Grow an easy wild flower meadow for the price of a few packets of seeds

There are two ways to create a wild flower meadow, one which will take some time, effort and money, the other is quick, easy and cheap. Bet you can guess which option I took!

If you want perfect swaths of meadow flowers reminiscent of the amazing wildflower landscaping around the London Olympic park in 2012, I recommend the first option; stripping turf, rotavating, sowing special seed mixes and ta-da, you’ll be rewarded with a fabulous meadow; well in the first year, you might be a bit disappointed in the second, still a great meadow but it won’t self sow quite as prolifically as previously.

If you’re just after an area of garden that looks naturalistic with a few wild flowers and is a haven for wildlife, save yourself some time and money and go with my favoured second option.

For most wild meadow flowers to thrive the soil needs to be poor in nutrients, so a well tended, manure enriched part of the garden is not going to work that well, if this is what you’ve got, go for poppies and a cut flower annual mix which will give you a pretty garden meadow effect.

The perfect spots are often already grassed, in the past I created a lovely meadow in a mini orchard at our old house. Now I want to recreate the effect along the banks of our ditch and pond. This is an area we leave to its own devices, just regularly mowing a path and strimming the longer grass once a year in August. It’s already a haven for wildlife but we’d like to attract more and add some colour to enhance the walk around the pond.

meadow-along-ditchI plan to have a wild flower strip along the side of the ditch, in the rough grass to right of the path

meadow-along-ditch-and-to-side-of-pondThe wild flower strip will extend along the ditch, around the pond where you can see the rough grass

To give wild flowers the chance to thrive they need a bit of space, lush thick grass is going to smother any self respecting wild flower when it attempts to set seed. A clever solution to this problem is to grow Yellow Rattle, this pretty yellow flower is parasitic on grass roots extracting water and minerals. In the past it was hated by farmers as Yellow Rattle can reduce a hay crop by 50%. This is just what we’re after. If the Yellow Rattle does start to take over, deterring wild flowers you can just cut it back before it sets seed one year. The trick is to sow Yellow Rattle seed now in Autumn as it needs a long period of chill to enable germination in Spring.  The easiest way to sow Yellow Rattle is by scrapping away a small patch of grass, digging the soil so it’s not too compact, watering and then sprinkling a few seeds. Repeat this every few feet in the area you want to establish a meadow.

yellow-rattle-seedA packet of 600 Yellow Rattle seeds for £1.80

sowing-yellow-rattleOne of the little patches ready for Yellow Rattle to be sown in

I then wait till spring to sow wild flower seed into pots with low nutrient seed compost. Once established in early May, I then pot out into the meadow area, allowing them to thrive and set seed starting the annual cycle of a wild flower meadow.

After the meadow is planted there is just one rule. Cut the meadow once a year in late July/ August, after flowering, leave the ‘hay’ to dry, allowing seed to disperse and set for next year. After a week or so remove the hay as you don’t want it to rot down into the soil adding nutrients.

I look forward to posting some blooming meadow pictures early next summer.

Below are some suggested wild flowers for different sites:

Woodland / shaded area

Wood Sage

Hedge Garlic

Hedge Woundwort

Herb Bennet

Nettle Leaved Bell Flower

Ragged Robin

Red Campion

Self Heal

Square St Johns Wort

Sweet Cicely

Upright Hedge Parsley

Wild Angelica

Wild fox glove

Wood Sage

 

Clay soils in an open aspect

Autumn Hawkbit

Betony

Birdsfoot Trefoil

Corn Poppy

Cowslip

Goatsbeard

Lady’s Bedstraw

Lesser Knapweed

Meadow Buttercup

Meadow Vetchling

Musk Mallow

Ox Eye Daisy

Ragged Robin

Ribwort Plantain

Self Heal

Common Sorrel

White Campion

Wild Carrot

Yarrow

Yellow Rattle

Wild Clary

 

Sandy soils in an open aspect

Agrimony

Meadow Cranesbill

Birdsfoot Trefoil

Corn Poppy

Dark Mullein

Kidney Vetch

Lady’s Bedstraw

Meadow Buttercup

Musk Mallow

Ox Eye Daisy

Ribwort Plantain

Self Heal

Sorrel

White Campion

Wild Carrot

Yarrow

Yellow rattle

 

Chalk Soils in an open aspect

Birdsfoot Trefoil

Common Vetch

Corn Poppy

Cowslip

Dropwort

Kidney Vetch

Lady’s Bedstraw

Meadow Buttercup

Meadow Cranesbill

Musk Mallow

Ox Eye Daisy

Rough Hawkbit

Ribwort Plantain

Salad Burnet

Self Heal

Common Sorrel

Small Scabious

Wild Carrot

Wild Marjoram

 

 

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