How to create a mini wildflower meadow in your garden
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- Опубликовано: 24 авг 2018
- Would you like to do less mowing? And attract more wildlife and pollinators to your garden? Plus enjoy months of flowers on your lawn? Find out how to create a mini wildflower meadow in even the smallest of gardens or backyards.
Or read the Middlesized Garden post on how to create a mini meadow:www.themiddlesizedgarden.co.u...
For Lucy Chamberlain and the Cottage Garden School, see:cottagegardenschool.co.uk/
For wildflower plugs, see: www.wildflowers.uk/
For Emorgate, specialist growers of wildflower seeds, see wildseed.co.uk/mixtures/categ...
To shop my favourite gardening books, tools and products, see the Middlesized Garden Amazon store: www.amazon.co.uk/shop/themidd...
Note: links to Amazon are affiliate, which means I get a small fee for qualifying purchases, but it doesn't affect the price you pay. And I'd only recommend things I really think you'd like!
#wildflowers #meadowgarden #WildlifeGarden
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I encourage people to consider two extra points when planning a meadow garden. The first is to consider prioritizing natives for your area. If you do this, it is the best way to support local wildlife that have evolved to specialize on certain host plants. The second is to hold off on clearing the meadow until the beginnings of next spring. This way, you allow the larvae and other creatures that overwinter in meadows to emerge and not need the host plant any longer. Providing habitat that encourages Lepidoptera to survive then increases the diversity of birds on your property as well.
Both very good points, thank you.
Thank you. I was planning on doing fall cleanup as usual, but I'll skip the mini meadow area I made until spring.
Thank you for this! I am in a part of the US where a lot of people have very large flat lawns. I have always thought it looks so sterile and unwelcoming. I am about to buy a house and am looking for a way minimize lawn work and make it look more beautiful.... this seems like the best option. :)
Thank you! And sorry not to reply until now - a number of my comments seem to have disappeared into a black hole.
Very good idea!
Same!!!
This is one of the best collection of advice on wildflower meadows I have seen so far, and I have watched a lot of them, including those with Monty Don on the BBC.
I particularly appreciate how you didn't shy away from mentioning the necessity of weeding and maintenance work. Too often presenters skip on that part and the result is gardeners facing frustration and/or disappointment. Cheers and keep up the good work.👍
Thank you - we tried a meadow approach about 15 years ago and it failed because no one told us about weeding it so I felt it was important to be honest and clear
Just wanted to say you have a lovely way of explaining subjects.
Thank you.
Thank you!
Beautiful
Love your garden,getting great ideals for my garden
That was very informative. Just what I was looking for. Thank you!
Nice one👍
Try it, I will! Thank you for the tips!
Beautiful!
Just sown a perennial meadow patch for the first time. Fingers crossed!
Hope it goes well!
Lovely
Thistle is good for wildlife it is a host plant for Painted Lady butterflies, it’s a excellent nectar plant for butterflies and bees and when it produces seed all kinds of finches eat the seed.
Thank you, I'll remember that.
I like the info thanks
Excellent explanation on the difference. Thanks for sharing. A++
Great advice and great video! Thank you.
Thankyou, I will be preparing my designated area through the winter ready for sowing in the spring.
So glad I found you channel it gives me great hope to be able to consider this for my garden… i need to learn now. .. xx
thank you for your very succinct advice
Thank you so much for this vital information.
Thankyou for this video. I learned some interesting things.
Love this video!!! Thank you. It’s perfect for what I’m gonna do for my moms back yard
Hello from Auckland, New Zealand !!!
Hello!
your channel is informative as it is a soothing source of beautiful videos and images. I'm planning A renovation of my mid sized garden - many slopes and shady spots! and your videos are an endless inspiration and technical help.
Great video - Thank you
Very clear and helpful, thank you.
I really enjoyed this and would love to see more wildlife gardening videos!
What a great video.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks from Sicily, Alexandra.
Wonderful tips thank you so much
Most welcome 😊
Thank you so much for this video and yes please do keep showing more on this subject. I believe its a very important topic considering how it benefits not only wildlife but adds real beauty and value to one's garden.
I am going to try this coming spring. Thanks for sharing.
Hope it goes well.
Thank you for another inspiring new gardening idea.
You are so welcome!
Thank you that was very interesting. I am in Canada and trying my hand at creating a mini meadow in a stamp size yard!
