If you want to make a wild flower patch in your garden it doesn’t have to be in a huge meadow – a section of lawn could be used.
It’s best to remove the top couple of inches of soil. This will remove the grass roots and nutrients as wild flowers prefer poor soil.
Rake it well to remove any remaining roots and scarify to create runnels for the seed to fall in to.
Now wild flower seeds and small plants can be planted. It’s good to include Yellow Rattle seed as the plant attaches itself to grass roots thus weakening grass plants which can dominate by excluding light from small wild flowers and by making the soil too rich.
Smooth over and walk on it to ensure the seeds make contact with the soil.
The above is best done in the autumn to allow plants to become established but spring is also okay.
To maintain and encourage more flowering plants, cut it once a year between July and September.
Allow the cuttings to dry out and the seeds to fall from the cut plants for a few days. It’s important to remove all cuttings to prevent it composting down on the site.
In this way small areas can be colonised. The wild flowers will spread their seed around. Weed out if necessary or pass on young plants to other gardeners.
NB - It is important to buy wild flower seed from a reputable source.
Enjoy your wild flower patch!
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