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How to sow a wildflower meadow
A wildflower meadow makes an attractive feature in early summer and will provide a variety of food for many insects, which, in turn, will attract birds to the garden. You can't really just not mow a conventional lawn and expect it to turn into a meadow. This is because the soil will be too fertile and this will favour the grass over the wild flowers. Wild flowers tend to get the upper hand when the soil is poor and there is not too much grass. Specialist seed companies can supply wildflower mixtures for different types of soil and local conditions eg sandy soil, chalky soil, wet soil and woodland.
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A suitable seed mixture of fine grasses and wild flowers; pegs and string; spade; garden rake; silver sand; weighing scales; plastic cup; bucket; bird netting and bamboo canes; garden shears or electric trimmer or mower that can be set high; lawn rake.
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Mark out the area for the meadow using pegs and string, a natural curved shape in an open sunny area works best. Dig out the turf and topsoil (both these can be used around the garden). Bring the ground up to the desired level by adding subsoil from another part of the garden.
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Wildflower seed can be sown in early autumn or mid-spring. Rake the soil and firm down with the back of the rake head. The seed mix can be mixed with an equal amount of silver sand to make sowing more even. Sow at the rate stated on the packet (usually 1g per sq m); you can work out the total area of your meadow and weigh out that amount of seed. Mix the seed with silver sand and sow evenly by hand, walking up and down the area. Rake it lightly and firm gently. Protect the newly-sown seed from birds by netting supported on bamboo canes.
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Leave the meadow to grow, then cut with garden shears, trimmer or mower. The timing of the cut is important as the flowers need to have seeded before they are removed. Spring meadows are left uncut until midsummer, whereas summer meadows are mown to 7-8cm until early summer, then left to flower and cut in the autumn. The hay needs to be raked up to keep the nutrient level of the soil low.
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Spread your seed mix on to the prepared site |
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Lightly rake the seed into the soil |
Only cut when the plants have flowered and seeded |
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