Wildflower lawn.

[Graham]

Sad to see this go.  Moving house and the new owners will probably want stripes on the front lawn.

 

Hay rattle, ox-eye daisies, red clover, hawkbit, trefoil etc.  Fine grasses and breeding meadow brown.  Neighbours think I'm strange anyway.

 

So we start again.

[Squaredy]

The local authorities around here (Newport and Cardiff) have started using wildflowers in verges in places.  Some of them are just lovely, though some just look a bit neglected in late summer.  I suspect it is more of a cost-saving measure than anything else but as long as they use the right mix I guess the bees will love it.

[sandspider]

I tried to start / encourage a wildflower meadow in my paddock earlier this year. Not much luck so far. The rattle didn't seem to germinate, so the grass outcompeted the wildflower seed I put down. Maybe next year! More mowing and removing the cut grass in the meantime I suppose. I don't cut my lawn too much either, lots of good flowers and bees and butterflies there. People forget that grasses flower if they're not cut all the time.

[Graham]

5 hours ago, sandspider said:

I tried to start / encourage a wildflower meadow in my paddock earlier this year. Not much luck so far. The rattle didn't seem to germinate, so the grass outcompeted the wildflower seed I put down. Maybe next year! More mowing and removing the cut grass in the meantime I suppose. I don't cut my lawn too much either, lots of good flowers and bees and butterflies there. People forget that grasses flower if they're not cut all the time.

I collected some rattle seed and stratified it in the fridge and freezer.  Sowed it in Feb by just scattering the seed on raked out areas of grass.

 

I think it needs to lie on top of bareish ground and the light levels trigger it.  Sows itself now after scything.

[benedmonds]

We have struggled to get wildflowers growing in a community orchard, I think the soil is just to fertile. 

 

Getting the rattle to  slow down the grasses is key I believe..We even tried planting plugs.... Unfortunately we don't have the facilities to take away the grass so think we might be on a losing battle..

[difflock]

Tis a strange strange world when folks complain about soil being too fertile, but this should be better for the apple trees though? 

&

 graze a few sheep perhaps

[sandspider]

1 hour ago, Graham said:

I collected some rattle seed and stratified it in the fridge and freezer.  Sowed it in Feb by just scattering the seed on raked out areas of grass.

 

I think it needs to lie on top of bareish ground and the light levels trigger it.  Sows itself now after scything.

I spread my rattle seed in October so they'd stratify naturally. And I planted them into molehills and patches where I'd knocked the grass off with a spade, then kept the grass short so they could germinate. No luck though, maybe next year.

[sandspider]

1 hour ago, benedmonds said:

We have struggled to get wildflowers growing in a community orchard, I think the soil is just to fertile. 

 

Getting the rattle to  slow down the grasses is key I believe..We even tried planting plugs.... Unfortunately we don't have the facilities to take away the grass so think we might be on a losing battle..

I just dump the grass to the sides, marking the boundary of my meadow. Grass seems to be growing more slowly in the meadow, so I think it's working...

[Graham]

17 minutes ago, sandspider said:

I spread my rattle seed in October so they'd stratify naturally. And I planted them into molehills and patches where I'd knocked the grass off with a spade, then kept the grass short so they could germinate. No luck though, maybe next year.

How did you keep the grass short?  If you used a mower with collector you may have sucked up the seed.

[sandspider]

Come to think of it, I mowed in Jan and must have put the seeds down then, don't think I mowed again after seeding. Maybe I didn't stratify them for long enough in that case.