Wildflower Meadow

by Stuart Harrison of Devon, UK

As a boy, I clearly remember the blaze of wildflowers in the hay fields across from the railway line, a place where a few of my school chums and I would ride our bicycles to and earn a little extra pocket money helping out during hay making. To us, the hay meadows seemed constant and unremarkable despite their splendor; they were the backdrop to our school free summers, there on the chalk downland of Sussex in the early 1970’s.

I am certain we were exploited mercilessly by the wizened old farmer who, driving his Massey Ferguson 35 with an unlit self-rolled cigarette hanging from his bottom lip, drove the bale trailer with us boys, exhausted from the efforts imposed upon our youthful limbs, lying atop the load and staring upward at the blue sky. Our pay was a pittance, we were worked hard, but the real attraction to 14-year-old boys was that at the end of the day you could drink as much cider as you wished from the cask at the end of the hay barn. It was our introduction to alcohol.

Some nights we would sleep in the barn, dousing ourselves awake from the spigot at the back of the tractor shed in the morning while we nursed sore heads and ate farmhouse cured bacon sandwiches for breakfast.

The physical effort of hay making, the cheese and tomato sandwiches at lunchtime and the mugs of sweet tea and slices of fruitcake supplied by the farmers wife seemed to work wonders on our hangovers. It was a time of carefree exploration, of testing ourselves at the fringes of our manhood against some of the older adult farm workers. Intense boyhood friendships, laughter, hard work, blizzards of moths in the tractor headlights as darkness fell, and of course, the cider.

It was a world that now seems so remotely different to that of today as to be almost unrecognizable. I imagine that anyone today employing 14-year-olds to work a minimum of ten hours a day lifting heavy hay bales, riding unsecured atop a teetering bale trailer, nourished by unlimited cider and left to sleep on a fire hazard, would probably be arrested for offenses related to neglect, child exploitation or modern day slavery?

As I grew into adulthood, the decline in wildflower meadows proceeded apace until some twelve to fifteen years after I left school, they were just no longer a feature of the landscape at all. Nothing in the landscape but green, gold or brown, the wildflowers, or weeds as they were now referred to, had been banished from meadow, cornfield and tilled land.

It was only once they had gone that they became something I missed. I later learnt that the fields where we hauled hay were unusual even at the time we worked on them, saved only by the indifference and parsimony of the wizened old farmer who owned them. Since my youth, whenever I have seen a wildflower meadow, at whatever stage of my life, wherever I might be, I was, am, and think I always will be, drawn to being in it.

For the sake of clarity, a hay meadow is an area of grassland which is left to grow long through the spring and summer months. In summer the grass is cut, dried and then stored to feed animals in winter, and the area is then grazed until the ground becomes too wet. This makes it different from pasture which is grazed all year round.

Meadows can look very different, depending on what is growing in them, but the key feature is that the vegetation is left during the growing and flowering season, and then cut. This system provides an ideal habitat for many wildflowers as it gives them time to flower and set seed before the grass is removed. The process of cutting decreases the fertility of the soil and allows plants other than the normally dominant grasses to take their place in the sward. The advantage of the hay meadow to pollinators has to be seen to be believed, the land teems with them, and with crickets, beetles, and bugs of every type imaginable.

While it might seem such a simple concept, the rarity of wildflower meadows has put increasing pressure upon pollinators, limiting their numbers, and providing scant sustenance for those that do exist. When the numbers of wildflower meadows reduce so do pollinators, as well as other insects, and the animals that eat insects, such as birds, hedgehogs and bats.

Bees are in decline in the U.K., as they are in other parts of the world. Wildflower meadows are extremely diverse habitats, with a huge variety of flowers and are absolutely ideal for bees. But since the decline of widespread wildflower meadows, bee species, previously reliant on these meadows, have evolved to eat a limited number of pollens. Too much competition for food in scarcer supply inevitably causes pollinator populations to reduce, with a corresponding reduction in the diversity of those animals and insects that predate upon the fauna of wildflower meadows.

It is a simple fact that if we can create more diversity in our natural habitats and increase the availability of wildflower meadows, then the bees, birds, animals and other insects that frequent them will thrive.

When we first arrived on our newly purchased small farm in rural North Devon, I was struck by the fact that field after field surrounding our farm, and upon our own land, seemed utterly devoid of anything but perennial ryegrass. No doubt this was designed to maximize milk yields from the dairy herds, yet even those fields given over to sheep had precious little color in them save a uniform shade of green. It is true that we are blessed with wonderfully diverse hedgerows here in North Devon, with some pretty impressive floral displays along our lanes, but the endless green fields struck a discordant note within me. Fast forward ten years and we have created in one small part of the farm the sort of meadow I remember from my boyhood. It has been a labour of love and has rewarded us far beyond our wildest expectations. Some thirty species of bird life, some not supposed to frequent our corner of England, together with hedgehogs, bizarre insects, glorious butterflies, a huge range of moths, field mice, shrews, voles, owls and other birds of prey. My daughter told me on a recent visit that it appeared I was attempting to save the world bee population single-handedly, a considerable exaggeration, but the numbers and varieties of bees have been an education into the art of the possible.

The meadow also supplies our horses with a medicine chest of herbal remedies, and whilst having problems with one of the horses “scouring” that we failed to put right with medication, a couple of mornings grazing in the meadow put him right.

