Creating a meadow

For the past few years, I have been trying to turn our lawn in the back garden into a meadow.

This has had some mixed results, but I think I now have it sussed, and so will explain, in simple terms (as I'm no expert), but pass on some tips.

There are three ways to create a meadow, two of which involve serious work:

1. Remove turf, prepare the soil to a fine till, and sow.

2. As above, but place a layer of homogenised builders rubble down.

3. Let nature do the hard work.

I do (3), but it takes some time.

But, first a warning.

There are many wild flower seeds, many mixes, sources and each will give different results. In the end we all want the same thing, nature to come into the garden. But, in order to be really successful, you need to plant native seeds. These are perennial, meaning you should only have to sow once, and they will come back every year, if managed correctly.

Another reason for using native species is that insects not only take nectar and pollen from plants, but use them as food plants for their offspring, planting eggs on the stems and using foliage as food. They cannot do this on non-native wild flowers. And non-native will requite sowing each year.

But the main warning is this: native wild flowers are what gardeners call weeds. Dandelions, daisies, clover, thistles and all the rest are wild flowers and are food and nurseries to native species of insects. It requires a major change in mindset from the gardener to accept a swathe of dandelions is a good thing. DOn't start if you cannot accept "weeds" in your garden.

Background:

Wildflowers are not competitive. Meaning they easily get crowded out by strong grass growth. So, before creating a meadow, you need to tackle what could be decades of lawn feed, chemicals and so on, sowing wildflowers straight onto an existing lawn will result in almost nothing showing. So, the lawn needs to be weakened, doing the opposite to what you might have done previously.

The upshot of this, is that for nine months of the year, your lawn/meadow requires no work at all. You just watch it grow, flower, go to seed and die off, then you spring into action.

All waste from mowing/harvesting, must be removed. This needs to be done at the end of the summer season, and as much as possible. Any clippings or curttings will feed the soil which will make the grass grow, we have to weaken that grass.

Year one:

September.

For this you will need two things: 1, a scarifier and 2, some seeds. Seeds of just one plant, Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus minor). Yellow Rattle is known as the meadow maker, as it is semi-parasitic, it leaches off the roots of other plants, like grass, and weakens them.

Scarifiers come in two forms; mechanical or manual. Both are good, but the manual is like hard raking. If you have a large lawn, get a mechanical one, it will be easier. You need to scarify the lawn, a lot. Ignore the instructions, you want to scarify and scarify hard, pulling up as much living grass as well as dead. The mechanical one I bought said to not do it a certain way because of the damage to the lawn it would cause, but it that damage I wanted. I scarfiy on at least three occasions, in two directions, removing all dead plants and grass, moss and other growth.

At the end of a few cycles of this, you should see about 30% bare soil.

Perfect.

All native wildflowers need their seeds to be exposed to a winter to grow properly, there is a word for this, but I have forgotten it. Also, seeds should be fresh, from that year's growth, this is to achieve best results.

Anyway, you need to source Yellow Rattle Seeds, measure the area to be sown, and order the appropriate amount.

Make sure the seeds are sown, hopefully by end of September or by the first frost.

Once sown, following instructions on sowing density, using either a stiff brush or rake, go over sown are to ensure as much seed has been shaken from grass onto direct contact with the ground.

And that is it.

Year 2.

Once the Yellow Rattle has grown, flowered and its seed cases have dried, usually at the end of July or in August, cut with a mower on highest setting, or scythe, but do not collect the clippings. Leave on the lawn. After a day or so, using a rake, move the clippings about, this is to dislodge seeds to allow them to fall to the ground.

After a few days, rake into piles, and using bare hands, put clippings into bags/compost.

Scarify hard.

Then treat as a lawn, mow short until end of September when you start as per year 1.

If the Yellow Rattle has been a success, then wild flowers can be sown too. Reputable dealers will be able to supply seed mix suitable for your garden/soil type/location. Ours is on chalk downland, so we get an appropriate mix.

Both the Yellow Rattle and the wild flowers are perennials, so only need reseeding to fill in bare patches, or poorly covered areas.

Additionally, in high summer, wildflower plugs can be bought too, thus speeding up the wilding process.

And that is it, really.

For nine months of the year, the lawn will look normal, but three months it will become a meadow and full of insects and nature.

In this, our fifth year we have: Common Field Speedwell, Cowslips, Ground Ivy, Daisies (of course), Dandelions (of course), Common Groundsel, Petty Spurge, leaves of emerging Yellow Rattle everywhere. We have also let Garlic Mustard/Hedge Garlic (Alliaria petiolata) grow, as this is a food plant for Orange Tip Butterflies. Last year we had our first Orange Tip Caterpillar in the garden!

For even more wildlife, make a wildlife pond. For two years we used "gorilla buckets, buried in the ground, bought some aquatic plants, and had damselflies mating and laying eggs. The next year we had nymphs emerging. Birds use the new, larger pond, as a bath, so even more wildlife comes into the garden.