How to make a wildflower meadow

There have been several discussions on this topic so I thought I would add my methods.A wildflower meadow or lawn can be a beautiful addition to any garden. No matter what the size of your garden it is possible to create a wildflower area.As well as being pretty to look at the flowers used provide an important habitat for many species of insects and small mammals which in turn contribute to the food chain.A wildflower meadow or lawn looks wonderful but they can be difficult to establish. Firstly you need to decide whether you are going to convert an existing piece a grass or start on bare earth.If you plan on using a fresh piece of ground to lay you wildflower area you need to prepare the ground by taking off a layer of top soil roughly 10cm deep. This is to reduse the soils fertility, wildflowers prefer low soil fertility.The next step for both bare earth and grass areas is to choose how you plan on introducing wildflowers. There are several choices as you can use:seedplug or pot grown plants (why not check out Linda Laxtons page on LJN)wildflower turfConverting a grass area can easily be done by overseeding although it would be best to airate the area by pushing your fork blades in a couple of centimeters and wiggling it round before sowing as more seed can come into contact with the soil this way.Plug or pot grown plants can be introduced by removing small areas of turf with a bulb planter and popping the plants into the hole. With this method try not to make the planting to uniform and group the varieties together in three's or five's, this will help to make it look more natural.The bare earth area can be seeded making sure you gently rake over to half burie the seed. Cover with netting to stop the birds helping themselves and water well n dry weather.Wildflower turf can be laid in a similar wa to lawn turf. It is grown on a moisture retentive biodegradable felt, most of these products contain over 20 different species of wildflower.After rolling out you can peg the turf down and then water thoroughly.With both areas and any method you must never fertilise the ground as this will encorage grass's which will strangle out the wildflowers.This year we started a new area in our garden and used very cheap lidle seeds, 24p a pack, these flowers are now opening and as well as looking beautiful are already attracting more insects.

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Comments

Graeme @ BGS June 15, 2009 at 8:24pm

About a month ago I got in from a busy days work and was fed up that the GSD has dug yet another hole in my lawn. I grabbed the spade and quickly filled the hole from one of the borders. I now have a cottage garden growing in the middle of my lawn. Quite a nice feature until I mowed it down.