Thank you so much for doing this video and sharing your knowledge. I found it to be extremely beneficial and helpful.
Glad it was helpful!
I enjoy your channel so much! It is absolutely well made and extremely educational.Thank you so much !
Thank you very much!
Interesting article on creating a wildlife meadow. Feel inspired to have a go.
Hope it goes well, they do look beautiful
Excellent video. Thank you very much
thank you
Ohhhh I needed this 😍 I wonder if one can make a super-mini meadow.
I just want you to know I really enjoy your videos so much!💜Thank you for sharing with us.✨🌈🌱🌸
Thank you so much!
I would love to this!
Thank you, loved it. :) Paula
Wonderful video with great examples 🙂👍
Thank you!
I love your videos sosososo much! I once lived in the UK, now I’m in California. Great work👍
Thank you!
Great info, beautiful lady and love your accent. Ya got me inspired!
Thank you!
This is really inspiring! I would love to do this as I very much prefer an informal, somewhat wild garden & have made a point of trying to encourage pollinators to attract bees. This year I have foxgloves popping up all over the place as they have self seeded.
Incredibly useful information. Thank you from a fan in British Columbia, Canada.
Thank you!
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you!
From California, USA, thank you. A perennial wildflower garden suites what I need perfectly. great video.
Wonderful!
Wonderful video and informative. We just moved to the country and I can finally have a wildflower patch or two. I didn't know about the two types. This is very helpful. Thank you.
Thank you!
New to your channel thank you for all your help.
You are so welcome
Best garden channel on youtube. Your such an inspiration. All your vids are so well researched. Thank you
Thank you so much!
Thank you
LOVED IT I’m hoping to make my old orchard a wildflower haven
Thank you!
What a lovely video - those meadows are SO pretty. I'll bet the pictures don't do them justice. Very inspiring Alexandra!
Thank you - they are all very pretty indeed
I enjoy all of your videos. So informative and done so very well. I am in Wisconsin, US, a little south of The Impatient Gardener. (Nice that you two collaborate together.) I am in a proper subdivision and have a very small lawn area--which includes micro clover-- in my front garden maintained by a lawn service (no chemicals). My back garden is private so I throw wildflower seed around every year or two and enjoy whatever comes up. The lawn service maintains a grass path at the bottom end, and we enjoy all the birds and insect life through glass doors at the back. Every year my lawn area in the front decreases and the grass path at the back gets narrower as I encroach upon the spaces with a little more and little more plantings of natives. I am not totally native--I have some roses, clematis vines, bulbs, and Asiatic lilies and an old Juddi viburnum that's been there too long to move. Thank you for all your excellent informative postings.
I want to do this in my backyard, been watching every video i can on learning how to do this ,I'm going to try it this spring, going to get rid od weeds and plant CA native wildflowers and hope it works
Thank you for this video; I'm attempting a small wildflower meadow in my backyard in Brooklyn! :)
Lovely
So nice to hear a video explained simply without a load of background music.I bought six packets of wild flower seeds from Homebargains and i have a fantastic display of flowers especially as they were only £1.45p a packet.I also dug a pond and it has attracted dragonflies and frogs .Thank you
That sounds lovely.
Still love love love your lovely channel. We're thinking of doing this ☺️
Thank you!
Thank you so much I'm wanting to make a wildflower meadow this has been extremely helpful..
We tried to grow one without knowing anything about it, and now my husband is permanently discouraged, so I wanted to help other people avoid the mistakes we made!
Enjoyed the video, didn't realise there were two types of wildflower garden. Inspiration for my front lawns.
Glad you enjoyed it
I’m looking to buy a house and will plan on turning the front garden into a meadow. Thanks for the tips.
Love...
Very useful, thanks. I'm thinking of turning my small front garden into a wildflower patch. I hadn't realised there were the two types!
You've good quite a good start already - it's probably a perennial meadow you're thinking of as you'd have to take everything out and compost the soil for an annual meadow. But if you remove the worst weeds (brambles?) then you could probably add a few perennial meadow seeds or plug plants and you'd be sorted. The smaller the space, the more difficult it is to differentiate between a weedy patch and a wildflower meadow patch, so maybe it's just a question of keeping what you like looking at it, and getting rid of anything you think is a nuisance.
This is awesome!!!
Rather than ask you questions, I see you have a Problems video that came up in the Recommended videos thumbnails.. Brilliant!!
