One of the difficulties with creating wildflower meadows is how to create low nutrient conditions so that grasses, docks and nettles don’t take over. These are all valuable plants in their own right but what we want is a flower-rich plant community to compensate for the lack of wildflower in our countryside generally. One of the keys to doing this successfully is to strip the grass turf away initially and then do everything possible to keep nutrient levels low and discourage grass colonisation. Yellow rattle is another very important tool. This annual plant is a hemiparasite and significantly weakens grasses leaving lots of space for species that will provide pollen and nectar for insects. The other important management technique is either to graze or to cut the meadows and remove the hay. This helps to prevent very vigorous plants from coming to dominate the meadows.
Comments