There are many reasons to create a beautiful flower meadow with numerous, colorful flowers and herbs. Not only is such a lawn much easier to maintain than an (English) lawn, it also offers a kind of natural biotope due to its biodiversity. Rough meadows in particular are important for the survival of rare butterfly species and also serve as a source of food for bees and bumblebees. Rich meadows, on the other hand, are better suited for agricultural use, for example in the form of cattle pasture or for haymaking.

Different meadow types

If you want to create a meadow, it is not enough to simply buy a bag of meadow flower seeds, scatter them and hope for them to germinate - not all meadows are the same, because different soil conditions ensure that certain plants thrive particularly well. Therefore, before sowing, you should first have a soil analysis carried out to find out the right type of meadow for the intended piece of land. Furthermore, the type of meadow also depends on how you want to use it. A lean or dry meadow can hardly be used for agriculture, while fat meadows are primarily suitable for grazing cattle and for hay production due to their high nutrient content. Marsh meadows can usually only be used to produce hay, while horse meadows, although poor, must still contain a high proportion of structurally rich grasses. In this article, however, we only deal with the two forms of a flower meadow, as they can be found more or less frequently - all over the country.

How to create a lean meadow

Rough meadows usually thrive on sandy or calcareous, i. H. nutrient-poor soils. For this reason, this type of meadow also has the greatest variety of different species, because fast-growing grasses and nitrogen-loving flowers (e.g. dandelion or buttercups) hardly stand a chance on such soil. Instead, the rather slow-growing flowers and herbs come into their own. If you want to create a poor meadow, you must first of all - if necessary - thin out the existing soil. This is especially the case if there is already a meadow, a lawn or even a field on the selected area. Proceed as described for the installation:

  • Mow the existing vegetation as short as possible.
  • Scarify the soil to loosen and aerate it.
  • Alternatively, you can also dig it up.
  • Crush coarse clods of earth so that the surface becomes nice and finely crumbly and smooth.
  • If you need to thin the soil, incorporate a thick layer of sand and soil mixture.
  • Scatter the flower seeds and cover them with a thin layer of sand.
  • This is to protect the seeds from bird damage.
  • Keep the soil evenly moist and avoid any fertilizers.

Typical flowers of a poor meadow

On rough meadows are often representatives of plant species such as

  • Agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria)
  • Thrift (Armeria maritima)
  • Quaking Grass (Briza media)
  • Bedstraw (Galium verum)
  • Cowslip (Primula veris)
  • or pitcher (Silene viscaria)

to find.

Creation of a fat meadow

The fat meadow is created in a similar way to the lean meadow, except that of course you do not enrich the soil with additional sand to thin it out. However, especially if you are turning a lawn into a meadow, you should ensure that it is thin. This is primarily done by stopping the usual fertilization of the lawn. If the lawn or the ground area is overgrown with moss, this is usually an indication of acidification of the soil - you can deal with this with additional liming. In addition, it can often make sense not to simply mow the previous vegetation and dig up the ground, but instead to remove the top layer of soil with a flat spade. This is then replaced with fresh soil.

Typical flowers of a fat meadow

Many fast-growing grasses and some nitrogen-loving plants can be found on fertile meadows. Herbs, on the other hand, disappear the more nutritious the meadow is.

  • Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
  • Germander speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys)
  • Soft brome (Bromus hordeaceus)
  • White bedstraw (Galium album)
  • Common buttercup (Ranunculus acris), especially on moist grasslands
  • White clover (Trifolium repens)

Proper care of the meadow

Of course, fat and lean meadows also differ greatly in terms of care.

Maintain a lean meadow

The most important care instruction for poor meadows is that they must not be fertilized under any circumstances, because fertilization primarily promotes fast-growing plants such as grasses. The more nutrients you add, the more grass and fewer flowers will thrive in your meadow. Instead, however, the poor meadow should be limed once a year, because this measure prevents the soil from becoming too acidic. Regular mowing once or twice a year also contributes to a rich flora. It is best to mow the first time either in May or in the second half of June and the second time in September. However, the cuttings should be cleared away.

Maintain a fat meadow

In contrast to lean meadows, fat meadows should be fertilized regularly. For this purpose you can apply special artificial, but also natural fertilizers (slurry, manure, compost). Grazed fat meadows receive a completely natural fertilization from the cattle manure. (€18.80) Furthermore, fat meadows should be mowed about three times a year, which traditionally happens once in May, once in the second half of June and once in August.

tips and tricks

Whichever type of meadow you choose, all meadows need one thing: as much sun as possible.

IJA

Category:

Herbs