Mowing my meadow has increased biodiversity

A hay meadow in Norfolk ready for cutting
most of the flowers have already set seed

It's never easy to attack a lovely wild flower meadow with a sharp instrument that will take away the flowers and the vegetation and leave what looks like a shaggy, weedy lawn, but sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind.

I was late giving my Meadowmat its annual trim this year.  Two reasons, one I've injured my neck and needed to persuade my husband to do the deed (never easy, he hates gardening as much as I hate ironing); plus, I couldn't bring myself to chop the flowers off the yarrow, clover and vetch.  Nevertheless, the deed was done a couple of weeks ago.  The hay has been removed and used to fill the nest boxes in the chicken coop and I've had a pleasant surprise.

My Meadowmat was installed in spring 2011.  In the first summer, it was quite grassy but managed to supply the local bees with some yellow rattle, some clover flowers, a couple of oxeye daisies and a yarrow or two.   It was allowed to grow unchecked until July 2011 and then it was cut back and all the clippings made into hay.  From september last year until the end of march this year, I periodically zoomed over the Meadowmat with my rotary mower on its highest setting and took away all of the clippings for composting.

Meadowmat in it's second summer

This summer I was rewarded with a beautiful floral display.  Yellow rattle, clover, birdsfoot trefoil, vetch, yarrow, wild carrot, sorrell, plantain and knapweed were the main contenders AND there was a lot less grass than in the previous summer, especially in the two patches where the yellow rattle was doing well.  Sadly, there weren't enough bees to enjoy the meadow to the full.  But heyho, that's the British weather for you.

Oh dear, my newly cut Meadowmat looks awful
(happily it's recovered a bit since this photo was taken)

Leaving the mowing/strimming until mid august perhaps wasn't a good move though.  The grass had been battered by rainstorms, fallen over and looked as though it had smothered some of the plants beneath it.  But, once again, Nature triumphed over adversity as two weeks on, I can see that the floral plants are regenerating nicely...there are even a few different leaf shapes in the mix, so maybe some surprises next year...but the grasses are still thinking about re-growing.

I am convinced that mowing the meadow increases it's biodiversity.  On the Meadowmat production field,
Robert regularly mows the grass .... it's easier to roll up and despatch if the vegetation is short...and he tells me that after each cut, he sees less grass and more flowering species.

I've heard tell that it takes seven years to establish a species rich meadow from seed. I would like to think that by using Meadowmat I fast forwarded the process by at least one or two years, but that does still mean that things can only get better.  Whoohoo can't wait to see what next summer has in store.

Wild Flower Meadow in May

Wild Flower Meadow in May

cowslips in the wild

May is the month when the countryside really starts to prepare itself for summer. In the traditionally managed meadow not far from my home, cowslips are braving the rain and merrily blooming in the hope that the sun will come out for long enough for bees to pollinate them. The grass is thriving in this weather and is beginning to grow strongly and it won't be long before the cow parsley explodes into fluffy white flowers beneath the trees.

In my garden, Dandelions are putting on a defiant show in the lawn and because it's been too wet to get the hoe out, there are red and white dead-nettles flowering beneath the fruit bushes...not that I mind, they're great bee food.

My own little wild flower patches are thriving too.  The Meadowmat patch is now 1 year old and looks very different to when it was first installed.  There are undoubtedly more flowering plants and more species than last year, the grass is less rampant..probably thanks to the yellow rattle in the seed mix and I am estimating that the campion will be in flower in about a week's time...the buds are swelling nicely but I'm not sure if this is a white campion, a red campion or a bladder campion.  All 3 are in the seedmix so I'm playing a waiting game.

campion and plantain almost flowering

There'll be no more mowing in my meadow until at least the end of July.

The area I sowed from seed is less biodiverse but the plants are bigger...probably because it hasn't been mown over the winter.  It looks as though I can expect flowers from yarrow, plantain, campion, scarlet pimpernel and some self-sown dandelions.

I have to confess that I haven't taken a look at the seeds I sneaked onto my farmer-husband's uncultivated land.  All being well I'll be able to check on them over the weekend.  I also have some heartease seeds to sow - I'll probably waft them about when he's not looking.  Interesting development on the farmer front.......he's growing peas this year and remarked that there couldn't possibly be enough bees to pollinate every pea flower on his field......all the more reason to encourage bees with wild flowers says I....with the situation as it is your crops might not be yielding their your full potential.  That pricked his ears up.  Pollinators don't interest him, by profits do!

Angela's top 20 wild flowers; Number 18 is Meadow Buttercup



insects just adore the cheery yellow buttercup flowers

 This flower has got to be one of the brightest, cheeriest wild flowers there are.  I have enduring memories of friends from primary school holding buttercups under each others' chins to "see if you like butter".  I never did understand how the trick worked, but it was certainly a strong playground tradition, nearly as strong as "kiss chase" and hopscotch.


buttercups in a traditionally managed meadow in Norfolk

 I was so glad to see Meadow Buttercup included in the seed mix for Meadowmat wild flower matting, so far they've not appeared in my own little patch, but there's still time, it was only installed 9 months ago and some species need a hard frost before the seeds will germinate.  No shortage of frost in my garden tonight, so maybe I'll be lucky this year.

Flowering from early spring onwards, this is one of the wild flowers that is abundant in the traditionally managed meadow on one of my regular dog walks.  I didn't realise until reading Sarah Raven's book "Wild Flowers" that the flowers and stems of Ranunculus acris (Meadow Buttercup) are unpalatable to grazing animals---not poisonous, for they quite like buttercups in hay---but with a bitter taste that I suppose ensures the flowers stay around long enough to set seed.  Ingenious.

Next post will be Maxine Tricker's ideas for using wild flowers in garden design .... keep checking the blog, I've read the article and it's too good to miss