If you are sowing on a large scale please ask us for a more comprehensive version of this document.
A local provenance meadow seed and grass mix can be sown at any time of year, but for best results sow in the autumn. The seed mix should include yellow rattle, a semi-parasitic annual which reduces the strength of the grasses and so helps the more delicate wild flowers to thrive. Some seeds, such as yellow rattle will need a period of cold weather before they will germinate (stratification). If seed is sown in the spring or summer the rattle seed will germinate the following spring after stratification.
Site preparation
Make sure you are not destroying an area already rich in biodiversity. If the area is already grassed there are two possible methods.(A) If the grasses are fine-leaved, short (up to 70cm including seed head) and include lawn grass or species such as Meadow foxtail, Common bent, Sweet vernal grass, Yorkshire fog and Crested dogstail, then the grass can be kept. (B) If the grasses present are tall, wide-leaved, clump-forming or form a thick, dense thatch, e.g. couch grass or rye grass, the turf should be sprayed or stripped off and seed sown into bare soil.
(A) Adding flowers to existing grassland
Existing lawn or pasture can be successfully sown with meadow flowers if it is made up of fine grass species. The turf should be roughened with a rake to create pockets of bare soil, and then sowed at 1-2g/m2 with the wild flower and grass mix. Do not cover or bury the seed. Smaller areas may be planted with 5 wildflower plug plants per m2. The maintenance regime below will prevent the grasses from becoming too dominant.
(B) Sowing into bare ground
Cultivate the soil to a firm, fine seed bed. For best results do this some weeks before sowing meadow seed. Weed seeds which germinate in the seed bed may be hoed out just before sowing. Sow seed at 4g/m2. You can mix the seed with fine sand or sawdust to make sowing easier and more even. Firm the soil by rolling or treading but do not cover or bury the seed. Water in dry periods.
Maintenance programme for both methods
The first growing season is all about weed and grass management with few flowers. Mow the area every 8-10 weeks from May to October, with the mower on its highest setting, to prevent the grasses from out-competing the wild flowers and to prevent annual weeds from flowering. Remove all cuttings. Weed out or spot-treat any perennial weeds which appear.
In following years cut the meadow in February/March then leave it to grow up, flower and set seed. Cut the hay in July/August after all the plants have shed their seed. Remove all cuttings to gradually reduce the soil fertility. Regrowth may be mown a couple of times during the autumn and winter to prevent the grasses from becoming too dominant. Seed of yellow rattle may have to be reintroduced in year 2 or 3. As an annual plant it may be lost if it fails to establish and seed in year 1 or 2.
Please be patient. Creating a beautiful meadow will take 3-5 years. A well managed meadow will go on improving over 15-20 years. Please contact us if you need any further help and advice about your meadow.