I bought from these people because they supply councils and colleges and big sites and where I volunteer they had already sown the meadow and it looked great so I could see what mine was going to look like
I bought a cheap packet for about £9.00 previously from my overpriced GC which contained 5 types of blue flowers...corn something ...and only one type took and was not very hardy
I suppose we get what we pay for and lets see what comes up in April
Thanks again Lyn
Everyone is just trying to be Happy.....So lets help Them.
some websites say you can either leave it and it will miraculously become wildflower meadow (hogwash) or you just need to over seed (utter rubbish-and a total waste of seed) what you end up with if you do that is overgrown grass. (known in environmental conservation circles as rank grassland)
so remove the grass, you can either de-turf - the best idea as it remove the rich topsoil (and my preference) or weed kill and rotavate.
so in spring, once de-turfed you need to dig the soil over, wait a couple of weeks then hoe - this kills all the weed seedlings starting to grow then sow a decent wildflower and grass seed mix over the area (these grasses are not the same as lawn grasses)
if you have money to burn you can buy wildflower turf, but really seed is cheaper and easier.
first you need to remove all the turf and soil down about 3-4 inches, otherwise all you'll get is grass growing, wildflowers need the poorest soil you can get, subsoil rather than topsoil if you can get it.
then depending on how much money you have to spend either wildflower turf it (about £45 per M squared) or seed it (more like £4 M square) get a good mix of seed, it needs to be about 60% meadow grass seed (not the stuff you use for a lawn) and 40% wildflower seed, you can add wildflower plugs the following year if you need to enhance it more.
I have friends who used the meadow turf and it took really well. It might be worth trying some of your area with that to see how that area takes - with a low grass seed ratio. There are now various companies that make it, and offer various options.
I think I know the answer to this but will ask anyway! Is it possible to be successful without removing the fertile top soil? I am able, over time, to de-turf but don't have the physical or financial means to remove/substitute the topsoil.
It does often take time and patience, I think this part of the frustration. Sprinkling seed in the hope that some will take, this really doesn't work. You can waste a lot of money.
The gardeners at Sissinghurst have done incredibly well in converting lawn to successful and very diverse wild flower meadow in just a few years (as I understand it). I'm quite intrigued by how they did it. It must have been a lot of work.
I have some pics from last month on Garden design forum, and there are some other pics much bigger plot than mine. No, you cant just leave it unmown, you will just get long grass, took me four years, I removed turf, on clay nearly killed me, tried seeds both autumn and spring, non germinated, then wild flower plugs both annuals and perenials, very expensive, and scoffed by slugs, not to mention back breaking digging thru the clay to plant them, so 3 years ago I bought my first wildflower "turf", 80% grass 20% flower mix, the grass dominates, following year wild flower border turf, all flowers, plugs and seeds over next area, then last year hubby hired a turf cutter, we have a few fruit trees at the bottom of our lawn, 2 apples, 2 pears, a plum, the area surrounding it is now all wilflower turf, with grass mown paths, I trid the yellow rattle zero germination, every year I have tried to get Flanders Poppies, this year I bought plugs again, and with buket of saline, twice daily visits (and yes I am afriad slug pelletts) I have this year finally got half a dozen and am hoping they will seed themself.Best time to do it, early spring.
Posts
http://www.pictorialmeadows.co.uk/product-category/perennial-meadow-seeds/
Lyn..thanks for that
I chose pollinator lawn
I bought from these people because they supply councils and colleges and big sites and where I volunteer they had already sown the meadow and it looked great so I could see what mine was going to look like
I bought a cheap packet for about £9.00 previously from my overpriced GC which contained 5 types of blue flowers...corn something ...and only one type took and was not very hardy
I suppose we get what we pay for and lets see what comes up in April
Thanks again Lyn
1st - get rid of all the grass,
some websites say you can either leave it and it will miraculously become wildflower meadow (hogwash) or you just need to over seed (utter rubbish-and a total waste of seed) what you end up with if you do that is overgrown grass. (known in environmental conservation circles as rank grassland)
so remove the grass, you can either de-turf - the best idea as it remove the rich topsoil (and my preference) or weed kill and rotavate.
so in spring, once de-turfed you need to dig the soil over, wait a couple of weeks then hoe - this kills all the weed seedlings starting to grow then sow a decent wildflower and grass seed mix over the area (these grasses are not the same as lawn grasses)
if you have money to burn you can buy wildflower turf, but really seed is cheaper and easier.
Treehugger
As above I have already sowed so just need to wait until April but thanks for your post
I chucked the seeds "away" onto a bit of scrub garden and wait for it...........they took !
I think I will look at it again in the Spring..Thanks folks.