Beautiful meadows don't happen by accident: they take planning, preparation and patience.So you've taken the first step to adding a beautiful wildflower meadow to your garden by buying a Bright's Wild Flower meadow tube. What next?
Establishing a Wildflower Meadow
Wildflower establishment can be both frustrating and rewarding.
Christopher Bright
When to Sow
Autumn and spring each offer advantages when it comes to sowing and establishing wildflower meadows. Autumn tends to be recommended more frequently because some of the species of wildflowers require vernalisation (the requirement of a period of cold to induce flowering). Warmer spring weather equals warmer soil, making your seed germinate more rapidly, but then so do the weeds!
Soil Preparation
The optimum would be to prepare the bed over the summer, allowing the weed seeds in the soil to germinate. Before they can flower, spray them off with a foliar contact herbicide like Roundup following the manufacturers instructions. This is a safe, systemic herbiceide that works by moving through the plant tissues and can't be taken up from the soil. Leave the bed until late September or October before spraying again and sowing seeds. Alternatively, regularly hand-weed the bed before any weeds can flower, making sure all weed roots are removed. This may seem like hard work, but it will reduce the number of weed seeds available to compete with your meadow.
We all know the optimum rarely happens, so whether you are sowing your meadow in spring or in autumn, the important thing is to ensure that the bed is weed free from the start.
How seriously you take your soil preparation depends on the size of your meadow and what you plan on cutting it with. Getting the surface level will take several passes with a rake and roller (or doing the 'gardener's shuffle' and firming the soil in the bed with your feet). Removing the large stones as the levelling takes place will potentially save on mower repair bills for years to come.
Once the surface is level, water the entire area until it is soaked.
Sowing Seed
Broadcast spwing the seed is a time-honoured method, but it takes an experienced wrist (not to mention some silver sand mixed in with the seed) to get an even spread. A seed spreader of the sort your local garden centre sells for sowing grass seed is an alternative, although the heavier seed tends to get sown first. To prevent this, add silver sand to the seed mix and sow in small batches to maintain the balance of grasses and flowers in the meadow. Silver sand also has the advantage of helping to mark where you have sown.
Managing Your Meadow
Wildflower meadows require management. In the first year, this means several cut to keep the height at 10cm untill the end of March, when the meadow can be left uncut for the spring and summer. This gives the perennials a chance to establish themselves well enough to compete with the thuggish grasses. NEVER cut your meadow below 8cm.
In future years, the number of cuts can be much reduced. Instead, you will be battling to get rid of perennial weeds. The more perennial your meadow, the more dillingent the tackling of perennial weeds to prevent docks, dandelions and stinging nettles from taking up residence.
These guidelines apply to all Bright Wild Flower tubes EXCEPT Bright Grow Your Own Bird Seed Mixture and Bright Cornfield Annual Mixture.
Cutting Your Meadow
As the vegetation starts to die down at the end of the summer, the meadow should be cut. For the traditionalists, nothing replaces the hand scythe. If you chose to go this back-breaking route, make sure the first aid kit is to hand for blisters and the odd cut. For the more pragmatic, your local tool hire company should be able to provide you with an Allen scythe that will squeeze through a pedestrian gate or a petrol strimmer. Of course, the truly tooled up and big meadowed mow with a tractor and mower: the baled results make excellent hay.
Mow in the middle of a dry spell, and leave your cuttings to dry in the sun for a day or two. This gives bugs a chance to scarper, but any longer and the cuttings will start to break down (especially if it rains), making them messy to move and adding to the soil's fertility.
Cornfield Annuals
Bright Cornfield Annual Mixture is made up of annual species that will flower in the first summer after sowing, making them perfect for the impatient or those needing a colourful result in a short period of time.
Sowing the mixture in autumn will produce a mass of flowers in June, with field poppies, corncockles and cornflowers the most abundant. Spring sowing will result in a later, extended flowering in which corn chamomile and corn marigold will star.
All of these annuals produce seed in abundance after flowering. Left uncut, the plants will die with the first hard frosts of autumn, but their seeds will already be germinating in the soil around them.
Wild Bird Seed
Sow Bright Grow Your Own Wild Bird Seed Mixture as you would the Bright Cornfield Annual Mixture. Gently rake over the area to give the seed the best contact with the soil. So that your birds don't confuse the mix with a free meal, some protection is necessary. We have seen everything from a moveable fruit cage to hazel branches (peasticks) to chickenwire used to protect germinating seed. Once all the seed has germinated, the temptation will have passed and the protection can be removed.
Leave your bird seed standing until the seedheads are empty and all of the food gone (late winter). Cut the plants down and prepare the soil for a new sowing.