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Where wild things grow (From Hampshire Society)
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Where wild things grow
12:23pm Tuesday 6th July 2010
Surely there is no better sight than a wild flower meadow in full bloom; I am always reminded of my childhood in Northumberland where all the fields were awash with colour and insect noise. I vividly remember lying in among vetch, buttercups, yarrow and daisies, watching the passing butterflies and trying to catch the big, green grasshoppers. Every week at school, we were obliged to paint a wild flower in our ‘Nature Study’ books and I suspect that my love of wild flowers took root at that time.
But what is a meadow? The dictionary states “meadow (noun) an area of grassland, especially one used for hay....” Indeed farmers have, for thousands of years used meadows as an important source of winter feed for their animals.
Hayfields were (and still are) cut in summer, the vegetation dried and stored, and fed to the animals during the colder months when there was less grass available. The animals were often allowed to graze the hay meadows during the winter, churning up the sward with sharp feet, creating areas of bare soil and thus allowing the plants to seed and spread. Generally speaking, hay was grown in open areas on ground which was very often poor and unable to sustain other crops such as cereals.
The coarser grasses could not exist on the less fertile land and so the wild flowers were able to flourish without competition. This balance between non-competitive grasses and other flowering plants is the crucial factor for a successful and colourful wild flower meadow. Sadly, wild flowers were almost obliterated after the Second World War when indiscriminate use of sprays and more efficient farming methods including artificial fertilizers ensured that ‘weeds’ were excluded from hay crops. Six decades on, it is encouraging to see so many wild flowers returning to British countryside; in the hedgerows and field headlands, as well as alongside motorways and railways. However, it seems to be the gardeners who are really championing wild flower meadows which is great news for our native flora and also for the insects that rely on them as a source of nectar and larval food, not to mention the small mammals that thrive in such an environment.
There are many different types of wild flower meadow depending upon the soil and underlying bedrock.
However, the first that usually springs to mind is that blood-red field of poppies that you might see during the summer.
If you want to replicate this in your garden with cornflowers, corn-cockles and so on, then you are talking about making an ‘annual meadow’.
This needs to be ploughed up and reseeded annually, thus it is labour intensive and expensive if you have a large area, as you will need to purchase more seed every year.
It will, however, certainly be spectacular and you can always do it on a small scale in the corner of a flower bed or along a roadside, for example.
Creating a permanent (or perennial) meadow is no less labour intensive in the early years, but once established, it will become much lower maintenance.
If you would like to turn over a paddock or part of your lawn to wild flowers, then you need to consider the following: Is your grass a modern, tough lawn mix, probably sown since 1970? If yes, then you must spray the area with Glyphosate (Roundup) to kill off the grass. If you decide not to kill the grass, you must scarify it thoroughly to remove the thatch and introduce seed of Rhinanthus minor, or ‘yellow rattle’ which is yellow-flowered plant that is semi-parasitic on grass and, once established, it will help to reduce the vigour of grass by up to 50 per cent. All meadows benefit from the inclusion of this plant in any case.
If you have killed off your grass, or are starting with bare soil, now is the time to consider whether your ground is rich or poor, and if it is very fertile, you might need to scrape away the top soil to get down to poorer layers. Then you must prepare the earth so it is a good seed-bed and sow in autumn (after September) with a mix of meadow grasses and wild flowers.
It is important to source this from a reputable supplier so you are not re-introducing competitive grass varieties.
You could also seed some annual flowers at this time so for your first year at least, you will have a spectacular and colourful display of poppies and so on!
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