Wildflower meadow

April 2022 update

At the beginning of October last year, our summer flowering meadow on the left of the steps up to Metford Road was given a close strim, and all the cut grass and plant material was removed.  Grass cuttings should always be removed from wildflower meadows in order to reduce the fertility of the soil, as wildflowers flourish best on low nutrient soil.  A fair quantity of the cuttings were put under the nearby hedge, where they will rot down and benefit the hedge, in the meantime providing cover for invertebrates. The seeds were scattered by sowing in parallel lines both right to left and at right angles to this across the meadow area to ensure a reasonably even spread. They were then trampled into the ground - to prevent the abundant local woodpigeons from having a feast!

In the process of strimming, a few frogs and a slow worm were found - fortunately, having survived the deep strim unscathed. The slow worm is one of three native species of lizard found in Great Britain, and the only one which is legless. Long grass provides good cover for many different types of small creature, and as the grass alongside the boundary with the allotments is no longer being cut by the council, it is probable that both creatures made their way across from there, where they abound. The slow worm (very vulnerable to predators such as larger birds and cats) and a medium sized one about 25cm in length, was removed to the safety of the allotment boundary hedge.

It is good to know that the meadow, still young, is providing haven for animals other than pollinators, the principal intended beneficiaries.

Our meadow was first dug and seeded in 2016, but it encountered a few adverse events in its early life when it was repeatedly mowed by council contractors just as the young wildflower plants were growing. The boundary placed around the meadow in 2021, with the assistance of council parks staff is intended to prevent such future accidents.

Thus, we needed to reseed the meadow, as, although some species (principally meadow cranesbill  and to a lesser extent yarrow and meadow vetchling) proved tough enough to overcome these challenges, many of the other species did not.

Yellow rattle is a useful plant to have in establishing wildflower meadows, as it is hemi-parasitic. This means that it photosynthesises, but also takes additional nutrients from host plants, especially grasses, and so is considered a parasite of grasses. It's therefore useful to seed into young wildflower meadows, in order to reduce the vigour of grasses, which compete with the establishing wildflowers. However, it's notoriously difficult to successfully germinate (e.g. see this You Tube video), and can also be overwhelmed by rye grass if that is the dominant grass, so this is definitely an experiment.