Advice and information
UNDERSTANDING YOUR SITE
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HOW TO PLANT OUR SUPER-PLUGS, AND HOW MANY
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HONEST ADVICE ON HOW TO APPROACH RE-WILDING
Understanding your site
You have two main considerations - level of sunlight, and type of soil conditions.
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In terms of plants for all conditions, we've done the work for you. Go to the shop, and you'll see we've grouped plants according to all manner of habitats.
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One will fit yours, be it clay, shade, damp, sunny or dry
How to plant our super-plugs, and how many
Our wildflowers come bare-rooted, so you just dig a hole with a trowel or bulb-planter. Firm soil over the top of the rootball. Water-in, or do during/before rain.
Don't let them dry out for 21 days. Periodic showers should negate the need to intervene, otherwise water.
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How many? Well only you can do that calculation - sorry! It depends how you intend to space them.
But each plant needs at least a circle around it of the size of a large dinner plate (9 inches / 36 cm) to be able to mature into.
Best flowering from year 2.
1st pearl of wisdom
1) If your site is riddled with any of the following, it won't work.
Nettle
Thistle
Ground Elder
Couch grass
Established rye-grass lawn/paddock
Dock
Cow Parsley
On a small scale, your best bet is to get a good quality weed membrane, and lay it over the whole area. Cover with gravel or bark to 2 inches. Then cut holes into the liner and weed out any weed-roots. Plant our superplugs into the gaps in the weed membrane, and pull the bark or gravel back around the plant when you are done.
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2nd pearl of wisdom
Move on to number 3, if you need to...
You are most likely in the 80%.
The 80% have soils at or or either side of "average" for the UK. The main factor that puts you in this category is one of nutrients in the soil. Loams and Clays are the most common fertile soils, and if you have them then this is our pearl of wisdom.
You'll have work to do each year to maintain them, as the tendency will be for the flowers to get overwhelmed by the competition.
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This will mean selective weeding, to remove unwanted plants, and a cut of any meadow/border once a year, from August (latest early November)
3rd pearl of wisdom
Number 4 and 5 are for everyone
If you have a lower fertility, well-drained situation, with good sunlight, then you have the perfect conditions for meadow-making, or planting a superb wild-habitat.
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Sandy, rocky and chalk soils have the least nitrogen for lush growth, and this keeps the competition down. You can even go for rare wildflowers - see the relevant section of our SHOP for details
4th pearl of wisdom
Have you ever considered a flowering lawn?
A fully wild meadow or border is left all summer to reach it's full heights.
But this can be tatty and overwhelming if it dominates too much of the space in your garden,
A flowering lawn takes 5 - 10 years to establish to its very best. But you get flowers from year 1.
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We have a special section of our shop, for varieties that respond to a regular haircut.
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Mow at medium height every 7 - 21 days, varying to alternate flower production. It never gets tatty - and the flowers hug the ground.
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It's best to add more plugs each years 1 - 3, into obvious gaps, to boost the natural spreading of your existing wildflowers.
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They are slow to get going. Don't give up.
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5th pearl of wisdom
Everyone can learn from this.
It takes time, and commitment, to make a wildflower habitat.
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Whether it is a border, meadow, shady spot or wet site, the time it takes to get a photo-worthy site using perennial wildflowers, is measured in years.
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When we visit show gardens, we marvel at how established and harmonious it looks. We accept that they are 10 years plus in the making. Usually much longer.
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Wildflower habitats benefit from a yearly cycle.
Do your weeding,
Keep adding plants - this is the best way to boost establishment
Cut down at least once - in Autumn, if the vegetation is out of control in June, cut it then, to 6 inches/20cm
Stick at it. Like any gardening project, it builds over time, fluctuates with the weather and natural predation, eventually builds to someting wonderful.
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Spring jobs
1) Give meadows a haircut with the mower (at the highest blade setting). Mow around spring bulbs.
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Rationale
Grasses and certain plants grow away faster in spring, than most summer wildflowers. This cut equalises the race for light. Your wildflowers are not harmed even if trimmed, nor are caterpillars etc (too early).
Remove all cuttings.
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2) Prepare "Bear claw" scratches into the turf or border to expose soil. Sow annual cornfield mix wildflowers.
Rationale
Annuals like Poppy and Cornflower really add value to a meadow or border, but need help reseeding each year. Use your own gathered seed if possible. Trample the seed into the earth, but don't cover with more earth. We've found this better done in Spring once warm, than Autumn.
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3) Add extra perennial plugs to your meadow or border, choosing those that establish quickly to avoid damage from summer heat-stress.
Oxeye Daisy, Musk Mallow, Wild Chicory, Common Knapweed are recommendations.
