Why not bring a little piece of the countryside into your garden by creating a miniature wildlife habitat?
Even if it is only a small corner with a few plants to encourage bees, butterflies, birds and small mammals into your garden, you will be doing your bit to preserve and improve the natural habitat of this country.
Although there are many ways to go about achieving this, some of the following suggestions may help, it should be recognised that you are trying to imitate habitats that have taken many years to develop and not to expect instant results at your first attempt.
Fortunately, from a seed germination standpoint, most herbaceous meadow plants seed will germinate in the spring in a similar manner to the grasses:-
- Sowing UK native and produced wildflower seeds, complete with a low competition grass seed mixture (20%/80% mixtures) into clean cultivated soil to create a mini-meadow.
- This will create a meadow which is quite easy to look after and provide interest through the growing season.
- Sowing 40% Wildflowers/60% Grasses into clean cultivated soil is the most effective method of establishing wildflower meadows from seed, improving outcomes by a very large factor. The high quantity of flora seed compensates for such factors as poor sowing techniques, excessive grass growth due to weather or fertility problems and the biggest factor – the depredations of slugs and snails. It is expensive, but the results are a flora-rich meadow instead of a possibly less interesting predominately grassy area, low in interesting flowers
- Sowing native wildflower seeds into prepared borders/area/strips (100% mixtures). Wild flowers can mix very well in the border with other herbaceous garden perennials. 100% Wildflower seed can be sown into existing grass provided the grass has been thoroughly scarified to remove dead material and to open up the visible soil ready to accept the wildflower seed.
- Planting wildflower plants (plugs). These are small plants, grown in compost at the nursery. They might be small, but they have well established root systems, have been hardened off and readily establish into most soil types.
- Laying a WILDFLOWER TURF containing a rich selection of wildflowers and low maintenance fine grasses. This is by far the easiest method and the surest way of establishing a wild flora rich meadow. All the normal problems and first year maintenance that is needed when growing from seed has been carried out for you and installation is simplicity itself. This is the one cut per year option.
On a field scale, lightly disc any vegetation, sow the seed onto the soil surface and ring roll to firm seed.
Like anything else in life, the more thoroughly you prepare and clean the soil of weed competition the better the results. (See our Advice Centre)
We recommend the 2750L Canvas Bag hand Seeder for the accurate application of wildflower seed mixtures to larger areas
We recommend the following sowing and planting rates:-
- 20/80 Wildflower/Grass seed mixtures > 5 gms/m2
- 40/60 Wildflower Grass seed mixtures > 5 gms/m2
- 100% Wildflower Seed mixtures > 1 to 2gm/m2
- Wild Flower Plugs > 8 per m2 minimum
Our wildflower seed is 100% UK native and produced. We offer commercially produced grasses, improved range commercially produced grasses and where available we include wild grasses into our mixtures