Adding a Wildflower Meadow
/Wildflower meadows are great for wildlife and insects and adding even just a small area to your garden can bring huge benefits to wildlife, there is essentially there are three methods of adding a meadow; laying wildflower turf, sowing wildflower seeds and managing existing grass to become a meadow.
Laying wildflower turf is by far the easiest. Rolls of wildflower turf are readily available from many suppliers now and it is easy to lay. Some care needs to be taken to level the ground before laying however, it is almost guarantee to succeed as the closely knitted mature plants don’t allow weeds to grow and come into flower quickly. It is expensive though so is most suited to smaller areas. The turf in the pictures below was laid the previous season, plus a just laid picture.
Sowing wildflower seed is much more cost effective, however, it takes longer to establish and requires some weeding as the meadow establishes. This can be minimised by applying a layer of weed free green waste compost or sand to the soil before sowing. The picture below was sown about a year before the picture were taken.
The final method is to change the management of existing lawn or grassland. It can be much slower depending on what is existing in the grass already and the fertility of the soil. If you already have some flowers in your lawn such as daisies, clover, buttercups or dandelions then it is easier, also the absence of rye grass helps too. Rye grass is the very dark green thick grass seen on football pitches. Essentially you stop mowing the grass and allow it to grow long, then in autumn strim it and take away the clippings. Adding Yellow Rattle as seed or plugs also encourages wildflowers as it reduces the vigour of grasses. The pictures below are of a meadow that has been managed for about 20 years, though it has been looking good for at least 15 years and continued to improve since then, now including many varieties of orchid and other rare species.
