Wildflower Meadow Mistakes and Problems (Summer Update year 1) (part 3 of 4) 

In 2018 we bought an acre of hay field for our home in coastal northwest Washington. I hate mowing, so I've decided to make the property as wildlife friendly as possible. In 2019 the last hay cut was done and we started living on the property late in the year. In 2020 the building crews chewed up the property putting in infrastructure, but by summer the vegetation started to heal the scars of construction. I filled in what was growing with a wildflower mix and three clover types, crimson, medium red, and Dutch white. I do mow as high as the mower goes a few times a year to keep the field grass from over taking everything else. It's not a perfect system, but we have wildlife in abundance. Some of the critters are white tailed deer, great blue heron, harriers, red-tailed hawks, doves,flickers,songbirds of all types, moles, voles, mice, frogs, bees, flies, wasps, snakes, spiders, snails. If it lives in the area we've had them, including a few bald eagles have landed on the roof, and a mountain lion has left tracks. I leave the field alone after mid summer so that it feeds and houses everything through winter. We're buried under snow right now, but the evidence of activity is visible through tracks and bumps. My neighbor's mow like they have golf courses, but my acre and the hay field behind us are a haven for nature as it should be in our rural locale.

Great video, you are spot on with all your observations. Monty always shows the sowing of yellow rattle but I’ve yet to see any of the resulting meadows!I was exact same as you 6 years ago. My top tips are try use fresh collected rattle( I found some locally) plant straight away Aug/sept this works then it will self seed itself following year. Other game changer for me was to grow plug plants and plant into the meadow. Takes a while but at least you get a strong plant that can compete with the grass and then they too will self seed. Took me a few years to figure all this out with trial and error. A whole industry has built up falsely advertising wildflower seeds and how easy it is to grow a meadow. I’ve been gardening 20 years and it’s the most difficult yet rewarding garden project I’ve ever done. Keep the faith!

Thanks for the realistic videos. It seems that establishing a garden wildflower meadow is as much work as any other type of gardening. This has certainly been my experience for the last 4 years. In fact I no longer call mine a meadow- it’s now a re-wilding area lol. Loads of tall woody flowering plants combined with flattened areas where the flowers fall over. Flowers over 3 months (but not all at the same time) and then just looks like a weed patch for the following 9 months. Birds and Beas love it but it does look an eyesore most of the time.. Mmmmm.

Good job! I’m sowing two perennial meadows this year. Even if the meadow takes some time to establish properly just remember that long grass and a ‘messy look’ is far better in biodiversity terms than a mown lawn!

Your approach is a valuable contribution on this topic. References to meadow gardens, pollinators, food forests, and native plants are extremely trendy today. That is in and of itself a very good thing in my view. Whats usually missing however, s an understanding of why there existed a core groups of cultivars used by gardeners for thousands of years. For anyone who wants to 'design' a garden that is more "woke' than previous generations, meaning it not only looks pretty but provides food for birds and bees; they will need to be prepared for a lot more trial and error. Anyhow , well done!

Like yr honesty. Actually, Joel Ashton was honest like you about meadows. He used the word, impossible. Ashton said on RU-vid, that it wd be IMPOSSIBLE to grow a wildflower meadow unless you either use ONLY well-established 9cm (in my case, given/purchased) wildflower plants, OR sow & establish yellow rattle for an entire year first. Wait until the YR is successfully established BEFORE starting. Before starting! He’s the only guy who gave this hard-hitting advice re. preliminary groundwork whereas everyone else, like you say, skimmed over this very tough bit. [Well, you didn’t successfully establish your yellow rattle network co-workers for a season, first & foremost, nor did you transplant half a dozen well-established 9cm wildflower plants onto your lawn, see?] So, yeah, Ashton’s honest advice, I personally found, works! In other words, I had to choose to plant just a very few 9cm plants at a time over a period of at least 5 years or more. Or, spend 12 months to grow yellow rattle successfully, first. I chose the former & though fortunate to have some level of success, I’m not taking anything for granted given our 2-foot high Epping Forest grasses! I am hoping to sow fresh yellow rattle seeds come 12th August, following experienced, the late Fred Lovell’s (10 years, growing, re-wilding meadows) advice. I’m not there yet, by no means/measure. Just hoping for a lawn meadow in 6 years’ time. Hope what I’m learning from JA & FL can help us all.

