Wild Flower Meadows - Methods of creating your wild flower meadow/lawn

Transition of existing grass only area into a meadow or informal lawn

The most important thing to establish here is whether the existing sward contains ryegrass since wild flowers will fail to flourish or even to survive if sown or planted amongst vigorous grass species such as ryegrass. Most will be overwhelmed by its growth and the limited number of survivors will give a poor account of themselves. If doubt exists on the practicality of improving an existing sward, it is often preferable to plough or dig to obtain a clean seedbed prior to sowing with a meadow mixture of known composition.

Having determined that the area under consideration does not contain ryegrass the second consideration is the age of the sward. If the sward is only young, gaps will exist between the grass plants and the area may be receptive to the introduction of wild flower seed or planted wild flower plugs. On older established grass areas where quite an amount of debris is present in the base of the sward, it has been shown that overseeding with wild flower seed will result in failure. In such instances the area can either be transplanted with wild flower plug plants or recultivated and a new start made on the bare soil with a sown meadow mixture.

(a) Overseeding new grass areas (not more than 2 years old)

This is only practical on soils of low fertility. Sites of fresh soil should be created by pulling through the grass with a tined hoe on small areas or spring time harrow and tractor on larger areas. Mow the area closely before doing this and remove all cuttings. Wild flower seed is then scattered over the disturbed site followed by raking , followed by repeated treading over the area. Sowing from March/September but best done in August. After sowing it is essential to continue mowing the grass to approximately 60mm height to allow light and air to the emerging wild flower seedlings. Continue this mowing for a full growing season (e.g. sow in August, mow till August/September of the following year). This will not harm the wild flowers.

(b) Introduction of plants into grassland

In some situations, transplanting young wild flower plants into grassland is a useful technique to enable the re-creation of a rich flora. For many circumstances e.g. steep grass banks and damp meadows where cultivation is virtually impossible, plants provide a method of introducing wild flowers into problem areas which would otherwise be dismissed. The best time for transplants is in the autumn when they are able to develop a good root system before active spring growth. The plants develop rapidly and soon produce seed, allowing species to spread on infertile sites. Plants can be introduced into existing grassland lacking in flora, or to augment the results from sowing seed mixtures. They allow the opportunity to manipulate the distribution of selected species in an area to good effect.

Suggested planting density is one plant of each species on each square yard of site. Just a single plant per square yard given the chance to shed seed, can lead to a rapid development of a meadow on suitable sites.

The area for planting should be close-mown prior to planting and the cuttings removed. Planting is practical at any time of the year, but the soil must be moist. Optimum planting time is August to October.

Care should be taken that the plants are watered thoroughly prior to planting, are firmed in well and are not allowed to dry out in the critical weeks following their introduction. Until the following spring after an autumn planting, the grass should be mown down to 60-75mm each time it reaches a height above 100mm and the cuttings removed. This allows light to the seedlings and will do them no harm. If the growth of grass is very strong on a fertile site mowing will be vitally important.

Cease mowing at the end of February and allow the meadow to grow, flower and set seed. When seed shed is largely complete, the meadow should be mown and the `crop' may be taken as hay. Small areas should then be dragged through with a tined hoe (tractor and spring tine harrow on large areas) as for overseeding new grass areas. This will expose new soil sites for the shed seed to germinate in. Tread repeatedly over the area afterwards to consolidate the disturbed soil and again maintain sward down to 60-75mm until the following spring if the grass growth is strong on fertile sites. Regeneration of species from the shed seed should by this point be very apparent and the meadow will improve noticeably in the next flowering season.

Naturescape provide small plants known as 'meadow plugs' which are robust plants with an established root ball. These are supplied as meadow packs of 150 plants/tray containing 10 species x 1 5 plants of any meadow type, as listed here. To order on-line click here.