I would disagree that this project is a joy for the pollinators..only. It's giving us a lot of joy as well! I love it! ❤ Mother Earth surely loves it as well😊 And for all of us who would love to do this but don't have the proper conditions- a dream came true! 😊 Keep going ⚘️🌻🌷🌱
Hi Charles, I think Wildflowers look wonderful and should be grown wherever possible. You certainly are doing your part to keep the earth covered and cool. Stay well, My Friend ❤Peggy❤
Don't worry - if the cornflowers get going you're sorted. I grew one bed as a cut flower and now they're popping up all over. Very nice work - the local insects and birds no doubt love it !🎉
we've got rough heavy ground which is why we went for raised bed no-dig. Around the border and under old trees we put wildflower / grass meadow mix in but added extra wildflower seed. Flourished in last year's drought and are already coming through for this year without any extra seeding so far. They were an absolute picture and a joy to look at as well as bringing in pollinators and other wildlife.
So beautiful Charles. I've always had a passion for meadow wild flowers, which I believe are necessary for keeping the bee population stable. I have farmer friends in the Yorkshire dales who get a government subsidy to only cut their meadow hay once a year, thus allowing for the flowering and spreading of the wild flowers. You can't beat 'Nature' 🙏
As part of my native plant landscaping business work, I plant meadows on rare occasions too. You all did a very fine job. That's pretty good germination, from what can be seen on the video.
Very pretty. I am working on a wildflower meadow in the Pacific Northwest. This is the second year so I am hoping for more flowers this year. I put in Russel lupine, California Poppy, Purple Coneflower and Cosmos. We used a rototiller to remove many of the broad leaf weeds and grasses but much of the grass has returned. I have continued to weed so the flowers don’t have to compete with them. The Lupine seems to do the best here. Thank you for sharing this!
I have a couple of those cottage/butterfly shaker seeds boxes. We planted some at the old house and they really were amazing so going to do it at this one too. Going to look lovely! Really need to get any area sorted and plant them.
I battle against mint and goldenrod to increase the diversity with my intended wildflower mixes. However, the mint and goldenrod attract so many beneficial insects, including Monarch butterflies, that I remain cautious not to become invasive with my intent/desire. Thank you!
Last spring I mowed a big patch out by the road really short, nearly to the ground, put some compost around and hoped for the best. Nope, nothing germinated, so now I'm hoping to see something before too long. I threw out packs of a wildflower mix, I did that yrs ago along my first big veg bed, they were beautiful. I hope you have better luck with your pond this yr.
Mr. Dowding this meadow so wonderful! I thought it was preferable to sow all seeds. Learned something new. :) Speaking of sowing seeds, do you have a U.S. store where I can purchase your module CD60 Module Tray? I noticed it's sold out at All About the Garden. Thank you for your videos.
Glad you enjoyed it Veronica. I'm afraid I don't have a US store and they are the only suppliers I know in your country. They must have underestimated the demand which has been phenomenal. I'm sure they have more on order but the ship needs to arrive!
Extraordinary indeed! I also feel absolutely delighted being in the midle of such colours and flavours under the sky, whatever it looks like: sunshining or cloudy. Nature has its own art. One question, Dear Charles: Do you think that if we sow these flowers in an unused area, they will help to keep fewer weeds in that area by dominating the growing process of weeds? Thank you very much, my Dear Charles, for everything that you're sharing with everybody. Keep on with this beautiful and powerful human energy fully of values that inspire Humanity. A big, big hug to You and to all your Team and Family.
Many butterflies and other insects depend on grasses and 'weeds' for their lifecycle. So for greater biodiversity and pollination your meadow mix is perfect!
we have a hard-to-mow area that we have discussed changing over to a wild flower meadow. I think we will need to solarize that area this fall, it's full of awful things including scutch grass. thank you for showing what a wildflower meadow could be, and the warning about the grasses in the mix.