Ask any ecologist and they'll tell you how complex and difficult it is to create a large scale meadow from improved grassland! I really share your frustration with how little 'real' information there seems to be out there about it. Lots of people making it look a LOT easier than it is. You've got all the right ideas about it though! Great video to boot. Interested to see how it progresses 😃

Newbie here……. Fresh ploughed ground which had settled for the last 5 months after the building construction was completed….no more machinery churning up the area I’ve designated for my wildflower meadow project. It’s currently in my head……now I need to get started. Thanks for the inspiration 🤗

I think this might be my favourite video so far - chilled vibe, solid info, and some sweet camerawork! You had me laughing out loud with the Monty ‘Yellow Rattle’ impersonation because it’s so true! Love the vlog-style piece at Mosley as well (something I don’t have the guts to do!). Can’t wait for your next video, and I’m willing to bet I’m not the only one!

I was visited by a member of stafffrom my local wildlife trust . She advised me to lay down membrane for a few months to weaken the grass , then pull back the membrane , rake away the dead grass then scatter wildflower long season mix from “ Meadowmania” then wait . I’m working on patch’s of my garden each year , it’s interesting to see the different patches developing .

Here in the States and thinking of starting my first meadow next year. Was refreshing to see a “real life result” video on this process. Good info

Love the honesty, however dissapointed with the mural lol. Looking forward to your future updates.

Man this video series is great! I've just bought a house and I'm planning to turn most of the lawn area into a Meadow. Love the tips you're sharing - I've never done much gardening but I'm excited to start. Thank you for the time and effort you put into making these.

I'm on a similar journey having moved to a new garden and wanting to develop a meadow. We moved in on Nov 27th 2020 and had Yellow Rattle seed from a friend ready to sow. A good handful but only 4 germinated and flowered this spring. This year another batch from the same source I sowed in mid-September having done some decent scarifying so with those that dropped on their own I'm hoping for more success next year. One note re trying to germinate your own. I bought some seedlings online some years back. They had grass in the plugs as well so it is possible.......

Thank god I was starting to think I was the shittest gardener on earth... I'm looking at a meadow of flat hay, my pepper plants were decimated by slugs and I got a hand full of peas from my plants and I was reassuring myself it was mostly down to the late start to spring and wet. Yet every video I checked (and yes even Saint Monty) were grinning next to perfect gold medal winning Chelsea gardens.

Greetings from across the pond. Some seeds require more time to establish, in the US many wildflower seed varieties are blended with annual for quick results and perennial which may require 2-3 years to go to flower. I had the same issues with white Dutch Clover, was disappointed at first and after extended periods with no bloody rain, the clover started filling in. Mowed it off in early autumn and over-seeded again to thicken it up to help reduce weeds. Also threw down some turnip seed in a shady area to loosen the hard soil and feed the wildlife.

Nice video dude! Very relatable.

Hi mate, you should keep your meadow cut for the first year to allow the sward to thicken and root system to establish, it'll come good though and get better every year.

Great Info thanks for your dedication and advice!

The optimal time to sow yellow rattle is around the 12th of august. Cut the meadow down, remove the hay, sow the yellow rattle in the short dry meadow grass. Do not walk on the meadow after mid february. Yellow rattle germinates mid to late february. 😊

Thank you for talking about the seasons rather than the months! I’m in Australia so it helps to get a better mental picture. This thread of videos is really helping me articulate the questions I have about getting started so thank you! It’s been very helpful. Firstly I’d like to know how to prepare the soil. I’m very lazy so I want to know what is the minimum digging and faffing about required. I have a shitty standard lawn. My yard is compacted in some places and boggy in others but mostly ok. Should I mow before I sow? Should I sow before I mow?! (I have a mower that mulches the clippings!)

really good and insightful video. I started two very small wildflower patches last year , and it's been and still is a struggle without much success. I also put yellow rattle in but havent seen it since.I was just wondering if you just leave the grass to grow as long as it wants or strim it down so that the wildflowers dont have as much grass to compete with.

Spot on.🤗👍✅

Excellent information. Thanks. Also, Ducks eat slugs.

From experience the best time to establish clover in the fall for ground cover is 8 weeks before the first frost. Maybe it would be similar for what you’re attempting.

I'm your 365 subscriber and thank you for contents. I am trying to figure out how much 1 acer of wild meadows producing in nectar and pollen then can see how many hives it can support.

Brother have you considered getting a duck or 2 to manage the slugs? It's their favorite food. I'm not sure if you're allowed ducks or if your cats would permit it but they're great because they don't scratch the soil!

Any chance of some recent music? I personally think Classical sounds better with gardening or natural world situations. But it is only my own likes.

Get yourself a duck they loves slugs.

I hate so called music with banging!