Also add some Yellow Rattle plugs. This is useful, even if you've sown it the year before. It ensures establishment of some Rattle even if sowing fails or is limited in success.
Rationale
It is probably best in the East and South of England, to add perennial plugs in autumn. This is because recent hot and dry springs and summers, have tipped the scales. In most parts of the West and North, it is still fine to add plants in the early Spring. Try to do it before the end of April. This allows rooting before any hot dry weather spells.
Summer jobs
1) Consider a Chelsea-chop.
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Rationale
A Chelsea chop is a cut-back of perennial flowers/plants, to encourage regrowth that is lower, bushier, and sometimes more floriferous. By doing so between mid-June and mid-July, you WILL lose 6 weeks-worth of flowering in summer, but regain it from late August right through to October and the autumn cut.
It's a good option that we use in more vigorous meadows and borders - where vegetation tends to get too dense and tall, and start to topple.
Try doing half of your border this way, or even a third, to compare and contrast results.
We cannot over-emphasise enough that what kills meadow wildflowers, is not cutting. The process of cutting lets in light, air, and moisture and perennial wildflowers respond with vigorous regrowth.
Try and time it to 1-2 days before good rain is forecast. Or water responsibly once you've removed the cuttings.
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HOW TO DO IT:
Small sites - Shears, Strimmer, Brush Cutter, Hedge Trimmer used as strimmer.
Larger sites - Tractor hay cut (hire a local), Strimmer, Brush Cutter/Purpose built meadow cutter. On some very low growing sites, you can use a sit-on mower with the highest blade setting.
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You are aiming to cut at 2 inches / 5cm height. A little higher is fine, lower is potentially too short.
2) Maintain mown paths for access - the point is to enjoy the meadow. Most people do already. But as a tip, it's common by mid summer for the paths to get swamped by the neighbouring vegetation. So try cutting a 1-2 ft (half a metre) strip either side of the mown path, to half-height. Use a hedge trimmer, or strimmer.
Rationale
The protects the inner paths from toppling grasses and wildflowers, but still leaves the grass long enough to be distinct from where people walk (and to still look meadow-like)
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3) If you don't do a Chelsea chop, consider cutting your meadow in August.
Cut to 2 inches (5cm) - that's walk-on short - and remove all cuttings. If possible, leave for 3 hours to 2 days, for the hay to dry, seed to fall, and mini-beasts to drop back into the cut meadow. It makes it easier to rake off too.
Rationale
You have to do this in a meadow. You are replicating the hay cut done by farmers at the end of summer.
This practice is what kept meadows alive.
You will cut down flowers, and it will feel heart breaking, but by now the grass will have browned and toppled, and you are doing the habitat a necessary service.
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At this point, you can sow Yellow Rattle. See the Autumn section for details.
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Autumn jobs
1) Cut your meadow, or wild border, as explained in tip 3 (Summer jobs).
2) Sow Yellow Rattle.
August or September, using fresh seed from that year. To bare earth, which usually means heavy raking or harrowing, or 'bear clawing' slashes in the turf or soil, to allow the seed contact with the soil.
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Rationale
Is covered in our Blog on the subject - accessible on the top menu bar.
Sow thinly and sparingly in an average meadow, but more heavily in vigorous grasses.
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3) Add perennial plug plants to top up your meadow and improve diversity.
Rationale
You can go for almost any perennial wildflower at this time of year, because both fast-establishing and slow-establishing plants do well from Autumnal planting. October is probably best, but from early September to mid-November, timed after the meadow-cut.
The plants get 12-15 weeks of imperceptibly slow mainly root-growth into your soil, rarely troubled by hot or dry weather.
Plant in 3's, 5's, or 7's in single variety or three-variety mixes of wildflowers. This looks more natural, and 'seeds' your meadow with some new plants, which will hopefully spread, and top-up your existing colour.
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In summary, you must cut once. If you only cut once, do so mid-Aug to mid-Nov.
It's better to cut twice. Mar/Apr, then Sep-mid Nov.
However, you can experiment with 3 cuts, the extra one being a Chelsea-chop between mid-Jun and mid-July. This way your final cut can be Oct-mid Nov (late season flowering)
Lastly, remember, that the best meadows come after 10 or more years of following this routine. Cut-plant/sow-Cut-Plant.
Gradually, this helps the wildflowers get a strong foothold against the ever dominant grasses and vigourous plant species.
We have had meadows where the first 3 seasons of planting seemed to have little effect and flowering was underwhelming. But in years 4 and 5 everything seemed to blossom at once.
STICK AT IT - LIKE ANY WORTHWHILE HOBBY!