Dramatic difference in wildflower meadow growth
I am in the process of trying to grow a wildflower meadow patch on what used to be an area of lawn. I prepped the area by physically removing the turf, digging over to a reasonable tilth and sowing seeds comprised mostly of cornfield annuals and a mixture of meadow grass. Seeds were sown at the beginning of March.
One area is now doing very well, whilst other areas seem to be lagging very badly. I am at a bit of a loss to explain the difference; all areas get equivalent sunlight, and I have been watering the seeds/seedlings fairly regularly. The only thing I can think of is soil quality and it is true that the area that is doing well seemed easier to get to a tilth and was perhaps slightly less "clay-ey" than the rest. The patches doing the worst seem to be made of finer clay particles and, since planting, have gone to an almost smooth, quite hard earth surface. I also learned that these cornfield annuals actually prefer rich soil, so my question is do you think the growth differential is a lack of nutrients or more related to soil structure? If the former, I can fertilise but is there much I can do now about the latter? I think the grass varieties in particular are supposed to be OK on clay, so perhaps they will all catch up in any case and I shouldn't do anything now?

One area is now doing very well, whilst other areas seem to be lagging very badly. I am at a bit of a loss to explain the difference; all areas get equivalent sunlight, and I have been watering the seeds/seedlings fairly regularly. The only thing I can think of is soil quality and it is true that the area that is doing well seemed easier to get to a tilth and was perhaps slightly less "clay-ey" than the rest. The patches doing the worst seem to be made of finer clay particles and, since planting, have gone to an almost smooth, quite hard earth surface. I also learned that these cornfield annuals actually prefer rich soil, so my question is do you think the growth differential is a lack of nutrients or more related to soil structure? If the former, I can fertilise but is there much I can do now about the latter? I think the grass varieties in particular are supposed to be OK on clay, so perhaps they will all catch up in any case and I shouldn't do anything now?

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Lots of cornfield annuals such as poppies germinate more readily in disturbed soil, so if thats what you have sown you may have to cultivate and sow it again next year, whereas a perennial mix tends to get better and more varied year on year, as the nutrients leave the soil with the only maintenance being 1 or 2 cuts a year
Our garden soil structure is a bit weird generally since major renovations a few years ago involved digging up large parts of it (soakaway, drainage, cables etc) and the whole thing was then graded before turf relaid. I think any idea of "layers" of top-soil over subsoil etc don't really apply any more and some areas are still quite fertile whilst others have what is effectively clay sub-soil at the surface - and this might be what we are seeing here. It is quite a dramatic effect though.
Our meadow seeds were from meadowmania and they have been fantastic for us. Probably the 5th year or since sowing a perennial mix, this is a photo Ive just taken of the current growth. The diversity seems to get a little broader each year, and though nothing is in flower yet, it looks like that applies this year too.
I used to have a fair amount of nettles and thistles to pull out at this time of year, but barely any this year so far, I presume that is down to the lack of fertility and the strength of the meadow plants rootstock now as there is certainly no shortage of them elsewhere else in the garden!
What I would say is your soil and conditions will probably suit some species more than others, and they may domiante to start. The campion and oxeye daisises love ours, but lots of other stuff crops up and it seems to find a good balance after a year or two.
Rather than feeding it, Id personally just leave it be for a few weeks and see what happens. I imagine the slower side will get going soon enough
Hope you like buzzing, the garden positively hums with insects since we did ours
Interesting that your annuals didn't self seed. I had poppies and cornflowers in a front bed last year and currently have several hundred self-seeded of both which I am thinning. Some of the poppies in particular must have got going very early because they are already huge with well formed flower buds.