Wildflower area maintenance

[difflock]

The shite I listened to about magic infalliable Yellow Rattle while I was with the Council was boke inducing.

I favoured beneign neglect, for nature,  though despite explaining(despite lacking any formal "education" in the subject matter) that  for a pretty grass filled hay meadow, one needed to allow the grass and flowers to seed, and then cut and work the cut forage until dry enough for hay, to ensure the seeds were left behind, before removing the arisings, to impoverish the ground over years and years and years.

Nope sow Yellow rattle and then bale it off for silage.

FFS! 

[Stere]

Ladys smock / cuckoo flower seems a fairly  common flower in  pastures.

 

See alot of if about

 

My mini "meadow"  or wilderness  that has zero proper meadow managament  (as not being cut for yrs) is mostly  meadow sweet common knapweed oxeye daisy & Wild Angelica and now the odd self seeding oak saplings.

 

Used to be used for sheep and hay.

 

Think its hard to turn improved grassland back in to meadow fast as takes a few  yrs to lower fertility etc.

 

Saw/read about someone going to the hassle of stripping turfs to make a meadow and thus removing top soil to reduce fertility.

 

Where i have not mowed in the garden lawn as there was daffs growing is  all   full of red campion & cow parsley atm.

 

The wild look its on trend at chelsea flower show 😏

[JLA1990]

1 hour ago, difflock said:

The shite I listened to about magic infalliable Yellow Rattle while I was with the Council was boke inducing.

I favoured beneign neglect, for nature,  though despite explaining(despite lacking any formal "education" in the subject matter) that  for a pretty grass filled hay meadow, one needed to allow the grass and flowers to seed, and then cut and work the cut forage until dry enough for hay, to ensure the seeds were left behind, before removing the arisings, to impoverish the ground over years and years and years.

Nope sow Yellow rattle and then bale it off for silage.

FFS! 

If you’re sowing over an already established area the above is bang on the money…… it takes time! 
if you want it quicker I’d suggest strip and buy in wildflower turf - really economical solution 🤣

[Squaredy]

22 hours ago, coppice cutter said:

Also bear in mind that yellow-rattle is highly invasive and if you let it stray over a boundary in to neighbouring managed grassland you will have an extremely irate neighbouring farmer to deal with.

I understand the point you are making.  However I hope no farmer would get irate at such an invasion.  If an area of farmland is so sterile that it is vulnerable to some yellow rattle coming over the border then maybe there is a problem with the way it is being farmed.  
 

I don’t see the local farmers in my area coming to apologise for all the rape plants that keep popping up in my village.  Never mind for the nitrate run-off that gets into the local river.

 

I am not a farmer, but I think I can safely say modern silage and haylage production methods are anathema to me.  Who really benefits from these methods?  We get cheaper meat no doubt.  Personally I’d rather eat less meat and pay twice the price for it knowing that it is raised in harmony with nature.

 

Sorry, thread derail I know!

[coppice cutter]

No need to apologise, it's a fair point.

 

I'm no supporter of modern farming practices, Gareth has even had a go or two at me for my continuous farmer bashing in his eyes.

 

I'd say a lot of intensively managed grass swards are indeed pretty "sterile" environments which causes problems. Recently a neighbour had a wee dig at me (they think I'm a bit crazy) about how my hay crop had so few docks in it, no doubt hinting that it must have been sprayed with something. I told him there's docks dotted through it everywhere (which there is), but in my case the grass outgrows the docks and smothers them whereas in intensively managed grass the nitrogen feeds the docks and they smother the grass instead.

 

"But how have you such a good crop of grass without nitrogen then?" was what came next.

 

I just shrugged my shoulders and said that I don't really understand how it works either but it just seems to.

 

And I've never had, and I never will have, yellow-rattle about the place.

 

Unless it appears of it's own accord that is!

[coppice cutter]

8 hours ago, Stere said:

Think its hard to turn improved grassland back in to meadow fast as takes a few  yrs to lower fertility etc.

 

 

Saw/read about someone going to the hassle of stripping turfs to make a meadow and thus removing top soil to reduce fertility.

I know this is commonly put forward as an essential component of wildflower success but I don't know that it's a simple as that.

 

I may be a low input farmer, but I'm still a farmer.

 

I wouldn't be putting up with having ground that was impoverished and unproductive. I can grow good crops of grass to make hay and feed stock, if that wasn't happening I'd be doing something about it and if that ultimately required a degree of non-organic input then that's what would be.

 

There's an awful lot goes on in soil at microbial level that is not understood. But unfortunately in-depth research costs money and the people who normally pay for such are the same people who benefit most from intensification. They are not going to pay for research which ultimately leads to them selling less product.

 

There is actually much more attention paid to soil structure and the importance of keeping it healthy and vibrant in the sports turf industry, but again it is with a particular end result and wouldn't always be that easily applied to an agricultural setting unfortunately.

 

They do however recognise the harm caused by soil compaction for example, something that farming has never taken at all seriously and less so now than ever.

Edited May 28, 2023 by coppice cutter

[Stere]

Heres some case studies & infos about meadow restoration projects & methods.

 

http://www.magnificentmeadows.org.uk/assets/uploads/CM_Restoration_Workshop_-_Liverpool_2016.pdf

 

http://www.magnificentmeadows.org.uk/assets/pdfs/Creating_bare_ground_for_meadow_restoration_-_examples.pdf

 

 

 

Quite alot of time effort and machinary & grant/ charity money involved making meadows.

[sandspider]

Interesting, thanks. I'm working on a little wildflower meadow in a corner of my paddock. Planted yellow rattle seeds, and had good germination in the first year, but not many of them since. (Despite some more seed sowing). I think my paddock may be just too fertile (former sheep & horse paddock). Oh well, it's a long term project.

Interestingly, bits of the paddock where I didn't put YR seed, don't rake off the cut grass etc. are probably more diverse and wild flowery!

[Muddy42]

I just cut the grass once a year in August and remove as much as possible. Ideally slice it off with a blade or scythe so the grass can be removed whole.  Mulching or strimming can leave lots of little bits of grass behind.  The idea is to stop the cut grass from re-fertilizing itself. I might have another cut in October and rake out moss in the winter to get some bare patches to sow seed onto.  Its very hard work but it does work after a few years. There are flail collectors but these are pretty expensive.

Edited June 2, 2023 by Muddy42

[sandspider]

I cut mine once a year or so with a topper, leaves the grass stems whole and bundled into rows so they can be gathered up and carried off. Still a lot of grass growth, and I've been cutting and removing for 5 years or so now. No moss, it doesn't have a chance!