild flower meadows are well nigh impossible to recreate once lost and 99% of them have been lost in the UK.
Lovely though.

You are correct of course, we've also used the spot for extra plants we didn't have space for elsewhere in the garden. Amazingly the rabbits haven't gone for them, but they are swarming with, butterflies, hover flies and bees.

There was a piece in the Times the other day where gardeners were paying £8 for a nettle plant in a bid to preserve them. They were all the rage at Chelsea last year. I strimmed a path through ours at the weekend.

my granpa once told me (he's gone now so i cant check this, its just a childhood memory) that the dig for victory campaign wanted people to grow nettles to make rope and veg. turns out they are very hard to grow since they are a border plant so you need both the field and hedgerow to make em grow. £8 per plant was that? i have loads 😯

lovely mcmoonter.
our garden has taken 6 years to become the bird, bee, insect and butterfly sanctuary that i was trying to create. finally it's paid off. i haven't seen as many butterflies or insects since being a child at my grandpa's home in north wales. guessing the semi decent summer has helped.

We came across this lovely border on this evening's ride near the village of Cleish in Fife.
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This will probably the last instalment, I'm surprised they have even lasted this long. Next year we will clear more of the canopy away to let more light in. The whole experience has been great fun and its brought colour to a spot we never thought would never be cultivated.

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