Wanted to share with you what we planted on the meadow this year so far. There are some areas still to do. Thanks to the volunteers whose time and effort made this all possible. Many who will get the benefit from it just aren’t able to do this work, so its great that they have helped this community, which will benefit for many years to come.
Our meadow seed this year came from Meadowmania Ltd. In total we paid about £550 for the seed. We could have spent less for the areas we have done but buying the seed is in many ways the easy part , getting the areas prepared is the hard part, so we tend to go with a high seed rate. Note this included The Children Wood area. Note too we haven’t bought meadow seed with grass in it which would have lessen the cost considerably. Although this grass seed they sell would have been a friendly grass seed for meadow flowers ie slow growing. We have more than enough grass seed on the land and indeed the meadow flowers main problem will be that fight each year between the slow growing meadow flowers and our fast growing grass. Thats assuming it doesn’t get stepped on too often!
A few flowers to look out for in the list below are: Red Campion which we have loads of from pervious plantings (ours looks pink though), thats what you see along the Kelbourne street fence line. Then Ox Eye Daisy which we used to have a fair bit and you may see more in July. Then a very important flower for all meadows and thats Yellow Rattle, this is a flower that eats / weakens grass. So its a great one to keep the grass in check. We’ll probably buy and plant yellow rattle plugs in Sept time, around all the edges of the patches we have done.
Our meadow flowering is often late in the season , so be patient, because we are in Glasgow obviously, alot of seed produceres base their timings on the south of England in our experience.
This below is the main types we buy and use from Meadowmania:
WILD3 Wildflower Meadow 100% Wildflower Seed mixture. New mixture now with 24 wild flower species. It is a mixture of 100% wildflowers. There are now 24 different wildflowers in the mixture which will cope with most soil types. This is the widest range of species we have in any of our mixtures. The application rate is 1.5 grams per square metre or yard. You should see Poppies in the first year. Then the other species should come to the fore. Best sown into bare soil or existing grass sward that contains no perennial ryegrass. The aim once established is to have different species of height , colour and appearance from may through to August. Please note all the wild flower seed in our mixtures are sourced and processed as follows. They come originally from stock grown in the wild in the UK. They are then multiplied up commercially. The seed is packed, mixed and distributed in the UK. This way you can be confident that you are buying native UK Wild Flower Seed to produce Native UK Wild Flower Meadows.
Birdsfoot Trefoil (Lotus Corniculatus) 0.5%, Betony ( Stachys Officinalis) 0.1% Corn Marigold ( Chrysanthemum Segeteum) 5%, Corn Poppy (papaver Rhoeas) 5%, Cowslip ( Primula Veris) 0.1% , Field Scabious (Knautia Arvensis) 0.5%, Lady’s Bedstraw (Galium Verum) 5.0%, Lesser Knapweed (Centaurea Nigra) 7.5%, (Meadow Buttercup (Ranunculus Acris) 1.5%, Meadow Vetchling (Lathyrus pratensis) 0.5%, Musk Mallow (Malva Moschata) 7.5%, Ox Eye Daisy (Leucanthemum Vulgare) 9.0 %, Ragged Robin (Lychnis Flos Cuculi) 0.1%, Red Campion (Silene Dioica) 10.0 %, Ribwort Plantain (Planatago Lanceolata) 7.5% , Rough Hawkbit (Leontodon hispidus) 0.5%, Salad Burnet (Sanguisorba Minor) 7.5%, Self Heal (Prunella Vulgaris) 7.5%, Small Scabious (Scabiosa columbaria) 0.5%, Common Sorrel (Rumex Acetosa) 0.5%, White Campion (Silene Alba) 7.0%, Wild Carrot ( Daucus carota) 5.0%, Yarrow, (Achillea millefolium) 6.3%, Yellow Rattle (Rhinanathus Minor) 5%.,
WILD11 WildFlower Meadow 100% WildFlower Seed mixture for Hedgerows It is a mixture of 100% wildflowers. There are now 20 different wildflowers in the mixture which will cope with Hedgerows or partial shade. The application rate is 1.5 grams per square metre or yard. This mixture when established is complemented well by bulbs such as Wild daffodils. Best sown into bare soil or existing grass not containing perennial ryegrass. The aim once established is to have different species of height , colour and appearance from May through to August. Please note all the wild flower seed in our mixtures are sourced and processed as follows. They come originally from stock grown in the wild in the UK. They are then multiplied up commercially. The seed is packed, mixed and distributed in the UK. This way you can be confident that you are buying native UK Wild Flower Seed to produce Native UK Wild Flower Meadows.
Betony (stachys Officinalis) 5.3%, Bluebell seed (Hyancith non Scripta) 1.5%, Common Agrimony ( Agrimonia eupotare) 5%, Common Vetch 0.5%, Dark Mullein (Verbascum Nigrum) 0.5%, Hedge Bedstraw (Galium Mollugo) 2.5%, Herb Bennet (Geum Urbanum) 2.5%, Meadow Buttercup (Ranunculus Acris) 2%, Ox Eye Daisy (Leucanthemum Vulgare) 10.%, Ragged Robin (Lychnis Flos Cuculi) 0.5%, Red Campion (Silene Dioica) 10.0%, Ribwort Plantain (Plantago Lanceolata) 10.0%, Self heal (Prunella vugaris) 10.0%, Sorrel (Rumex Acetosa) 2.5%, Sweet Cicely 5.0%, White Campion (Silene Alba) 10.0%, Wild Foxglove (Digitalis Purpurea) 0.25%, Hedge Garlic (Alliaria Petiolata) 6%, Yarrow ( Achillea Millefolium) 10.0%, Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus Minor) 6%
We’ve also gone for the Woodland Mix which is very similar to the above.
The Cornfield Annuals below we didn’t plant much of as it needs good soil and full sun, but does give great colour so you may see it in a couple of the patches.
CWF2 Cornfield Annuals 100% Native British Wild Flower Seed mixture
This is our cornfield annual seed mix with the widest range of species.
The application rate is 2.0 grams per square metre or yard.
These mixes do best sown in fertile conditions.
The red poppy, blue cornflower, purple corn cockle and yellow corn marigold can make for a very striking effect.
Please note all the wild flower seed in our mixtures are sourced and processed as follows. They come originally from stock grown in the wild in the UK. They are then multiplied up commercially. The seed is packed, mixed and distributed in the UK. This way you can be confident that you are buying native UK Wild Flower Seed to produce Native UK Wild Flower Meadows. Corn cockle may be harmful if eaten.
Corn Cockle ( Agrostemma Githago) 45%, Corn chamomile ( anthemis arvensis) 5.0%, Cornflower ( Centaurea cyanaus) 14.5%, Corn Marigold ( chrysanthemum segetum) 20%, Field Poppy ( papaver Rhoeas) 10%., Scented mayweed ( Matricaria Recutita) 3.0%, Night flowering catch fly (Silene noctiflora) 0.5%, Common for get me not ( Myosotis arvensis) 1.0%, Long headed poppy ( Papaver dubium ) 1.0%
Roses
The roses on the land planted, all have info attached on them. David Austin Roses are the Worlds best. If you see one flowering then do give it a good sniff, obviously making sure you don’t step on any meadow flowers 🙂
For example this above was planted at the entrance on Clouston street. Two of them, and will take a few years to really get going.
There is more to do but the above gives an idea on whats been done so far this year.
North Kelvin Meadow 