Hey Charles, there are plants which are parasitic on grass roots. They will choke out the grass and give other species room to grow. They also have beautiful flowers in their own right and are native to Europe. Species for which I can find seeds include golden rattle, red bartsia and drug eyebright. There are quite a few species in the eyebrights and bartsias that have a similar parasitic action, if you can find them. It won't finish off the grass, just weaken it so that a more diverse range of plants can grow. Hope this helps!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig yes, the seeds need to be quite fresh and the timing needs to be right with mowing, sowing and the weather. But once you get it going, it's off to the races! I'd keep a mental note of where it grows naturally in your area and by the time the seeds dry (the rattle), you can harvest some for fresh seed.
Interesting video. I'm also gonna start a flower meadow, but I'm gonna focus more one perennial native meadow flowers. But with cornflower and poppys mixed in to get some flowers in the first year
so many people sow meadow wild flowers without considering if they are in the right place. Local conditions favour local flowers. Currently I am working on an area which is similar to Machair, sandy aluvial soil that is sometimes flooded by a tidal river which brings in sea dune seeds and also mountain alpines. Plus it has boggy bits. Makes a change from my rain forest at home. People assume there should be poppies and daisies but the site disagrees. Don't fight nature because you will lose, A principal to live by.Maybe someone should tell the politicians this !
Im at the planning stage of my wildflower meadow and yellow rattle is an important wild flower to add to control grass, It's parasitic to grass. Also letting weeds germinate from previous years seed and cutting when they flower, before they go to seed, is another way to help with weed control and should be done before preparing the soil for wildflower seeding.
Planning to sow a wildflower meadow again this year in my new garden. Our last one we sowed in September, gave the seeds a cold dormancy period and headstart for Spring. Yellow rattle over grass is invaluable
Yellow rattle has a trait which suppresses grass, it seems to steal their nutrients. its a great one for situations when fertility is too much and grasses are taking over. looks beautiful too.
Good information for me as I'm planning to plant wildflowers on an area we've removed a concrete based pond and liner from and then grown pumpkins. I"m going to leave it until our mid winter (july), to follow what you have done, and will remove weeds and grass that pop up in the meantime in the hope the wildflowers wont have too much competition. Thanks!!
The difference between weeds and flowers is willpower :p Do you have an update on your pond btw? Would be curious to see how it's doing now, with the issues you've had with it and attempts to amend them.
Your meadow looks lovely. I tried to do a bed of wildflowers but after several seasons the daisies and the weeds took over and the other flowers disappeared. I mistakenly assumed a natural look would take little effort to maintain but that was not the case.
WITH OUR NEW PATENT PENDING 5 FOOT ARTHRITIC GARDEN DIBBER AND OUR NEW PATENT PENDING 5 FOOT PLASTIC SEEDING TUBE !!!!!!! NOW WE DON’T EVEN HAVE TO BEND OVER OR DIG !!!!!!!! LAZY MAN’S NO DIG ROCKS !!!!!!!
Great video!😊👍 I was wondering if anyone has tried sowing wild flowers in compost? Like the no dig way😉 i know as a rule of thumb its not recommended but i was thinking if there is a lot of weeds and grass could you put carboard down and then compost on top?
The only issue with sowing a cornfield annual mix is that poppies,cornflower,corncockle,corn marigold etc require soil disturbance every end of their growing year to grow the following year.I add some wheat & barley seeds to add to the authenticity. Going back to a perennial flower mix adding yellow rattle seed which grows as a parasite to grass reduces their vigour especially on richer soils.
Do you anticipate the flowers will reseed them selves OK, as I guess the majority are annuals? I'm slowly trying to develop my own "meadow" but never have much success planting seeds out directly so have started with small perennial plants such as the lovely ragged robin, oxeye daisy, bladder campion, hare bell...
I've sown some wild flowers too. I've broadcast them in the past with zero success. This time i've gone full Dowding. I've sprinkled them over a cd60 and germinated them in my potting shed. The next step of the plan is to mow an area very short then withba hori hori knife make an appropriate slit/hole and drop in the plug. And bingo in a few weeks flowers! That's the theory anyway. I'll let you know how it goes.
Actually not very long, depending on variety. Often they look amazing for about a week and not much more than that with some maturing earlier and a few blooming later
Problem is, the YR seeds in wildflower mixes (like his) don’t or rarely ever germinate. This is a mystery. I wonder? Does the YR plant has any equivalent perennial that can weaken grasses but germinate better?
