Wild Meadows

It doesn't take long to create a wildflower meadow, but you do need the right conditions for it to thrive, says Kate Gatacre.

There's a lot of talk about the importance of wildflower meadows – both in terms of encouraging a wider variety of species, but also for pollinators. A good wildflower meadow needs to have a decent variety of both grasses and wildflowers – the grasses being predominantly the thin-leaved varieties, which allow other species to grow. It is logical, then, that poorer soil is a benefit for meadowland, as the thicker-leaved grasses are less likely to thrive. If you do live on rich soil that has been fertilised for generations, don't worry. It doesn't take long to create a wildflower meadow.

One thing that most agree on is the importance of timing and method for cutting meadows. The most important thing is to wait until all the important species have flowered and their seed been allowed to ripen, so July or August, depending on the year and the area you live in. Equally important is that the cut sward is collected, even if it is not going to be used as hay. I've found someone local who has a flail collector – perfect as I'm establishing my meadow in the area I've planted as orchard, so not well suited to large hay-making machinery. A flail cutter is also ideal as it can cope with the drier, tougher grasses. I'll follow the Great Dixter example of using the cuttings as compost over a three-year rotation. A second cut as late as weather allows should be taken, again leaving nothing of the cut on the ground. The meadow can then be grazed, but this is best done for a short period during the winter, with livestock removed well before the growing season starts again.

Establishing a meadow in the first place can be approached in a few ways. Over a smaller area, many prefer to poison off the existing grasses and sow a mixture – there are hundreds of variations available, suited to different soils. Once the poison has taken effect, the ground will probably need a pass with a chain harrow to break up the top. Some have had success with "haystrewing" – so using hay from a good wildflower meadow, strewing it over the area you'd like to establish, and then putting livestock on that area to trample the seed into the ground.

Many, however, choose only to manage their meadows through the cutting alone, and in fact I saw a very good example of that this year, a huge meadow, filled with thousands of common spotted orchids, rattle, oxeye daisies and many more species. The owner told me that it had taken five years for the first orchids to appear, but that they had never sown or planted any seed at all, they'd simply stuck to the cutting and removing of sward at the right time. Interestingly, she said that the meadow varied each year, with some years displaying a huge number of oxeye daisies, some more rattle, some lots of scabious. This will also be true if you sow a mixture – some of the species may take, but do not expect to see every single one returning for a second flowering. Each meadow will have a different balance of species, but the one thing that will help a meadow establish itself faster is yellow rattle. This parasitic plant is brilliant for allowing the less dominating grass sorts and other meadow plants to grow.

If you do want to establish a wildflower meadow, it's worth seeing whether your county has a meadow group – there are several, which hold talks, organise visits and can offer advice or have machinery for hire. The orchard is now in its second year. I have chosen to go for the cutting route, and, while I can't yet see any yellow rattle, the variety of grasses is far higher than it was last year, with more yarrow, red clover and meadow buttercups, too.