Wild flower meadow
JamesP
Posts: 7
In July 2015 I asked about spreading good top soil over an area where bluebells grow. I have now completed that exercise and in the process I have covered almost all of about a third of an acre with top soil and disturbed some of the ground to improve the contour of the garden.
In doing so I know I will have created a problem by burying bits of bramble, ivy (the sort that spreads over the ground and up trees) and any number of other weeds. You might understand that with such a large area manual work was impossibly difficult so light machinery was used and that is why it was impossible to root (sorry) out the unwanted vegetation.
My intention is to more or less let the area look after itself – just let it grow and mow or strim it as required. I understand that if mown regularly most weeds will eventually give up and only grass will thrive – I have done that before with good results.
However over about 300m² I would like to encourage a wild flower “meadow” – this is not where the bluebells grow.
The question is – should I let the area just grow whatever comes up this year and possibly attack any bramble, nettle ivy etc. with a glyphosate herbicide, then seed the wild flowers next (2018) spring or should I seed the area in say April and hope for the best.
The area is original woodland with some oak, birch, beech etc.so it is shaded in summer.
Any advice or comments would be most welcome and acknowledged.
Posts
If it's shaded in summer then you won't get the wild flower meadow thing, more a woodland mix. I think they'd be better planted as plug/young plants to give them a start, although some bulbs will work such as the native daffodil, especially if there's a damper (but free draining) bit and allium ursinum (wild garlic/ramsons). Plants that should do well include wood spurge (euphorbia amygdaloides), butcher's broom (ruscus aculeatus), spurge laurel (daphne laureola), vervain (verbena officinalis), valerian (valeriana officinalis), woodruff (galium odoratum), hedge bedstraw (galium mollugo), nettle-leaved bellflower (campanula trachelium), yellow archangel (lamiastrum galeobdolon), red campion (silene dioica) and tutsan (hypericum androsaemum). There's a short list of some pretty ones. Many are available as plug plants from some good suppliers about the country.
H-C, in horribly cold wet Winchester
Thanks H-C. This list is impressive and very helpful.
But the area is large and would require a lot of effort to put in young plants. I was thinking more in the way of spreading seed.
And initially I am more concerned with the potential for the area to be overcome with bramble etc. from the bits of vegetation that will inevitably have been spread by the operation of smoothing out the ground.
Any more thoughts?
I think you need to deal with the bramble first, nettles will seed for years, you can eliminate the plants you have but not the seeds. Nettle is easily dealt with by mowing. I have loads of nettles but none in mown grass. Ivy is capable of making long low growths below mower blade level so mowing doesn't do for that..
It's dig or chemical whichever way you choose but I wouldn't leave them, especially bramble
In the sticks near Peterborough
James, as Nutcutlet says, the unwanted and invasive stuff will have to be dug out. There are weedkillers that you can use to spray off the area, but it will need a double application and I refuse to promote or encourage their use as I don't use any of them. Just thought I'd mention it! What about preparing a small area where there's most light which will allow the quickest possible establishment of seed sown this spring. Nibble away at it. Seed sown under the canopy will have to be specifically woodland species which can compete and the success will depend on amount of light, viability of the seed, conditions on site etc. I can think of a couple of companies who supply seed (and plug plants) of native species and they will provide stuff for woodland/shady areas. Easiest to start with is red campion, it seeds itself all round my garden centre and is flowering the following year.
H-C
Thanks, H-C and nutcutlet,
It looks as though I am in for some hard work.
I remember listening to an edition of, “Gardeners’ Question Time” many years ago where a woman was asking more or less the same question I have posed about cultivating land that was previously virgin woodland. One of the team asked her age. I think she said around 35. The team member told her not to bother as she did not have enough life left to finish the work.
Well, I’m 72 this year so there’s no hope.
I think I will seed the strip by the wall this spring with a woodland grade of wild flower (about 300m²) as the shade there is not heavy, I would certainly follow your advice and include some red campion. As for the rest (that’s where the bluebells are): I will let it take care of itself. Whatever comes up will be mown or strimmed regularly.
I would also attack any weed – especially the ivy and bramble - with a glyphosate but very locally so as not to damage any surrounding grass or other growth and to keep chemical use to an absolute minimum. Actually, H-C I am also against chemical use - but needs must sometimes.
If anyone has anything to add I would be most grateful.
Jim
It takes many years to get a traditional flower-filled grass meadow Jim but you can get wild flowers this year and even more next year. Don't despair. The GQT team were probably just saying that all those old meadows are the result of hundreds of years grazing, hay cutting etc all done at the right time of year to allow seeding and reduce rampant grass/weed growth.
You can have wild flowers. I have them but I won't have a 'proper' meadow in my lifetime (same as yours
)
In the sticks near Peterborough
72 plus 35 is 107 which,going by recent news reports, is well within our capabilities nowadays! Certainly don't give up hope! Many of the plants will flower after the first year and little patches here and there will bring huge amounts of pleasure.
H-C
Hello Friends.
I have been searching the web for suppliers of woodland mix wildflower seed and have come across this advice.
As the site is now covered with a layer of top soil from another part of the garden (stripped from the area where the new house is sited) it will no doubt contain a wealth of potential weed growth.
The suggestion is that I should allow it to “green up” during the spring then give the area a spray with glyphosate – kill everything – then allow it to green up again and repeat the herbicide. Then rake off the dead vegetation and spread the seed. Obviously the area which has the bluebells will not be sprayed,
Whilst I am fundamentally opposed to chemical warfare in this case it does appear to be a solution to getting rid of the offending vegetation that might (will) be lurking under the surface of the soil. And as we will not be moving into the new house until around December there is time to do this before the move.
I would hate to spread a lot of fairly expensive seed only to find it swamped by the natural growth that certainly will emerge.
Sorry to keep going on about this but what do you think?
I'm not a user of chemicals and I think it's a complete waste of time for newly germinated weeds but it would do the job on brambles
In the sticks near Peterborough