Does this work if you soak the seeds, and then scatter them? We've recently moved to a new-build estate and I want to become a sort of renegade wild-flower sower.
I would say better not because they very quickly absorb moisture from soil and rain and if you pre-soak, followed by hot weather that might not be good for them if they dry out before rooting into the ground
Poppys are normaly more for disturb soil like fields and not for meadows. They will disappear soon. Mow your meadow twice a year, remove all the hay and be patient. Wildflowers adopted to your conditions will appear from itself.
Slugs will also eat of your wild shoots very rapidly. Your seeds might have germinated but have got eaten off. Sort your slugs and you might well have a better result. I agree that it's much better to go for a pure wildlfower seed mix with no grass seed. The grass will always end up taking over. "Wild flower" seed mixes should only contain natives - no cosmos or anything else to be UK wild.
Yes, agreed. That’s what happened to our annual poppy seedlings. They were demolished overnight. It sounds a bit hassle but I normally sow poppy seeds indoor and plant them out when they are still quite small (but big enough to fend for themselves) and cover them with cloches.
Why did u abandon your growing techniques for the meadow? I covered some ground with woodchip, then sowed some wildflower seeds into the bare earth and also some wild flower plugs I grew from seed. I just edge the patch now. It's bursting with flowers. And I learned that from your veg growing guides.
Nice job by you. I don't have that much woodchip, was starting with disturbed soil and it grows so many , vigorous buttercups which grow through surface mulch, except plastic
Perhaps by removing nitrogen by sowing mustard over the area, or simply mowing hard and removing the clippings several times, the vigor of the grasses can be choked. Thorough scarification, followed by destruction of the following flush of weed seedlings, then Autumn sowing the seed mix with yellow rattle could also help. This land possibly has a large seed bank, so waiting for a second flush of weed seedlings to destroy before sowing the seed mix may also be prudent.
Hi Charles. I sowed wildflowers seeds last month in a few seed trays. I have pricked out the seedlings into cd 60 module trays and they have taken well and are starting to develop true leaves. I am planning on planting them in boarders and raised beds soon when they are a bit bigger. Will they take? Or am I wasting my time?
Yes Sean that works, we did a few. The main thing with wildflowers is how they seed so readily and I would not leave them in too long after they finish flowering.
It looks really wonderful, but this special appearance of your meadow will go in the next years, I fear. You said in around 4:15 in this video, you would aim more for poppies, corn flowers and corn cockles. Yes, they are really great for the first one or two years. But these three plants are pioneer plants on bare soil like on a fresh broken field. They don't tolerate much competition and need bare soil to grow every year new from the many seeds, they put in the previous year around them. Over the years they find less free soil and will go step by step and more competitive plants will take over (in worst case grass and weeds). Your seed mix should have also seeds in it from typical native wild plants for the long term. I don't know what is typical in Wales, but in my area (Germany near Berlin, more dry continental climate) that could be for instance Salvia pratensis, Centaurea jacea, Primula veris, different campanulas and many many other species. Your meadow will look different over the years, but hopefully always beautiful. And I totally agree with you about grasses: They can be so dominant and take over, if you let them! I only take comfort from knowing, that many native butterflies need native grasses for the development of their caterpillars. 😄
I have a BS in Ecology, and an MS in Resource Management. And I but say that making a "meadow" is not a trivial task. It is not simply about spreading this or that types of seeds. It is far, far, far more complicated. Ecologically, geographically,. environmentally. Soil type, drainage, comparative local environments, local wildlife, climate, etc. all matter. Basically: Ecology.
Looks more like a colourful annual flower bed than a meadow… Meadows contain grass, mostly. And native flowering perennials. Also, where are the insects that feed on those ‘wild’ plants. ? You would expect to see swarms.., but I only saw one (1!) in the whole video.
No worries, there's plenty of grass there! And it's a good point about the lack of insects because I'm worried how few we see generally, including among these flowers.
I wouldn't describe sow thistle as aggressive, half of UK butterflies and moth caterpillars feed on grass, plus many bees nest in grass. Buttercups are very important for bees...
