Wildflowers provide a fabulous display of colour and their relationship with pollinators plays an important role in our environment:
- Wildflower root systems help soil to withstand heavy rain and prevent the nutrients in the soil being washed into nearby waterways – when the nutrients are washed into waterways, algal blooms form, which use up all the oxygen in the water, harming marine wildlife
- Wildflowers attract pollinators like bees and butterflies and provide them with food
- Pollinators play an important role in helping our fruits and vegetables to produce a good crop
- Pollinators help to reduce pests that damage our crops
- Wildflowers provide pollinators with shelter and a place to breed, and the pollinators help the wildflowers to produce seed to grow more flowers
- Wildflower seeds are an important source of food in the winter for birds and small animals
You can help our environment, by growing a small patch of wildflowers. They are easy to grow and maintain, just follow these instructions.
Prepare the Ground
Wildflowers grow best in low nutrient soils, so don’t use compost or fertiliser. If the area has been fertilised, remove the topsoil and sow into the subsoil. Remove any plants, grass, and weeds from the area. Turn over the ground to around 10cm deep, breaking up lumps of compacted soil, then lightly firm the seedbed. If there were a lot of weeds, allow these to regrow and remove them before sowing the wildflower seeds.
Sow the Seeds
A small amount of wildflower seed goes a long way, 2 grams of seed is enough to cover a square metre. Sow the seed between March and November. Spring and autumn are the best times, as the ground is moist, and the temperature warm. Sow the seed by hand. Lightly rake or roll the area after sowing to ensure good contact between the seed and soil. Water the seedbed well. During dry spells, water the seedbed to encourage the seed to germinate. Remove any weeds that regrow in the seedbed during the first year.
Year 1 Maintenance
The seed mix contains perennials (flowers grow year after year), which are slow to establish and unlikely to flower in the first year. Remove any weeds that grow, before they go to seed. The wildflowers will die off at the end of the autumn, they can be cut back, or left undisturbed until February to provide shelter for insects. Cut back the wildflowers to around 10cm, leaving the cuttings where they fall for up to 10 days, to allow them to release their seeds into the soil, then remove the cuttings from the area.
Future Years Maintenance
Once the wildflowers are established, they need little maintenance. Continue to remove weeds from the area. Cut the flowers back once per year, in either spring or autumn, allowing the cuttings to release their seeds to the soil for up to 10 days before removing them.