Love your channel!! Scotty on Maui.. 🍻💕🌻
Thank you!
Thank you this is an ideal length video. Glad you pointed out the difference between annual and perennial meadow before i started mine. i experimented with a tiny packet of annual wildflower seeds planted into a rich tub of compost which came free with a tub of organic butter. Thet have been pretty field scabeous, poppies, heady scented trifolium ripens and daisies was going to just transplant them now they have gone over straight into long grass but now i know better. thank you. Will invest in perennials although i adore the heady wild clover.
I think sometimes some of the annuals, such as poppies, do survive in a perennial meadow, so it's always worth a try.
I absolutely love your videos , really great to watch , always learning as a gardener , I’ve loved gardening since I was 5 years old , just started a little channel myself, one day hope to achieve your success. Thanks for your beautiful videos 😊💚🌱☀️🐞🦋🐝🌿🍃
Thank you - it's been a steep learning curve but very interesting. I've found the RUclips creator academy (it has a different name now) incredibly useful in developing the channel. It's here: ruclips.net/user/creatoracademy - the Quick Start Guide is very useful (scroll down) also the Channel checkups. I also like Tim Schmoyer ruclips.net/user/VideoCreatorsTV - his series on Analytics is good, so you can see which bits of your video people like most. Good luck and I hope you enjoy it.
The Middle-Sized Garden Thank you for the advice , I appreciate very much , always good to watch
Just wanna spend some time with my loved one holding her hands in this meadow garden 😁😁
Watch out for the snakes! Your lady doesn't mind them...does she?
@@annettenelson3453 nope not at all
Love this idea. Will do more reading on the topic of meadows. I would use a string trimmer instead of a scythe. Either way, practice is important.
Thank you!
This is a great topic Alexandra! I like the idea of a defined space being turned into a meadow. I've been considering it for my garden. So thank you for the advice!
Thank you for commenting!
Your video is definitely going to help me as I am in favour of having a wildflower meadow. Thank you. I'm just a very beginner. lots of clover white and butter cup yellow flowers are in my lawn at the min. I'm hesitant to mow as bees are enjoying them.
That sounds lovely.
Three weeks ago we rototilled a 125 x 30 section sowing white clover and wildflower seeds. It's now June 7 in NW lower Michigan. Ferns are coming up all over the place (very surprising) (and beautiful) along with hundreds of small clover plants and the lovely milkweeds (about 30 fo them) which were sown last fall. The goal is to create a natural meadow between our home and the street. I like the idea presented in this video of using perennial wildflower plugs and may try them, but for now it's wait and see what develops on it's own. Wonderful video! Wonderful presentation! God bless you!
That sounds beautiful.
Hi, this video has given me some ideas. I think I may spread my wildflower seed packet into the lawn! The seeds would not germinate in a poor soil patch that the weeds have been happy to grow in. I am just trying to give the bees, butterflies and birds some fresh food and myself, something pretty to look at. Thanks
Beutiful
Great video! Thank you for the hard work putting it together Alexandra.
I really like the wildflower meadow concept however I am not keen on the particular blend of mini wildflower meadow bordered by traditional herbaceous borders. My eyes were inevitably drawn to the meadow flowers while all those beautiful herbaceous perennials in the borders disappeared in the background. I think I would prefer a different approach, perhaps a woodland garden and a wildflower meadow nearby, or a separate garden room dedicated to a wildflower meadow. Our backyard lawn is not well kept and would make a very good candidate for a wildflower meadow however it is walked on a great deal going to and from the storage shed, garden shed, garden beds, veg rockery garden, etc. Also our grandchildren are little and like to play games on the lawn such as croquet (yes, they love it), requiring a flat grassy space. The backyard lawn is a rough blend of clover, buffalo and weedy grasses, however it is mown regularly so we can walk on it and the kids can play on it.
As we do care about the wildlife we provide for them in other ways. Insects and birds can find a range of flowers to forage in the various front, side and back garden beds (as well as the extensive clover and weeds thriving in the back yard lawn).
I enjoyed this video which gave a very honest account of what is needed to create and maintain a mini wildflower meadow. :)
Thank you!
Best regards from Indonesia
Thank you.
You are so GREAT. You are lovely, informative and inspiring. Thank you for doing this. My question is: could I put the wildflowe seeds really diectly on top of a short cut grass field?
I was told to turn the grass all over first. Now I leard about no digging style. All so interesting.