The meadow mix that included grass would have been the “true” wild flowers. Cornfield annuals as pretty as they are, soon disappear as they occur in disturbed soils and without disturbance lay dormant in the soil. A study by Plantlife suggests grassland meadows that include wild flowers like birdsfoot trefoil, buttercups, knapweed, hawkbits, Field Scabious etc that has an annual cut and removal of cuttings can support upto 1,400 insect species vs 40 pollinators in an annual cornfield mix. So to suggest a annual cornfield mix is better is a little misleading. Not always suitable to have a grassland meadow of course and takes time. Yellow rattle can help to control the grass as it’s semi parasitic and takes the grasses nutrients, Cornfield annuals are perfectly happy in richer soils.
All good points, and on this heavy soil we always have plenty of grass so it's the exception to have some annuals, is what I sought to show. That area is solid grass since summer. And buttercups, dandelions, some trefoil etc
Please don’t send #Shorts! I HATE them! Wish I could opt out! Sending this message to my favorite TH-cam channels, Charles! My son’s, too. #Shorts are a waste of MY valuable time! Usually I’m a very peaceful, patient and calm person. But I keep being flooded by these aggravating pests! Need a natural pesticide. Maybe some common sense and empathy. 🕊🕊
I would disagree that this project is a joy for the pollinators..only. It's giving us a lot of joy as well! I love it! ❤ Mother Earth surely loves it as well😊 And for all of us who would love to do this but don't have the proper conditions- a dream came true! 😊 Keep going ⚘️🌻🌷🌱
Ah thanks so much for sharing this! 💚
Hi Charles, I think Wildflowers look wonderful and should be grown wherever possible. You certainly are doing your part to keep the earth covered and cool.
Stay well, My Friend
❤Peggy❤
Many thanks Peggy 🌺
Beautiful Charles! Thank you for sharing! You’re making the pollinators very happy.
Good vibrations from the plants making everyone feel good.
Don't worry - if the cornflowers get going you're sorted. I grew one bed as a cut flower and now they're popping up all over. Very nice work - the local insects and birds no doubt love it !🎉
Fingers crossed! 😀
we've got rough heavy ground which is why we went for raised bed no-dig. Around the border and under old trees we put wildflower / grass meadow mix in but added extra wildflower seed. Flourished in last year's drought and are already coming through for this year without any extra seeding so far. They were an absolute picture and a joy to look at as well as bringing in pollinators and other wildlife.
Great to hear!
Paradise I so swear 🤩 beautiful flowers 💐
Hi Ana where are you from?
@@Kehh71235gmail hi sir , from southeast texas, Houston. United States 🇺🇸
@@anapaulacrawford5837 That’s nice. I’m originally from Italy but live in Los Angeles all my life
@@anapaulacrawford5837 So how’s your work and family doing?
@Ken Harvey nice to know sir . All is well . Have a blessed day. 🙌🏻
So beautiful Charles. I've always had a passion for meadow wild flowers, which I believe are necessary for keeping the bee population stable. I have farmer friends in the Yorkshire dales who get a government subsidy to only cut their meadow hay once a year, thus allowing for the flowering and spreading of the wild flowers. You can't beat 'Nature' 🙏
Nice to hear, and it's different to your flowers in Thailand :) hope all is well
From here it looks like quite a success!
Hi Valeria where are you from?
Calming effect. Really nice Charles.
As part of my native plant landscaping business work, I plant meadows on rare occasions too. You all did a very fine job. That's pretty good germination, from what can be seen on the video.
Thanks I appreciate that
Wow Charles, very beautiful
I love the wildflowers! I've always wanted to be successful at growing them and you gave some good tips. Thank you Charles!
Beautiful wild flowers, thanks for sharing Charles.
How beautiful, Charles. Im so glad you are enjoying your new land so much. Cant wait to see what all you do with it in 2023.
