Why managing a wildflower meadow is like baking a cake...

Wildflowers on the GreenWhy is creating a wildflower meadow like baking the perfect sponge? Because to achieve a pretty, evenly mixed and diverse meadow there needs to be a combination of the right ingredients, timing and temperature, just like baking.This year many people who use my local Millennium Green are wondering what has happened to the wildflower meadow. Where are the flowers? Why is there a lot of grey-green stuff that looks like a weed?Unlike most ovens, nature is often unpredictable. The weather this year has been something else...extremely cold until well into late March so the sowing and preparation time was almost a month behind normal. Then there was a really long period of drought after the seeds were sown so many have simply not germinated; needing moisture to be stimulated into life. The area was also deeply ploughed in an attempt to reduce the soil’s fertility – this helps most species of wild flower to out-compete the grass...but can add some unusual ingredients into the mix.So. A late start, drought and ploughing. This combination has meant that the poppies, cornflowers and other pretties that would normally be giving a lovely show have really struggled to ‘get away’ this year. The ploughing has turned up long-buried soil and with it a seed bank that has ‘fat hen’ in it. This is the weedy-looking greyish green plant that wasn’t in the seed mix. It has been left to grow because it is a native. It is now relatively rare having been eradicated from all but 13% of the UK and is exceptionally good forage for birds in the autumn...Failed cake? Feed it to the birds.On the other side of the path, the same seed mix was sown at the same time. Completely different result – a member of the Chamomile family, Anthemis arvensis (scentless Chamomile or mayweed as it is also known) appears to have come out on top. This is probably because of the dry conditions on the slope. Chamomile is able to withstand and positively thrives in the drier, warmer weather. It’s not the same species that you make tea from though or that you would find in a chamomile lawn – that’s native further south. So a very slight change in the conditions and the results were very different – same recipe, different oven.Wish me luck for next year...The flowers will be back with a vengeance, it’s just a matter of getting the recipe right.

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Comments

Ofer El-hashahar July 23, 2010 at 9:20pm

And the right oven...

I love cooking never tight to the book and food is yam yam all our friends love it... but baking oh no as you said Lara that got to be exact. I remember the first time I tried the bred maker- it all got out of it still runny ... oh no we had no bred at that day.

I suppose that quality of seeds is important too, In israel we had still to water wildflowers meadows once or twice to make sure it will work- do you do any of that in the uk