My Garden

Our wildflower meadow

Last post 28-08-2008 10:35 AM by sue1002. 13 replies.

• 03/06/2008 07:43 PM

  filippo lippi Location: Nottingham Joined on: 25 Feb 2005 Posts: 297

  Reply | Contact Background - our estate has a "land committee," I'm on it and we have just planted a wildflower meadow, well two, perhaps two or three acres, clay soil, open sunny site, can get a bit waterlogged, expecially last summer. I mentioned all this on the "Idle Chat" thread before I went on holiday, but I can't find it now so I'd thought I'd try here.  Remember that book*, well I took it on holiday and now I'm a little scared. There's loads of work to be done and I'm not sure how to break the news to them. Tact and diplomacy not my forte. I reckon we will need - At least two cuts a year Some way of disposing of the hay (too many dogs' eggs to interest a farmer) Poaching - breaking up of the ground to encourage germination (and not as a way to encourage annuals as I thought at first) Monitoring of what is growing Removal of undesirable species Difficult, no?   *http://www.amazon.co.uk/Making-Wildflower-Meadow-Pam-Lewis/dp/0711221332/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212518269&sr=8-1 ------------------- Ow! My most of me!

• 03/06/2008 07:45 PM	In reply to
  filippo lippi Location: Nottingham Joined on: 25 Feb 2005 Posts: 297	Reply | Contact Oh, and we should really have checked out soil fertility across the site first and the seed mix that was used contains unsuitable grasses.... ------------------- Ow! My most of me!

• 03/06/2008 08:13 PM

  In reply to

  Phot's-Moll Location: The sunny South coast. Joined on: 06 Jan 2007 Posts: 3,347

  Reply | Contact It could be a lot of work - but it doesn't have to be. If you mostly let it do its own thing and just cut twice a year and dispose of the cuttings as you mention, then you'll get some wild flowers. More work would give you more flowers and less weeds, so if people are prepared to help you could have working parties to clear weeds, plant desirable flowers etc. Although the hay might not be of any use to a farmer, you might be able to persuade one to cut and remove it for a reasonable fee - or you (the whole group - not just you) could cut it with scythes or strimmers and take it away for green recycling, or maybe it could be composted somewhere? Allotment holders might take it? Maybe the council would help?   Whether you think you can do a thing, or think you cannot, you are right.

• 03/06/2008 09:31 PM	In reply to
  dave the caretaker Location: bristol Joined on: 16 May 2008 Posts: 10	Reply | Contact we started by clearing the ground last year and left it fallow just minor maintainance ie remove bramble ect . we started to collect  wild flower seeds in jan and 6 weeks ago the whole school had a planting week and we sowed the seeds.yet to see what comes up will keep you posted .

• 05/06/2008 10:58 AM

  In reply to

  filippo lippi Location: Nottingham Joined on: 25 Feb 2005 Posts: 297

  Reply | Contact Email sent " I've done a silly thing and bought a book about wildflower meadows http://tinyurl.com/4xg484 and it's quite inspiring as to what can be achieved, but a little daunting at the same time. At he very least, it seems that two mowings (with grass removed) will be necessary; one in summer and one in autumn; otherwise the grasses will dominate and the wfs will be swamped. Ideally, we should find a herd of cows to graze the are over the winter! Worryingly, the book described the grass "Yorkshire fog" as brutish and this kept nagging me throughout the holiday (yes, I took the book on holiday). When I returned I looked out the seed list from Anthony and the list of grasses I had so dismissively referred to in my email a couple of weeks ago and found the old yf listed as one of the main constituents. I think we need to make a decision on what we want to achieve with the meadow, if we forego even the mowings we will get an attractive bit of grassland, but I'm not sure it will be a "wildflower meadow." On the flip-side, with just half-a-dozen keen volunteers actively managing the area I reckon we can have something to be really proud of? What do you think? I'd like to read the book again and make some notes, but it shouldn't take long. If you would like to borrow it, I'll run it round when I'm done." ------------------- Ow! My most of me!

• 05/06/2008 11:16 AM	In reply to
  filippo lippi Location: Nottingham Joined on: 25 Feb 2005 Posts: 297	Reply | Contact I've just been for a walk round to see what wfs we already have.  Two things to report 1/ I have a lot to learn  2/ I take shockingly bad photographs ------------------- Ow! My most of me!

• 07/06/2008 06:05 PM	In reply to
  filippo lippi Location: Nottingham Joined on: 25 Feb 2005 Posts: 297	Reply | Contact No reply to my email. Enthusiasm waning. ------------------- Ow! My most of me!