Me too Ted :)
Very pretty. I am working on a wildflower meadow in the Pacific Northwest. This is the second year so I am hoping for more flowers this year. I put in Russel lupine, California Poppy, Purple Coneflower and Cosmos. We used a rototiller to remove many of the broad leaf weeds and grasses but much of the grass has returned. I have continued to weed so the flowers don’t have to compete with them. The Lupine seems to do the best here. Thank you for sharing this!
Sounds great! We have docks now!!
Hi Charles you could sow some yellow rattle, it’s parasitic to grass roots and keeps the grass in check.👍🏻🤠💪💗
I have a couple of those cottage/butterfly shaker seeds boxes. We planted some at the old house and they really were amazing so going to do it at this one too. Going to look lovely! Really need to get any area sorted and plant them.
Good luck :)
I battle against mint and goldenrod to increase the diversity with my intended wildflower mixes. However, the mint and goldenrod attract so many beneficial insects, including Monarch butterflies, that I remain cautious not to become invasive with my intent/desire.
Thank you!
Haha nice balance
Last spring I mowed a big patch out by the road really short, nearly to the ground, put some compost around and hoped for the best. Nope, nothing germinated, so now I'm hoping to see something before too long. I threw out packs of a wildflower mix, I did that yrs ago along my first big veg bed, they were beautiful. I hope you have better luck with your pond this yr.
Sometimes that works! Thanks Wende
What a wonderful place to go to
IT’S THE FLOWER BEDS THAT THE GNOMES LIVE !!!!!!!
3:33 Sepals aren't reflexed so either creeping buttercup or meadow buttercup rather than bulbous buttercup
Mr. Dowding this meadow so wonderful! I thought it was preferable to sow all seeds. Learned something new. :) Speaking of sowing seeds, do you have a U.S. store where I can purchase your module CD60 Module Tray? I noticed it's sold out at All About the Garden. Thank you for your videos.
Glad you enjoyed it Veronica.
I'm afraid I don't have a US store and they are the only suppliers I know in your country. They must have underestimated the demand which has been phenomenal. I'm sure they have more on order but the ship needs to arrive!
Our climate is behind yours. I can’t wait for our wildflowers to bloom in a few weeks. 😊
This was June last year Ian :) hope yours are good
Extraordinary indeed!
I also feel absolutely delighted being in the midle of such colours and flavours under the sky, whatever it looks like: sunshining or cloudy.
Nature has its own art.
One question, Dear Charles: Do you think that if we sow these flowers in an unused area, they will help to keep fewer weeds in that area by dominating the growing process of weeds?
Thank you very much, my Dear Charles, for everything that you're sharing with everybody. Keep on with this beautiful and powerful human energy fully of values that inspire Humanity.
A big, big hug to You and to all your Team and Family.
Many butterflies and other insects depend on grasses and 'weeds' for their lifecycle. So for greater biodiversity and pollination your meadow mix is perfect!
Phew, thanks
we have a hard-to-mow area that we have discussed changing over to a wild flower meadow.
I think we will need to solarize that area this fall, it's full of awful things including scutch grass.
thank you for showing what a wildflower meadow could be, and the warning about the grasses in the mix.
That sounds a good plan!
Hey Charles, there are plants which are parasitic on grass roots. They will choke out the grass and give other species room to grow. They also have beautiful flowers in their own right and are native to Europe. Species for which I can find seeds include golden rattle, red bartsia and drug eyebright. There are quite a few species in the eyebrights and bartsias that have a similar parasitic action, if you can find them. It won't finish off the grass, just weaken it so that a more diverse range of plants can grow. Hope this helps!
Thanks so much and I did sow some in fact, yellow rattle but it never germinated and I've heard that can be quite a problem with its seed
@@CharlesDowding1nodig yes, the seeds need to be quite fresh and the timing needs to be right with mowing, sowing and the weather. But once you get it going, it's off to the races! I'd keep a mental note of where it grows naturally in your area and by the time the seeds dry (the rattle), you can harvest some for fresh seed.
