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Advice on wild flower garden please

• Message 1. 

  Posted by Andrew (U14742097) on Wednesday, 5th January 2011

  Hello,
  
  I'm a first-time gardener with no gardening knowledge looking for advice on a simple and cheap(ish) way of creating a garden this year.
  
  I bought a house last year in south east London. It has a west-facing rear garden (60ft x 20ft). As I've been renovating my house for a year, I haven't touched the garden for a year. It became a dumping ground for builder's rubble and we eventually sprayed everything with Round Up, to kill everything off so we can start again.
  
  I would like to remove the lawn and borders and create some kind of garden for this summer, but with my budget going on house renovations, whatever I do needs to be simple and cheap.
  
  I love the mix of grasses and flowers you find in wild meadows. I have an idea I can turn the entire space into a wild flower meadow however, I'm sure this is a very naiive idea!
  
  I would love to know if something like this is doable and how to approach it. A quick search online for 'wildflower meadow' tells me that wildflower mixes flower in the second not first year, but I would like flowers and grasses this summer.
  
  As I really don't have the budget to buy larger plants this year I can't think of anything else to do than to try to create some kind of wild meadow. I really don't want to just turf it all. All advice - including websites or books I can consult - will be greatly appreciated.
  
  Thanks everyone,
  
  Andrew

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by bogus the fungi man (U14705597) on Wednesday, 5th January 2011

  Hi Andrew,
  
  I looked at creating a wild flower meadow at work but due to change of ownership it was shelved but I'll try and relate to you what I learned.
  
  I think you could have one at your home but the first problem I can see is having soil that's too fertile. Wild flowers do "too well" on fertile soil and produce more leaf than flower. You can get round this, in some way, by stripping the top 2" or so off the surface. In no way should you fertilise or add compost.
  
  The second problem is you really need to sow seed in the autumn as some varieties need to have a period of cold weather to break their dormancy. You can have some success sowing in and around April time. Annual flowers (grow and seed in one year) will be the main feature along with the grass and the biennials (grow first year and seed in the second) showing themselves the following year. You need to keep an eye on any invasive perennials such as docks and remove them with knife. Others such as dandelion are ok to some degree. You need to watch and husband the site to your needs.
  
  Bearing in mind that with a spring sowing you will only get none dormancy flowers flowering (dormancy flowers may appear next year) you will need to prepare the soil by raking and then spreading evenly over the area a native short grass mix (easier when mixed with sand.) then sow selected wild flower mixes in patches around the area. Lightly rake in then firm down with a roller, or with wide boots!
  
  Do not mow till most or all the flowers have shed their seed. If you like you can graze the ground with none destructive pets, I'm sure they'll love it! Mowing should be done on the highest blade setting.
  
  I've search the internet for wild flower seed and native grasses and there's quite a few sites. It depends on your choice and soil type. Some like chalk and others prefer acid soil so test your soil first or ask advice from a local grower.
  
  I hope this helps! Good luck,
  
  Pip.
  
  

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• Message 3

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by Calendula (U2331338) on Thursday, 6th January 2011

  If you are not wedded to the meadow idea you could try a potager - a mix of veg and flowering plants.
  
  I dug up all the lawn in my back garden a few years ago and created winding paths and curved beds using log roll edging and bark chips. I had a few saved shrubs and perennials which I replanted as features and then filled the gaps with easy to grow veg and fruit such as lettuce, rocket, courgettes, strawberries, blackcurrants and annuals such as sunflowers, nasturtiums, sweet peas, tagetes, calendula etc.
  
  It may not give you a long term solution but you will have plenty of colour in the first year. Actually impermanence may be an advantage as you can spend the year finding out what soil you have in different areas, seeing how the sun falls at different times of the day and planning.

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• Message 4

  , in reply to message 2.

  Posted by Andrew (U14742097) on Tuesday, 11th January 2011

  Thank you very much for your reply. This is all very helpful info!
  
  Andrew

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• Message 5

  , in reply to message 3.

  Posted by Andrew (U14742097) on Tuesday, 11th January 2011

  Thanks very much for this posting. I never thought about a mix of flowers with fruit and veg. It's a lovely idea so I'll look into it more.
  
  Andrew

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• Message 6

  , in reply to message 5.

  Posted by Papa Nopsis (U14479902) on Thursday, 13th January 2011

  If you look up meadowmania, they have all the wild flowers in stock and in bulk too.
  
  It seems a slightly small site, and not a meadow, to think abotut doing all as meadow flowers, and the other suggestions here are the best.

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