• 13/06/2008 04:37 PM

  In reply to

  Figwort Location: Peterborough Joined on: 20 Dec 2007 Posts: 258

  Reply | Contact Filippo Pleased to hear your enthusiasm is waning - wildflower meadow enthusiasm that is. I'm one of those average gardeners who has an average-sized garden and likes it looking tidy. I love wildflower meadows, but they're for the wild and for areas large enough to call meadows. Whenever I see small gardens trying to create a wildflower meadow I have one name for them - weed gardens!!! Actually, of course, that's two words. There are never any problems in gardening - just opportunities! Geoff Hodge www.gardenforum.demon.co.uk

• 13/06/2008 04:43 PM	In reply to
  Beebee Location: Warwickshire Joined on: 29 Jan 2008 Posts: 176	Reply | Contact I thought the plot was 2 - 3 acres?

• 03/08/2008 03:23 PM	In reply to
  filippo lippi Location: Nottingham Joined on: 25 Feb 2005 Posts: 297	Reply | Contact It is 2 to 3 acres.  A sea of cornflowers at the moment, very pretty. Long-term management? I dunno. ------------------- Ow! My most of me!

• 04/08/2008 06:54 PM

  In reply to

  BluebellsGalore Location: London Joined on: 08 Apr 2008 Posts: 16

  Reply | Contact I've not had a wildflower meadow in the UK (not gonna happen in the average London garden I'm afraid).  But I have one in Pennsylvania.  We dedicated about 1/2 an acre.  Most wildflower afficionados in the States recommend you start small & when successful increase the size of the area - so 2-3 acres is a big area for a 1st try. Here's what I did:  I went & bought a native wildflower mix for & from our locality - make sure you are NOT getting weed seeds or invasive species.  Don't buy a commercial seed mix if at all possible, it's really better if you get a British wildflower book & see what's local for your area, then acquire those seeds. In the spring (before the grasses are tall not super early, but not late - I think it was late April/early May) we spread it into the soil with a rake & then also added additional dried wildflower seeds (in the same manner) that we had in our seed stash - Echinacea purpurea, Rudbeckia hirta, Monarda fistulosa, milkweed (Asclepias), etc.  That was 15 years ago now. The area has evolved into predominantly native wildflowers with a few native grasses, & does not get cut back in the autumn every year.  If you see lots of weeds or undesirables popping up & they are towering above your wildflowers, then scythe above the height of the wildflowers to help keep the annual weeds out (this will really help in the 1st year, i.e. now).  If you do scythe before the annual weeds can set seed they won't come back next year. If you see thug plants or perennial weeds, you will need to hand weed to remove.  We also added new seed where some bare spots were after a couple of years - that's normal by the way, 1st year will probably be fab, but by 2nd or 3rd year may need some help/additional seeds. As to mowing or cutting down, this really varies from site to site.  We didn't scythe ours until the 3rd year.  When you do decide to mow, I'd suggest that you put off mowing/cutting down your meadow until more than 1/2 of the flowers have dropped seeds - that'll really help the annuals & biennials to reseed.  Do NOT mow native grasses in the late summer or early fall instead wait 'til early spring.  And my last suggestion is to never cut grasses lower than 15cm. Hopefully that'll give you an idea of the long-term management.  Good luck!

• 10/08/2008 07:53 PM

  In reply to

  Unk Location: Wiltshire Joined on: 10 Aug 2008 Posts: 1

  Reply | Contact Fillipo, I planted 45 acres to wildflower meadow in 2005, and am currently having the second year of flowering.. it is very important to check that the soil fertility is LOW... and contacting FWAG, they can design a seed mix for yoiu.. which you can obtain from the "British seed House", where they certify that the seeds are all UK sourced. Farmers will want gradd rich hay... but wildflower meadow hay is great fpor traditional breeds of cattle such as Belted Galloway and Highland.. they actually prefer the tough stalks, leaving the young shoots behind to flourish.   THIS year, knowing that the soil is even lower fertility that when I started , I am toying with the idea of leaving it uncut this year, so that all of the butterfly species that have laid eggs, can reach maturity and hatch poiut next spring/summer... thats when I found your forum...  Note though... I planted 8 species of grasses, and 16 species of wildflower, but have catalogued 68 species this summer, so a heck of a lot are regeneratinmg naturally (it was previously a winter-wheat field).. but the problems are things like too many thistles... grazing will help expose the thistles, to make them easier to spot-treat with thistle-ex

• 28/08/2008 02:46 AM	In reply to
  filippo lippi Location: Nottingham Joined on: 25 Feb 2005 Posts: 297	Reply | Contact Breaking news... breaking news... breaking news...  Residents association to discuss ALLOTMENTS repeat ALLOTMENTS. Now back to your regularly schedule thread. Did I tell you we have had a lot of corn flowers? No? Well, we have. A few poppies thrown in, but not very impressive. ------------------- Ow! My most of me!

• 28/08/2008 10:35 AM	In reply to
  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 5,200	Reply | Contact  It's a start anyway filippo and when the self seed you should get lots more flowers next year. sue1002