Interesting video. I'm also gonna start a flower meadow, but I'm gonna focus more one perennial native meadow flowers. But with cornflower and poppys mixed in to get some flowers in the first year
Great plan, hope you enjoy a good bloom this year
amo las flores mister charly alegran siempre una casa...y son el mejor regalo para una mujer
Si, y gracias Ruby
Moths are more efficient pollinators than bees. Most UK bees rely on Spring and very early flowers, clover is also important for them
so many people sow meadow wild flowers without considering if they are in the right place. Local conditions favour local flowers. Currently I am working on an area which is similar to Machair, sandy aluvial soil that is sometimes flooded by a tidal river which brings in sea dune seeds and also mountain alpines. Plus it has boggy bits. Makes a change from my rain forest at home. People assume there should be poppies and daisies but the site disagrees. Don't fight nature because you will lose, A principal to live by.Maybe someone should tell the politicians this !
Thsnk you for sharing your experience with us about wildflowers. It is something that I wanted to know
I love this video! Love wildflowers and meadows! So pretty so joyful to watch Thank you Charles and team! Definitely saving this one!
Glad you enjoyed it Jules 😀
Im at the planning stage of my wildflower meadow and yellow rattle is an important wild flower to add to control grass, It's parasitic to grass. Also letting weeds germinate from previous years seed and cutting when they flower, before they go to seed, is another way to help with weed control and should be done before preparing the soil for wildflower seeding.
Thanks Stephen
So beautiful
Wildflowers delight.
Planning to sow a wildflower meadow again this year in my new garden. Our last one we sowed in September, gave the seeds a cold dormancy period and headstart for Spring. Yellow rattle over grass is invaluable
Sounds great!
Yellow rattle has a trait which suppresses grass, it seems to steal their nutrients. its a great one for situations when fertility is too much and grasses are taking over. looks beautiful too.
Thanks. There was some seed in the mix.
Good information for me as I'm planning to plant wildflowers on an area we've removed a concrete based pond and liner from and then grown pumpkins. I"m going to leave it until our mid winter (july), to follow what you have done, and will remove weeds and grass that pop up in the meantime in the hope the wildflowers wont have too much competition. Thanks!!
Nice to hear Annie
Lovely ! 👌
Thanks John, and first 😊
The difference between weeds and flowers is willpower :p Do you have an update on your pond btw? Would be curious to see how it's doing now, with the issues you've had with it and attempts to amend them.
It's losing water, same as last year!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig :( Any new ways to adress that issue this year?
@@saethman No!! so fa
It's sooooo beautiful
Your meadow looks lovely. I tried to do a bed of wildflowers but after several seasons the daisies and the weeds took over and the other flowers disappeared. I mistakenly assumed a natural look would take little effort to maintain but that was not the case.
Is true!!
Nevertheless it looks amazing Charles- great job 👏
Thanks so much Ricardo
Sow Thistle is edible - a handy way to keep them in check. But then, if we are eating them, are they still a weed?
WITH OUR NEW PATENT PENDING 5 FOOT ARTHRITIC GARDEN DIBBER AND OUR NEW PATENT PENDING 5 FOOT PLASTIC SEEDING TUBE !!!!!!! NOW WE DON’T EVEN HAVE TO BEND OVER OR DIG !!!!!!!! LAZY MAN’S NO DIG ROCKS !!!!!!!
😂 nice start to the day!!
I lovw wild flowers i am trying to grow more flowers in my allotment perhaps i can do something like this on a smaller scale
Good, but be careful of them seeding!
Great video!😊👍
I was wondering if anyone has tried sowing wild flowers in compost? Like the no dig way😉 i know as a rule of thumb its not recommended but i was thinking if there is a lot of weeds and grass could you put carboard down and then compost on top?
I did this once and it works fine. Many wildflowers are germinating in my compost as I write!
What makes a weed a weed and why can't we change that through selection?
They self-select through vigour :)
Have you consider sowing yellow rattle to reduce the amount of grass?
Yes, could not find seed last year!
Hello Diane where are you from?
The only issue with sowing a cornfield annual mix is that poppies,cornflower,corncockle,corn marigold etc require soil disturbance every end of their growing year to grow the following year.I add some wheat & barley seeds to add to the authenticity.
Going back to a perennial flower mix adding yellow rattle seed which grows as a parasite to grass reduces their vigour especially on richer soils.
Cheers!
