Stop mowing, sow some wildflower seeds and insects will love you for it Go wild in your garden
Meadows have become an increasingly popular garden feature as gardeners appreciate the value of wild flowers to our fragile ecosystem.
Previously neatly clipped lawns are left unmown and the grasses allowed to flower. Councils are also embracing the trend with public areas set aside as meadow land. Smaller gardens can host one border or a small patch as mini-meadows sown with wildflowers or annual seed mixes in spring or autumn.
The magic occurs when different surprises pop up depending on your soil type. You might expect daisies, dandelions, clovers, speedwell and self-heal, but you may also get wonderful ox-eye daisies, harebells or sometimes even orchids. Or, perhaps you planted a colourful mix of poppies, calendulas, sunflowers and cornflowers and were rewarded with a delightful meadow. Towards late August
the meadow flowers will be starting to look straggly with flowers setting seed and dying back and in some cases it will appear to all be collapsing.
This is a natural part of the meadow cycle and the next job is to cut it all down. Depending on the size, you can do this with garden shears or in bigger plots a scythe or strimmer will do the job.
When you cut it back, you need to remove the material and a compost heap is the best place for this. If you leave the clippings in situ, they will rot down and fertilise the soil.
Poorer soil is better for meadow flowers as grasses will always monopolise the more fertile soil. As you gather the clippings, give them a little shake to
allow the seeds to drop to the ground. Once you have done the big cut, you can keep the area mown until next spring, removing the clippings each time. If you want to have a meadow that is less grass dominant next spring, you can sow the annual wildflower, yellow rattle this month. Rattle, Rhinanthus minor is semi-parasitic on grasses and is often used as a first sowing to establish a more wildflower friendly medium.
It’s also an opportunity to dig out any perennial weeds such as dock or thistle – there’s nothing wrong with either of these but they will dominate and the more delicate wildflowers will struggle to establish their presence.
Coming into autumn you can sow seed for next year or you can wait until next spring. It’s not necessary to sow any seed unless you are starting a meadow from scratch or you want to try to encourage certain species.
Mixing seed with silver sand will make the process easier and help scatter it more evenly. Scatter seed lengthways across your plot and then widthways to help cover as much ground as possible. Rake in and if the weather is dry, water in thoroughly.