Wildflower Meadows
Wildflower meadows are vital habitats for biodiversity, supporting a wide range of species, including:
- Wildflowers: A single meadow can support over 100 species of wildflowers
- Insects: Butterflies, bees, grasshoppers, and other insects and their lavae thrive in wildflower meadows
- Birds: Birds benefit from the insects that eat wildflowers and also the seeds produced bt wildflowers
- Mammals: Small mammals and large grazing animals eat the insects that eat wildflowers, and larger mamals and birds of prey eat the smaller mamals
- Fungi: Fungi also rely on the diverse vegetation of wildflower meadows.
-
Invitation to 4B Residents to join our
Gardening for Biodiversity
Wildflowers for Insect Pollinators Initiative
The Gardening for Biodiversity Initiative will provide enough native wildflower seed to sow a small plot of up to 10 sq meters (30 grams). We will provide smaller amounts if you only have a small plot or pot. The seed will need to be sown in September 2024 for flowers in spring and summer 2025. The initiative is for anyone living in Buckland, Betchworth, Brockham and Box Hill.
To apply for seed, please email [email protected] with your name & address and the size of the area for wildflower cultivation.
To apply for seed, please email [email protected] with your name & address and the size of the area for wildflower cultivation.
Making a Mini Wildflower Meadow
We are fortunate to live in a place where wildflowers are plentiful. But we can encourage even greater abundance and diversity if we want to. Cultivating a patch of wildflowers is one of the simplest things we can do to increase biodiversity, provide food for pollinating insects and support a healthy ecosystem.
There are two main types of wildflower meadow – annual meadows where plants complete their life cycle within one year, and perennial meadows where plants grow back year after year. There are also short flowering meadows where you ,might mow every 6 or 8 weeks and longer flowering meadows where yo will cut only once a year in September.
You can create a meadow by sowing wildflower seeds, laying wildflower turf or converting an existing lawn. The RHS has information for each of these approaches. https://www.rhs.org.uk/lawns/creating-wildflower-meadows Here we focus on sowing perenial wildflower seeds into bare soil. The videos below illustrate the process of making a wildflower mini meadow.
This leaflet produced by Boston Seeds, explains the process of preparing the ground, sowing the seed and maintaining a wildflower patch using their Butterfly & Bee seed mix.
There are two main types of wildflower meadow – annual meadows where plants complete their life cycle within one year, and perennial meadows where plants grow back year after year. There are also short flowering meadows where you ,might mow every 6 or 8 weeks and longer flowering meadows where yo will cut only once a year in September.
You can create a meadow by sowing wildflower seeds, laying wildflower turf or converting an existing lawn. The RHS has information for each of these approaches. https://www.rhs.org.uk/lawns/creating-wildflower-meadows Here we focus on sowing perenial wildflower seeds into bare soil. The videos below illustrate the process of making a wildflower mini meadow.
This leaflet produced by Boston Seeds, explains the process of preparing the ground, sowing the seed and maintaining a wildflower patch using their Butterfly & Bee seed mix.
| bsbp-butterfly-and-bee-wildflower-seed-mixture.pdf |
Making a Perenial Wildflower Mini Meadow
For best results prepare the ground in late summer and sow seed in autumn into bare soil after clearing all existing plants and weeds from the area. Cultivate the ground to a depth of 10cm to relieve compaction and create a fine level tilth, free from obstructions (to allow for mowing at a later stage). Finish the seedbed by treading or lightly rolling the area, so that it is firm enough to stand on without leaving indentations. Where weeds have been prevalent, allow a flush of weeds to germinate and remove these before sowing. In areas of high fertility, it may be necessary to remove the topsoil and sow into the subsoil. High nutrient soils encourage weeds and fast growing grasses which may outcompete the wildflowers in this mixture.
It is possible to sow seed into existing grassland, provided the sward comprises only fine leaved grasses and does not include ryegrass, agricultural species or weeds. Cut the grass as short as possible and thoroughly scarify or rake the ground to remove any thatch, moss and other debris from the area before sowing.
Spring and autumn provide ideal conditions for sowing seed as moisture and warmth are in good supply. If overseeding into grass, it is best to sow during autumn when grass growth has slowed down.
Distribute seed with a handheld or pedestrian spreader, at the recommended sowing rate of 3g/sqm. Mix the wildflower seeds with an inert carrier (such as sharp sand), at a ratio of four parts sand to one part seed (by weight). This makes it easier to
achieve an even distribution and also provides a visual marker, making it easier to see any missed patches and avoid seeding areas twice. Once sown, ensure good ‘seed to soil’ contact by lightly raking to a depth of 0.5cm or rolling the area. When overseeding this encourages the seeds to fall down to the ground underneath.