Do you anticipate the flowers will reseed them selves OK, as I guess the majority are annuals? I'm slowly trying to develop my own "meadow" but never have much success planting seeds out directly so have started with small perennial plants such as the lovely ragged robin, oxeye daisy, bladder campion, hare bell...
Sounds nice and yes many have reseeded
I've sown some wild flowers too. I've broadcast them in the past with zero success. This time i've gone full Dowding. I've sprinkled them over a cd60 and germinated them in my potting shed. The next step of the plan is to mow an area very short then withba hori hori knife make an appropriate slit/hole and drop in the plug. And bingo in a few weeks flowers! That's the theory anyway. I'll let you know how it goes.
Sounds a great plan 😎
Que bendicion poder disfrutar de esta maravillosa creación de nuestro Dios
Yo solo tengo de las azules.
How long will poppy flowers last please ? I am thinking to add some poppies in my veg garden .
Actually not very long, depending on variety. Often they look amazing for about a week and not much more than that with some maturing earlier and a few blooming later
I spent a whole afternoon getting mint roots out of the little border where i wanted to sow wildflowers, so silly me, planting mint in full soil😮
Wow, and best of luck!
Dam it! I was getting ready to throw out a couple of buckets of wild flower seed..........guess I'm waiting until next winter 😢
You can do it now, I would unless it's v dry where you are
Did you consider yellow rattle for the grass suppression? Cheers for another great vid
Melons sown yesterday 😋
Well done, and there was yellow rattle seed in my mix
Problem is, the YR seeds in wildflower mixes (like his) don’t or rarely ever germinate. This is a mystery. I wonder? Does the YR plant has any equivalent perennial that can weaken grasses but germinate better?
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Melons all sprouted in 3 days, I gave them lots of heat :)
yellow rattle is supposed to suppress grass
Does this work if you soak the seeds, and then scatter them? We've recently moved to a new-build estate and I want to become a sort of renegade wild-flower sower.
I've seen people mix them in with wet sand in a shaker bottle and sow directly that way
I would say better not because they very quickly absorb moisture from soil and rain and if you pre-soak, followed by hot weather that might not be good for them if they dry out before rooting into the ground
Poppys are normaly more for disturb soil like fields and not for meadows. They will disappear soon. Mow your meadow twice a year, remove all the hay and be patient. Wildflowers adopted to your conditions will appear from itself.
Thanks, so right, just I love the poppies, may transplant some
Slugs will also eat of your wild shoots very rapidly. Your seeds might have germinated but have got eaten off. Sort your slugs and you might well have a better result. I agree that it's much better to go for a pure wildlfower seed mix with no grass seed. The grass will always end up taking over. "Wild flower" seed mixes should only contain natives - no cosmos or anything else to be UK wild.
Yes, agreed. That’s what happened to our annual poppy seedlings. They were demolished overnight. It sounds a bit hassle but I normally sow poppy seeds indoor and plant them out when they are still quite small (but big enough to fend for themselves) and cover them with cloches.
Why did u abandon your growing techniques for the meadow? I covered some ground with woodchip, then sowed some wildflower seeds into the bare earth and also some wild flower plugs I grew from seed. I just edge the patch now. It's bursting with flowers. And I learned that from your veg growing guides.
Nice job by you.
I don't have that much woodchip, was starting with disturbed soil and it grows so many , vigorous buttercups which grow through surface mulch, except plastic
Isn’t yellow rattle supposed to help curb grass growth
Yes, but it takes a while to establish and it would not of made any difference in this first year
Superb ❤
Thanks 🤗
Is this Charles in heaven? Love it❤
😊
If you wood chip would that suppress the grass long enough for the flowers to take?
Might suppress everything!
Perhaps by removing nitrogen by sowing mustard over the area, or simply mowing hard and removing the clippings several times, the vigor of the grasses can be choked.
Thorough scarification, followed by destruction of the following flush of weed seedlings, then Autumn sowing the seed mix with yellow rattle could also help. This land possibly has a large seed bank, so waiting for a second flush of weed seedlings to destroy before sowing the seed mix may also be prudent.
Cheers!
