Growing my own mini wildflower meadow
Late last summer I had a vision… a vision of a mini wildflower meadow in our back garden that would provide an awesome habitat for bees, butterflies and other insects; as well as attracting lots more wildlife. Granted, I had been spending a lot of time on Pinterest ‘cottage core’/dream garden searches, so this may have played into my vision; but the idea was there and I wanted to set out to make it a reality.
Choosing a plot for my wildflower meadow
If it was up to me, I would’ve gone crazy and converted the entire garden, unfortunately, I still live with my parents, and they were not so keen on the idea. After a bit of consultation however, they did agree to my wildflower meadow on an area of the garden around 10x2m… which -at the time- had knee high weeds growing in it; but I was willing to accept the weeds if it meant my own patch of wildflower meadow! So, next was clearing the area and frankly I was surprised at how long that took, so by the time it was clear the point of sowing wildflower seeds had very much passed meaning I would need to wait for 2022 to come along.
Cue to now (or technically last Saturday)
The time was upon us, I had my two mini packs of wildflower seeds ready to start sowing…. 2 minutes later I had made it one step into my new patch and ran out of seeds (I’m not sure why I thought two small packets of seeds would spread across my entire mini meadow, but I can definitely point out the moment I knew it would not be enough.)
Following a short trip to the local garden centre and I returned with a 4kg box of wildflower seeds ready to be sown! This time I wanted to make sure my previous -pathetic- attempt at seed spreading would not reoccur so I weighed all the seeds into equal tubs and segregated my meadow patch into equal rectangles so as to make sure an even spread occurred. I could finally start sowing the wildflower seeds, after 6 long months of waiting and start the process of seeing my wildflower meadow vision become a reality.
It will now be a few months of anxious watching and watering before I see any results from my sowing efforts but of course I will be updating later on in the summer with -hopefully- Pinterest worthy shots of my mini wildflower meadow!
Why is it a good idea to plant a mini wildflower meadow and what wildlife will it attract?
Scrolling through photos of British countryside on Pinterest you get the presumption that wildflower meadows are everywhere, however this is sadly not the reality. According to the Kew Royal Botanical Gardens the UK has lost 97% of its wildflower meadows since the 1930s and with it the decline of hundreds of important insect species responsible for pollinating plants and crops needed to maintain our food chain. Not only this but wildflower meadows provide resources and habitats for other wildlife species such as birds, bats and hedgehogs. So, its kinda important that we start bringing these habitats back otherwise we risk losing not only wildlife but also our own food supply chain.
