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Author Topic: Meadow flowers  (Read 5308 times)

The Chicken Lady

  • Joined Mar 2008
  • Cheshire
Meadow flowers
« on: December 28, 2008, 06:32:02 pm »
This year I would like to grow wild meadow flowers in the borders that lead up the lane to our farmhouse. Has any one advice re best plants, seeds, plugs, suppliers etc.  :)
Karen

woodsman

  • Joined Dec 2008
Re: Meadow flowers
« Reply #1 on: January 04, 2009, 06:54:46 pm »
hi . sorry , no info on suppliers , but thought i ought to mention that , in my experience ,british 'wild' flowers prefer a weak soil . -think of chamomile types ,growing in compacted ground . maybe marigold and cornflowers are good in better ground .
  sort of need to know what these borders leading to farmhouse consist of - old verges ? - nettles? - brambles? -heavily shaded?
« Last Edit: January 04, 2009, 06:59:31 pm by woodsman »
If it's too steep to plough , put sheep on it , if the sheep fall off , plant trees .

hexhammeasure

  • Joined Jun 2008
    • golocal food
    • Facebook
Re: Meadow flowers
« Reply #2 on: January 04, 2009, 09:22:45 pm »
If you have seen a field that has got all the flowers and grasses you want or some of them, see if the owner has made any hay off it last year. If he has the either ask him for the sweepings after he has fed the hay or buy some bales of him and shake them out on a concrete floor and collect the seeds. just broadcast sow onto thinning patches and cross your fingers
Ian

The Chicken Lady

  • Joined Mar 2008
  • Cheshire
Re: Meadow flowers
« Reply #3 on: January 05, 2009, 09:58:27 am »
The lane can be shady in parts as there are some trees on either side ad there are dry stone walls on either side just wide enough for the oil tanker to drive down without touching the grass verges. There are no brambles and we did remove any thisles and nettles that grew. We used to let the pony eat the grass off before we bought the surrounding fields. So it is fairly poor soild - impacted I would think. Never mind I will give it a go and see what happens.  8)
Karen

HappyHippy

  • Guest
Re: Meadow flowers
« Reply #4 on: January 05, 2009, 10:03:30 am »
Hi,

If my memory serves me correctly (which it's got a habit of not doing !) the major seed suppliers - Suttons, Marshalls etc all do wild flower seed mixes, designed to be scattered and left to do their own thing (I'm sure ebay would also be a good bet) It might be worth getting one of those and seeing how it goes rather than buy lots of individual packets. Let us know how you get on.

Happy sowing,

Karen  :pig:

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Meadow flowers
« Reply #5 on: January 05, 2009, 11:21:15 am »
The Organic Catalogue does number of wildflower seed mixes for different situations. Also try www.farmdirectonline.co.uk who do grass / wildflower mixes for different situations.

Wildflowers do prefer poor soil mainly because the normally very vigorous grasses, especially new varieties developed for high fertility situations, can't grow to their potential, so the wildflowers get a chance to grow without being choked out. If you can, reduce fertility by cutting and removing grass or by skimming off the top layer of turf and sowing on to compacted bare soil. Don't turn it over as you'll encourage a whole range of other wild flowers that favour broken soil, such as poppies, which thrive in cultivated land.

We have a patch of wildflower meadow in the garden, which I threaten to remove every year because it get so scruffy. We never do - and this year we've been rewarded with a pair of Goldfinches who are feeding on the seedheads. The hens also love it - it must be full of seeds and bugs.

woodsman

  • Joined Dec 2008
Re: Meadow flowers
« Reply #6 on: January 05, 2009, 06:53:40 pm »
yup , that's the one ; skim off the top inch of turf , and go for it . good luck .
If it's too steep to plough , put sheep on it , if the sheep fall off , plant trees .

 

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