It's an interesting question - I suspect that simply throwing seeds on an established lawn won't work and the birds will get the seeds. I've done something like it - I've made some little areas in an established patch of lawn and sown the seed, but that's because I don't want to disturb the ground nesting bees that live there. Friends of mine have succeeded in planting seedlings, as opposed to seeds, in an established lawn, and Yellow Rattle in particular will weaken the lawn grasses.
How did they sow the yellow rattle into the lawn . Did they rotivate and sow the yellow rattle the first year or cut the grass short and add the yellow rattle anither way ??
Many thanx
I followed the link from the May 1st video to this & really appreciate these tips.
So we let part of our lawn grow last year for the first time. We decided to let it grow later in the summer so we didn't get many blooms but we're hoping for more this year. We live in the mid US on old prairie so we're hoping we already have some prairie grasses & wildflowers. My question is about mowing. We mowed in late winter because we do want to mow it once a year to keep trees from growing. If we mow in late summer, as the video says, what about the seeds from this season? Won't we lose seeds from late summer or fall blooming plants?
I've learned so much from your channel & look forward to each new video & blog post.
Thank you. If the flowers and grasses have gone to seed, then you can mow, which is usually any time from late summer through to autumn, then leave the mown grasses and seedheads on the ground for about 48 hours and give them a good shake when you gather them up. They should spread - but if you have something that flowers particularly late in there, then it's probably a good idea to leave the mowing, cutting or scything until it has set seed.
I'm based in Ireland and want to turn my front lawn into a little meadow. It's already full of dandelions but I was wondering what sort of plug plants I could use to weaken the grass?
Yellow rattle is the best, and often used for that purpose.
Enjoyed this greatly, and learned a lot, actually. I thank you, but what is yellow rattle, please?
Yellow rattle is a wildflower, quite common in the UK and it out-competes grasses so people often plant it (either as plants or seeds) to weaken a lawn. There's a bit more about it here: ruclips.net/video/akVORa8BPG0/видео.html
A meadow with a Meandering path running through it is my idea of what a garden should look like but I live in ranch house suburbia and I will have to think about how I could scale this back to still have a patch of meadow in my otherwise suburban backyard. Maybe some raised beds in a sunny perimeter.
Friends have done this with raised beds (with annual meadow seeds, not perennial). It looked great.
hi good video, so if its important to keep annuals and perennials separate what do many packets of wild flower seeds contain both a mix of both?
The two meadows need different soil - an annual meadow needs quite rich soil and a perennial meadow needs quite poor soil, but there are plants (poppies, for example) which will do well in both types of meadow. Also the perennial meadow is left and the annual one is ploughed up and replanted every year, but some annuals will self seed in a perennial meadow, which means there is an overlap in terms of the actual plants. So the meadows are different types, but some of the plants are the same in each.
In Sth Australia this may attract snakes so I myself won’t try it but it’s very pretty
You seem like a lovely lady.
Thank you
Love ox-eye daisies but not sold here in Australia as they are declared noxious weeds which is very sad.
Sad but probably right approach
I hope this isn't silly question, but how do you determine whether your soil is rich enough for annuals, or poorer and more suited to perennials? Is there a soil test kit (thought this might be for pH though)? Can you define what is meant by rich or poor soil? Thanks - sorry for so many questions.
It's not a silly question at all. In fact, quite difficult to answer. Trial and error is often the best way to tell, although neighbours may be able to say 'oh, the soil around here is very poor and sandy' or something similar. You can improve your soil by adding a layer of garden compost or well rotted manure once a year. However, I'd suggest you try out whatever meadow you'd like to try and see how it goes. And yes, you're right the soil test kits are for pH.
I'm a fan in on Montana USA living in an area call Creston which is well know for it's rich and fertile topsoil.... I'm Just on the brink of introducing wildflowers and native grasses to a portion of well established lawn. I have a mixture of annual and perennial wildflowers and am wondering if I plant them in a patch with good soil with the perennials become established or do they need to be planted I poor soil? Thanks.
I've seen perennial meadow lawns do well around here, and we have generally good soil, but if your lawn is well established the wildflowers may generally struggle. People plant yellow rattle, which weakens the lawn. I think it's worth giving it a go and seeing what does well. Also friends with meadow lawns tell me that they vary alot from year to year.
