This blog pulls together lots of information on our site, and a few extras, into a really simple "HOW TO..." guide.
OUR PLUGS CAN BE PLANTED STRAIGHT INTO YOUR LAWN WITH A TROWEL.
ONCE ESTABLISHED, YOU CAN MOW EVERY 10-28 DAYS - SO IT NEVER GETS TOO WILD - If you are happy to leave it unmown for longer, consider a Wildflower Meadow - blog to follow.
🌺 BEST VARIETIES FOR A FLOWERING LAWN:
Lawn Daisy
Self Heal
Common Sorrel
Bird's Foot Trefoil
Yarrow
You can also have Cowslip and Primrose, if you delay the flowers until early Jun (mow around them).
INSTRUCTIONS: note, there is a lot of detail here, but none of it is difficult, just consider each point in turn, to get your flowering lawn as good as it can be,
1) Group plugs in threes, fives or sevens - odd numbers look more natural,
2) Plant single-species patches as well as mixed patches - in the wild, varieties tend to seed 'at their feet' creating swathes of just one type of flower. Random mixing looks less natural,
3) Leave gaps between wildflower patches. A flowering lawn (or wildflower meadow) should be 80% grass to look natural. If it was just flowers, it wouldn't be a lawn or a meadow!. This means you need fewer wildflowers per square metre/ft from us, so we hope you admire our honesty!
4) If you have trees in your lawn, or other large plants, don't plant within 2ft (60cm),
5) It can help to mark where you intend to plant first, with canes, flags, or anything you have enough of to do the job, (or you can do this in sections),
6) When you plant, first make sure that your wildflower super-plug roots are wet. Don't wash the soil off them, use a watering rose or sprinkle lightly with a hosepipe, or rest gently in a tray of water.,
7) Dig in with the trowel to its full length, but don't dig out a hole, simply pull the trowel to one side to create a 'v'. Slot the super-plug into the slot you've opened up, then set the lifted portion back down and really firm down the turf around the base of the plug. The roots must have good contact with soil, even if it is full of grass-roots, but it doesn't matter if the roots aren't exactly vertical when you slot the plug in - they adjust.
8) Water the plug and surrounding turf THOROUGHLY - create a puddle if you can. It cannot be repeated enough that for the first 14 days after planting, any plant is vulnerable to drying out. It is not yet rooted into your soil and cannot draw water from it. You must water daily, for 14 days. If you don't, some plants will die,
9) After 14 days, your plants will have rooted into the surrounding soil sufficiently to be considered established. Of course, over the coming months their roots will grow further, producing a larger plant and in season, their wild-flowers
10) The mowing regime is simple - you mow between mid March (first warm dry day), and mid November (last cut before winter). Mowing should be at medium short, not golf-course short, or some varieties will suffer. Mowing stimulates the plants to form strong roots and leaf-rosettes at ground level. You will start to get flowers again each time 2 days of mowing. Some varieties need 14 days or more to re-flower after cutting. You'll soon find a routine based on a balance between keeping it a useable lawn that you can walk on, and leaving it unmown long enough to flower again each time,
11) Over winter, just leave it. It will be fairly long again by the time of the first cut, but winter cutting can do more harm than good,
12) Last of all, and best of all, all of the wildflower varieties listed at the top of this Blog, will spread. By about 10-20% each year.
We know that YOU would never be so daft, but a reminder to everyone else that Lawn Weedkiller, or Fertiliser and Weedkiller mix should never be applied to this lawn, as it will kill all of your wildflowers, as it is designed to leave only lawn grasses alive.
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