Hi Charles. I sowed wildflowers seeds last month in a few seed trays. I have pricked out the seedlings into cd 60 module trays and they have taken well and are starting to develop true leaves. I am planning on planting them in boarders and raised beds soon when they are a bit bigger. Will they take? Or am I wasting my time?
All my beds and borders are all no dig soil.
Yes Sean that works, we did a few. The main thing with wildflowers is how they seed so readily and I would not leave them in too long after they finish flowering.
Okay, thank you very much for your reply, Charles. I appreciate it!
It looks really wonderful, but this special appearance of your meadow will go in the next years, I fear. You said in around 4:15 in this video, you would aim more for poppies, corn flowers and corn cockles. Yes, they are really great for the first one or two years. But these three plants are pioneer plants on bare soil like on a fresh broken field. They don't tolerate much competition and need bare soil to grow every year new from the many seeds, they put in the previous year around them. Over the years they find less free soil and will go step by step and more competitive plants will take over (in worst case grass and weeds). Your seed mix should have also seeds in it from typical native wild plants for the long term. I don't know what is typical in Wales, but in my area (Germany near Berlin, more dry continental climate) that could be for instance Salvia pratensis, Centaurea jacea, Primula veris, different campanulas and many many other species. Your meadow will look different over the years, but hopefully always beautiful.
And I totally agree with you about grasses: They can be so dominant and take over, if you let them! I only take comfort from knowing, that many native butterflies need native grasses for the development of their caterpillars. 😄
Thanks Stefanie, you are of course right, I was wishing and I plan to hoe some grasses :)
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I do believe my blood pressure dropped 10-15 points while watching this video.
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I have a BS in Ecology, and an MS in Resource Management. And I but say that making a "meadow" is not a trivial task. It is not simply about spreading this or that types of seeds. It is far, far, far more complicated. Ecologically, geographically,. environmentally. Soil type, drainage, comparative local environments, local wildlife, climate, etc. all matter. Basically: Ecology.
Thanks, so true.
We had some fun, created beauty, some habitat.
Sounds like I overstated it :)
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If you put yellow rattle in it will fight off the grass.
Thanks Martin
Your in summer now?
No verry early spring
0:03 "23rd June, 2022" it says on the screen
Looks more like a colourful annual flower bed than a meadow… Meadows contain grass, mostly. And native flowering perennials. Also, where are the insects that feed on those ‘wild’ plants. ? You would expect to see swarms.., but I only saw one (1!) in the whole video.
No worries, there's plenty of grass there!
And it's a good point about the lack of insects because I'm worried how few we see generally, including among these flowers.
I wouldn't describe sow thistle as aggressive, half of UK butterflies and moth caterpillars feed on grass, plus many bees nest in grass. Buttercups are very important for bees...
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The meadow mix that included grass would have been the “true” wild flowers. Cornfield annuals as pretty as they are, soon disappear as they occur in disturbed soils and without disturbance lay dormant in the soil. A study by Plantlife suggests grassland meadows that include wild flowers like birdsfoot trefoil, buttercups, knapweed, hawkbits, Field Scabious etc that has an annual cut and removal of cuttings can support upto 1,400 insect species vs 40 pollinators in an annual cornfield mix. So to suggest a annual cornfield mix is better is a little misleading. Not always suitable to have a grassland meadow of course and takes time. Yellow rattle can help to control the grass as it’s semi parasitic and takes the grasses nutrients, Cornfield annuals are perfectly happy in richer soils.
All good points, and on this heavy soil we always have plenty of grass so it's the exception to have some annuals, is what I sought to show. That area is solid grass since summer. And buttercups, dandelions, some trefoil etc
I like buttercups
Please don’t send #Shorts! I HATE them! Wish I could opt out!
Sending this message to my favorite TH-cam channels, Charles! My son’s, too.
#Shorts are a waste of MY valuable time! Usually I’m a very peaceful, patient and calm person.
But I keep being flooded by these aggravating pests! Need a natural pesticide. Maybe some common sense and empathy. 🕊🕊
Sorry to hear this, I hope you can work out to ignore them! We're still posting just as many long videos, probably more in fact
Don’t mow let it grow