Nature and Gardening

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All things green, outdoors, and nature-y. Whether it's animals in their natural habitat, hiking trails and mountains, or planting a little garden for yourself (and everything in between), you can talk about it here.

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Tips for starting a wildflower meadow? (beehaw.org)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hey people! I'm located in western Slovakia (Central Europe) and would like to start a wildflower meadow sometime during the end of March or even the start of April. It is going to replace the lawn in the middle of our plot. It is in a sunny place and no chemicals have been used for ~3 years, although the ground is not super ideal for it (not nutrient-poor). My question is: will the seeds be able to germinate if I just go over the space with a verticutter? Should I try to remove the lawn fully (i. e. using a hoe)? Cover it with cardboard to let the lawn die? I have read the excellent Wild Your Garden book by The Butterfly Brothers, and they recommend rotovating. But that seems like a lot of work. What was your experience or what species would be suitable? I'm all ears!

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Typically wildflowers in an area are synonymous with weeds. They shouldn't have any trouble growing if you break the current grass monopoly even a little. Most people have a hard time getting them to NOT grow in their yard. I had good luck including Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes) in my yard. They are HUGE when fully grown and you will basically need a flame thrower to get rid of them but the birds and bees love them. They also spread risomatically by sending out root runners, so they break up compacted soil. A combination of those and sunflowers would basically be a 2 meter tall flower bed. I don't think you would even need the cardboard.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

That is considered non-native here and it is very difficult to get rid of it.

The following links are in Slovak, but there are latin names of the plants.

The list of invasive species in Slovakia: https://invaznedruhy.sopsr.sk/invazne-druhy-sr/invazne-druhy-rastlin-sr/
Non-natives: https://invaznedruhy.sopsr.sk/nepovodne-invazne-sa-spravajuce-druhy-na-uzemi-sr/nepovodne-invazne-sa-spravajuce-druhy-rastlin/
And EU list: https://invaznedruhy.sopsr.sk/invazne-druhy-eu/invazne-nepovodne-druhy-rastlin-vzbudzujuce-obavy-unie/

I have found a seed mix that appears to not have any invasive plants (site in German): https://www.bloomling.de/samen-maier/bio-nuetzlingsweide-summ-summ-wiese, and it is also available in my country.