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Update on our wild flower field/meadow

Guernsey Donkey2Guernsey Donkey2 Posts: 6,713
in Wildlife gardening
From the onset this has been an enjoyable and interesting project.  We have a field but we also have a very small patch that we personally have planted with wild flower seed and wild flower plug plants.  The plug plants won over the seeding for performance and enjoyment. In the field we had mechanical help with the sowing, and this weekend we were lucky enough to have a group of people to scythe the now finished wild flower/grass field.

From the very start these areas have drawn interest from family, friends, neighbours, the postmen and the local media. Picture one the land being scarified.  We weren't capable of doing this work manually. From the visiting pheasants to the flocks of 40 - 50 sparrows, goldfinches and the abundance of butterflies and other insects there haven't been many days when "nothing" has happened in these patches. We have a resident bee hive, more hedgehogs and crows! Picture 2 May 2019Picture 3 the flowers have finished so the scything took place over the weekend.  

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  • LynLyn DevonPosts: 21,135
    Lovey project, very worthwhile, well done GD. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • CeresCeres Posts: 2,149
    It looks beautiful.
  • Guernsey Donkey2Guernsey Donkey2 Posts: 6,713
    Thank you Lyn and Ceres and everyone else on here who inspired me to take the plunge and change from a lifetime of under use of this field to a beautiful patch full of interest. We now have to wait until next Spring/Summer to find out if the perennial flowers will thrive  and grow through the grass/weeds again.
  • LynLyn DevonPosts: 21,135
    Are you going to throw on any more seeds, poppies ? 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • Guernsey Donkey2Guernsey Donkey2 Posts: 6,713
    Hopefully the scythed grass/flower stalks will drop seed @Lyn , and I have helped nature along by breaking and sprinkling some of the corncockle seed heads yesterday.  Not sure if I will add some poppy seeds - it is tempting though!
  • FairygirlFairygirl west central ScotlandPosts: 48,959
    It's absolutely beautiful @Guernsey Donkey2  
    No wonder you're thrilled with it. :)
    I've decided to try and do a tiny little area down at the front edge of my front garden, to extend the plants for wildlife that I have. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....


  • AndyDeanAndyDean Posts: 157
    Amazing, love it!
  • FireFire North LondonPosts: 17,116
    congratulations
  • Guernsey Donkey2Guernsey Donkey2 Posts: 6,713
    Thank you, we were thrilled with it too, the test will be to see how it looks in year two and beyond. One other person that we know converted their field using the same method but choosing mostly annual flowering seed whereas we opted for perennial so it will be interesting to compare the two next year.  We were lucky to own a field next to our home, so we could watch it developing throughout the twelve months since the seed was sown.
    However I have already mentioned on here that we also have a smaller area that we personally have had 100% input on, with plenty of advice picked up on this forum to guide us at the various stages.  Firstly we raked the surface of the soil on two thirds of the patch, scattering wild flower seed and also planting some daffodil bulbs Sept/Oct to add colour in the early Spring, these were moderately successful but by far the best area for longevity and colour was the one third that I grew and planted plug plants into, having dug the soil and removed as much established grass as we could. Apologies to those who have seen these pictures before - it is encouraging to find an increase of people are wanting to convert an area of their gardens into a patch for wildlife - once planted I haven't had to do anything to the area other than pull out the odd piece of bindweed and I don't intend to cut this patch down until much later in the year, when all the seeds have dropped or been eaten by the birds. The plug plants were densely planted - I collected most of the seeds this time last year whilst out walking in our country lanes, although most can be bought from the Garden Centre.
  • treehugger80treehugger80 Posts: 1,923
    the only problem you might have is cornfield annuals like corncockle, cornflower and poppies need disturbed ground to grow, now that you have plants establishing you might need to scarify again to break the surface up (or even do a shallow plough!)
    unless of course you sowed perennials in the mix like yarrow, ox-eye daisy, knapweed etc, otherwise next year the flowers will be different!
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