All of the foregoing has been a prelude to an explanation of my own method of creating a wildflower meadow on our land. It’s something anyone with land can do, no matter how tiny a piece. Even a ping pong table sized rear yard can be converted into a patch of wildflower meadow and I encourage anyone with the slightest interest in the subject to have a go. Lawns to me seem dreary, desolate, and boring places, devoid of life, how much better to flood your section of the world with tall grasses flowers, insects and birds, and provide entertainment, beauty and habitat?

Wild Flower Meadow Creation Method

Year one:

Mow, mow and mow again. Get that grass cut as often as you can, cut it short, and cut it often all through the year. Always remove the cut grass from the soon-to-be meadow. Leaving it on the ground just guarantees you more grass next year, increased fertility and no wild flowers.
Scuff it up. Mess it up. I used a very heavy and severe harrow, then I disc it, then I harrow, and harrow and harrow whenever I can. Do anything you can to make a mess of your ground.
The aim is to reduce fertility, and create churn in the earth.
There is no point sowing wildflower seed this year because you will trash the fields as often and as harshly as you can next year.

Year two:

Mow, mow and mow again. Get that grass cut as often as you can, cut it short, and cut it often all through the year. Be merciless. Always remove the cut grass. Leaving it on the ground just guarantees you more grass next year and increased fertility.
Scuff it up. Mess it up. Get your kids to ride their bikes across it, play ball games, anything to give it a hammering. I once again use a very heavy and severe harrow, then I disc it, then I harrow, and harrow and harrow whenever I can. Do what you need to to put that sward under pressure.
The aim is to reduce fertility, and create churn in the earth.
There is no point sowing wildflower seed this year because you will trash the fields as often and as harshly as you can next year.

Year three:

In the spring, cut the grass short, as tight as you can and then mess the ground up. Ideally you want some form of tilth on the soil, without lumps, and “neatish” appearance, but don’t worry if it looks a mess. The grass will come back, but you are weakening it’s resolve.
If the fertility has been reduced over previous years, before you started your meadow project, then it might be worth sowing some wildflower meadow seed, but I’d leave it unless you are certain that the grass is very worried indeed.
Watch what comes up, and around July cut the grasses back and remove them from the meadow, and mess up your ground again. Ideally you want a fine tilth on the soil, without lumps, and a granular, regular, and “neatish” appearance.
In the autumn, around September or October, sow yellow rattle. Sow it in abundance. Yellow rattle is the “meadow maker.” It is your friend. It is semiparasitic upon the grasses and will act as a pioneer plant for your soon-to-be wildflower, bee heaven, butterfly paradise, and insect rich meadow.
Mow, mow, and mow again from September through to Christmas.

Year four:

As spring develops you will see the yellow rattle start to appear. Allow it to flourish. No mowing this spring. Let its yellow magic do its stuff. It can be prolific in the first few years, but as the meadow develops it starts to tail off, and will eventually struggle to make a showing as the meadow develops. You may have some few wildflowers along with it, but precious few I’d wager.
In mid to late July, cut the meadow, removing all the cut vegetation from off the meadow. I use a scythe for our meadow and cut up to four acres a year with it. I do it progressively in sections. A quarter acre, or thereabouts, at a time. It’s a manageable undertaking. The yellow rattle should have turned brown and set its seed before you mow. Always remove the vegetation from off the meadow.
Mess the ground up once more, disc it, harrow it, rotovate it, do what you must to create a tilth. Now, in September or October, is probably the best time to sow some wildflower seed for next year. You can wait until the spring, but a Fall sowing is normally best.
The choice of wildflower mix is up to you, but native, regional and local seed mixes are best. Exotics sound good, but there is a reason local seed is local. Indeed I have had much success not sowing seed at all, and just letting nature take its course, but if you have some favorites, now is the time to sow them. Some people want a meadow mix of grasses and wildflowers, but I have found that the grasses are tenacious beings, and will always be present.
If you get the chance, mow once or twice again after sowing.

Year five:

This is the year of success. Mow your grass if you get the chance in January or February, it will do the wild flowers no harm to be topped.
As spring approaches, watch the sward and see what riches are appearing. If you have done your job, grasses will be less prevalent, the yellow rattle will be still showing well, and many flowers will be growing.
By mid-spring the potential is being realized and you have a summer show to look forward to. Try to leave the meadow until some time in mid-July before cutting and your success year on year is assured. Always remove the grass whether as hay or as compost material or mulch.
The flora and fauna will begin to be established. There will be some treasured sights and moments ahead.

Ongoing meadow maintenance.

You can tailor your meadows composition and look with remarkable accuracy by grazing sheep or other livestock upon it after the cutting. But be sure to take them off the ground before it gets too wet. Adding or removing livestock will affect the sward, the plants within it and the composition of the meadow. It’s an art, and practice makes perfect.

As a side hustle you can gather some of your seed and offer it for sale, wildflower meadow seed is extremely expensive here in the U.K. and some farmers report that pound for pound, it is the most profitable crop they grow on their entire farm!

If all of this seems a little complex, it really is not. Cut the grass, reduce the fertility of the soil, mess up the ground, sow seed. If you follow these simple steps, a meadow marvel can be yours in only a few years, rewarding both you, the animals that frequent it, and the planet in general for many more to come.