Our gardening expert, Tom Bannister, looks into creating a wild meadow in your garden and truly bringing it to life

I can’t think of anything in the world that gives me a sense of joy the same way a wildflower meadow does.  These habitats are Mother Nature’s very own tapestries, rich in colour, texture and wildlife. A living, breathing William Morris piece if you like. The best thing is, these living tapestries can easily be created in our own gardens no matter how big or small.

 

Although mesmerising to observe, meadows are not just there to provide us with a beautiful display, if we scratch below the surface, we can see they’re actually sustaining our very existence. Wildflower meadows produce bio-diverse habitats, supporting birds, mammals, bees, butterflies and many other invertebrate species. These meadows provide food for our pollinators and they, in turn, work hard to provide food for us.

Since the end of the Second World War 75 years ago, the UK has lost 97 per cent of these naturally occurring wildlife havens. 7.5 million acres of land (or an area one and half times the size of Wales) has disappeared due to rising population and the need for intense farming. Our wildlife is without doubt feeling the effects. With the rise in popularity of artificial lawns and so-called ‘low maintenance’ gardens, places for our wildlife to retreat are dwindling fast and they’re relying on us to find a better balance.  

 We have around 23 million gardens in the UK and we can all take part in replenishing this loss. Its very easy to create REAL low maintenance gardens that are beautiful to look at, will only need minimal watering, offer long flowering periods and have the added benefit of creating a home for our wildlife. They are also pretty wonderful places for us to sit and unwind after a long day at the office.

 

When visiting potential clients, many of them tell me they want a beautiful garden with minimal maintenance. This can be quite a challenge, as, like anything, gardens need maintenance. Creating a meadow though could be a good solution to help deal with part of this conundrum. Sowing a meadow ticks many boxes for the low maintenance gardener. An established meadow requires no watering, will only need cutting a handful of times in the year, is spectacular visually, and in large parts, takes care of itself. The wildlife will also thank you for it!

 Whenever I mention wildflower gardens to customers, images of old-fashioned, high maintenance, somewhat complicated gardens are conjured up and perhaps its difficult to see how this fits into our modern lives and home. It really doesn’t need to be something to worry about.  There is definitely room for the meadow in a contemporary setting. The best gardens for me cater for all of our entertaining needs with beautiful, expansive hard landscaping but it is paramount that great planting surrounds the hard landscaping details. A well-designed planting scheme brings out the best in the materials whilst making them sit comfortably in their surroundings. Good trees and large planting beds create that transition between the hard and the soft whilst helping to blend the garden into the landscape beyond. It’s this balance that makes the best designs work. A good designer will show you how to create this cohesion without forgetting the need for that increasingly important ecological balance for our wildlife.

Here are some things to think about when creating your wildlife haven:

1

It might sound hard to believe but meadows prefer poor, impoverished

soil to thrive. This helps prevent competitive grasses outgrowing the flowers. It

will also avoid any one species becoming overly dominant. To achieve this it

might mean stripping the existing topsoil away before sowing but important to

make sure it’s not fertile.

2

The two most common ways to start a meadow are to sow from

seed or to lay a pre-made roll of meadow turf. The first method is to sow your

own from a packet of seed into poor, weed free soil. To establish from here

will require more effort than the turf but is a much cheaper process. The ready

established turf is more expensive than the seed but the results are almost

guaranteed. As long as you keep it watered in the early stages, you and the

wildlife will be enjoying the benefits in no time. Sowing is best done in

autumn.

3

For most meadows mixes, you will need to choose a location that is

open with plenty of sunshine. An old lawn that has been cut for many years

with the clippings removed and no added fertiliser could be the ideal starting

point.

4

If you are going to take the route of sowing your own, because the sowing

is so thin it’s best to mix the seed with dry silver sand (the type used for block

paving). Do not use builders’ sand as it is not fine enough and is usually too

damp. Pale-coloured sand helps you see areas that you’ve already sown and

whether you’ve missed anywhere. The correct ratio is usually three-five parts

sand to one of seed. Just scatter the seed as you walk across the ground. To

try and get an even coverage, split your seeds into batches and sow one

batch walking in one direction and another batch walking at 90 degrees.

5

A good wildflower mix will include birds-foot trefoil, common sorrel, cowslip,

field scabious, meadow buttercup, ox-eye daisy, red clover, wild carrot,

yarrow plus a range of wild grasses (not lawn grasses).

And the magic ingredient to keep your eye for is yellow rattle. Yellow rattle

has the ability to reduce the vigour of the grasses which in turn will help the

flowers to do their thing.

6

Meadows do evolve. Some species that are strong initially may make

way for other species as the years go by. Bees and butterflies will be

particularly attracted to this area of the garden. Birds will feed there

and bats may skim over the top. It will become one of the most life-

filled parts of your garden.

 For more information on how to create your wildlife haven - the RSPB website

has some very easy to follow information

www.pictorialmeadows.co.uk will provide all the advice and seeds packets you can ever dream of.

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