@@TheMiddlesizedGarden Can the yellow rattle be planted at the same time as the meadow flowers. Or do you plant it one year before the flowers?
After the annual scything, do you clear away the trimmings or keep them on the ground?
Leave the trimmings on the ground for a couple of days, so that they'll shed seeds. Then clear them away. You can compost them - if you've got a lot, you can add newspaper or cardboard to balance out the green and the brown.
@@TheMiddlesizedGarden Lovely, thank you!
Where can I purchase yellow rattle seeds in USA? Love your channel
Thank you! And I don't know of specific seed suppliers, but perhaps it would be worth asking your National Wildlife Federation as they have quite a bit about plants on their website www.nwf.org/
Could you plant a meadow border around a square patch of lawn?
You should be able to. Friends of mine have planted meadow borders in quite restricted places. Check how much sunlight the area gets and choose a meadow seed mix that's appropriate.
My sister has a large field, which she is allowing nature to take over (mostly) with the hope of creating a habitat for as much wildlife as possible. It was a field for sheep before she purchased it. The quality of the soil, is probably poor no doubt, due to sheep grazing. The long grass has been the dominating growth these last three years, so this meadow is obviously perennial. Some wild flowers have returned & the crickets, grasshoppers are in abundance now. It's definitely become a healthier habitat for some species, but the ideal scenario is mostly wild flowers. I advised not to cut the grass until the end of summer at the very least, & then look for wildflower seeds that can thrive on more acidic soil. I'm very much into Rewilding, so I think that is the best option. What would you suggest? Any particular wild flower seeds that would be well suited for the filling summer?
It depends on whether shed like an annual meadow which needs quite rich soil or a perennial one which needs poor soil- this video explains more about it - if she just wants to grow the grass long and let it rewild then she'll need to weaken the grass by sowing yellow rattle ruclips.net/video/FMkoW2-dk8k/видео.html hope that helps
It will have been well fertilised by the sheep droppings.
Is it always the case that annuals do better in a rich soil? Or do you mean specifically those annuals that you mentioned, corn flowers and poppies? I guess it makes sense, if annuals have to grow faster in order to reproduce in 1 year. But it's relative, right? Like they don't need rich on the level of a vegetable garden or fruit trees or something, just rich for wildflowers. I grew a bunch of annual wildflowers this year, and I didn't need any amendments or anything but maybe that's not what you mean. I hear a lot of advice that suggests keeping the soil lean to prevent the grass taking too much of a hold.
Not all annuals need rich soil, but the flowers that do well in an 'annual meadow' do prefer rich soil. Although sometimes I think plants just do whatever they can to survive and aren't as fussy as we make them out to be.
Good evening , I was wondering if you could help, I’m trying to identify the purple flowering plant in your friends meadow , I can’t see it that easy though, is it verbena? Thank you ahead of time. All the best.
It's Common Knapweed or Centaurea nigra to give it its botanical name.
The Middle-Sized Garden superb, thank you for replying.
That makes sense.
Cheers and have a lovely day.
I have just started gardening and am planning on a wild flower mini meadow but how do I find out if my soil is rich or poor? I have bought seeds but I think they are annual ones. Does this mean I will need to replant next year?
Yes, if they're annuals, you'll need to replant next year, although some will self seed. You could do a soil test, or just give it a try and see what happens.
We live in Connecticut and I would love to turn part of my lawn into meadow but I'm concerned about deer ticks. Any thoughts?
I'm not an expert - but I think ticks can live in any outdoor area. It might be worth finding some kind of authority locally, because they will know the conditions in which ticks thrive in your area!
So what was the length of time from start to full meadow!?
It was nice the first year, but I think they really felt it came into its own from year 2 onwards, and it does change every year.
How do you add the seeds to existing lawn?. Scattering seeds into existing meadow will not grow
How do I check whether my soil is rich or not?
Rich soil is dark and crumbly, and plants generally grow vigorously. It's a good idea to ask any neighbours who are keen gardeners what they consider the soil to be. If your soil is sandy, then it's usually poor in nutrients, if a clay soil, it's more likely to be rich. You can also just try out whichever kind of meadow you want and see if it works - plants are keen to survive and will sometimes overlook the rules.
why do they cut it down with a scythe rather than leave the seed heads for birds?
They cut it when the seed heads have been up for a while, and then they leave the seed heads lying on the ground for a few days so the birds do have a chance, but it needs cutting or it will affect next year's meadow.