(Gardening) Wildflower Meadows - How To Create One In Your Garden 1.pdf - ogrodnictwo - morelek4

Wildflower meadows:

how to create one in your garden

working today

for nature tomorrow

How to create a wildflower

meadow in your garden

Imagine a garden filled with flowers and butterflies, the sleepy

buzzing of bees and the scent of freshly cut hay. A little bit of

paradise where you can go to relax from the stresses of daily life.

A scene from a bygone age, perhaps?

With a bit of effort and the help of this

booklet, you can create a place that will

not only be enjoyable to you, but will

also be a paradise for wildlife: a

wildflower meadow.

Why create a meadow area in

the garden?

Over the last 60 years, most of our

wildflower-rich meadows have been

lost, mainly due to changes in farming

practice. Many of these meadows have

been converted to arable land or

‘improved grassland’, dominated by a

few vigorous agricultural grass types

and white clover.

What exactly is a meadow?

Most people, when asked to describe a

meadow, will conjure up a delightful

image of graceful waving heads of

grasses interspersed with flecks of

cream, purple, yellow and pink from a

myriad of different wildflowers. All this

coupled with the humming of insects,

the scents of flowers and the prospect of

the heady aroma of newly-mown hay.

Strictly speaking, a meadow is an area

of grass where livestock are excluded

between late spring and early summer

to grow a crop of hay. Sometimes the

term ‘meadow’ is applied generally to

any area of grassland, including

pastures that are solely used for the

grazing of sheep, cattle and horses.

Opposite: Meadow close-up, North Meadow, Cricklade.

Stephen Davis/English Nature

Above: Bumblebee on thyme. Roger Key/English Nature

Wildflower meadows: how to create one in your garden

Above left: Natural wildflower meadow – Wendlebury Meads, Oxfordshire. Peter Wakely/English Nature 7,287

Top right: Quaking grass flowers. Holt Studios

Bottom right: Self heal. Peter Wakely/English Nature 20,627

Creating small areas of meadow rich in

wildflowers in your garden can help in

increasing local ‘biodiversity’, or the

variety of wildlife, particularly meadow

wildflowers and their associated

insects. In turn, insects and the seeds

of wildflowers may also encourage

birds and small mammals such as

voles, shrews and hedgehogs. There

are some 15 million gardens in Britain

so the potential for enhancing wildlife

is huge! Meadows are also naturally

beautiful and provide a source of

interest, inspiration and pleasure.

However, new garden meadows are no

substitute for conserving our few

remaining ‘wild’ ones. A wildflower

meadow is usually a historic local

feature and may have been managed

using traditional methods for centuries.

How do I go about creating a

meadow?

What is a weed?

You can create a meadow on an area of

just a few square metres. Choose an

area in the garden that has an open,

sunny aspect and is not shaded by trees

and shrubs or walls. It is best to

choose an area that is not likely to be

required for regular access to other

parts of the garden as frequent

trampling could be detrimental to the

meadow flora. Also, if possible, find

an area in the garden that has not had

fertilisers added for a few years. This

is important because many of the

flowers and grasses typical of old

meadows thrive best where the soil has

low fertility and where there is less

competition from taller, coarser plants.

It is also best to avoid areas that have

large numbers of perennial weeds such

as nettles, docks and thistles.

A weed is plant in the wrong

place. A weed to a farmer may be

a valued wildflower to the

conservationist! When establishing

a new meadow, annual and

perennial weeds may grow when

the soil is cultivated to produce a

seed bed or subsequently in bare

areas amongst the germinating

meadow plants. Also, as the

meadow develops, aggressive

perennial grasses and wildflowers

may invade. Such ‘weeds’ compete

with the meadow plants for light

and moisture and need to be

removed or kept in check.

Some common garden

‘weeds’:

Annuals: annual meadow grass,

hairy bitter-cress, chickweed,

cleavers, fat-hen, groundsel,

shepherd’s-purse, sow-thistles,

speedwells, willowherbs.

If you wish to create a damp meadow,

it is worth checking that any marshy

conditions are a permanent feature

rather than the result of a short-term

drainage problem.

Perennials: couch grass, docks, field

bindweed, stinging nettle, thistles.

For help with identification of

weeds and their seedlings consult

the identification guides listed at

the end of the booklet.

Common fleabane. Peter Wakely/English Nature 822

Wildflower meadows: how to create one in your garden

(Gardening) Wildflower Meadows - How To Create One In Your Garden 1.pdf

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: