Many a garden owner has already created a wild meadow in the garden and enjoyed the numerous, colorful flowers - only to be disappointed to find out a year or two later that the blooms have almost completely disappeared. Whether you actually succeed in creating a wildflower meadow depends primarily on the selection of the seeds.

Cheap mixtures are unsuitable

Good, promising seed consists of meadow plants that are native to your region and appropriate to the location. Most of these are perennial. In garden centers, on the other hand, you can buy cheap mixtures, which are unsuitable for building a wildflower meadow. These seed mixtures do not contain any explicit meadow flowers, but mostly annual field wild flowers such as cornflowers or poppies - they look beautiful, but also quickly disappeared again.

Collect wildflower seeds yourself

Instead of these, you can buy high-quality seed mixtures from the country trade or agricultural shop, which are made specifically for farmers with hay meadows. However, these are often mixtures for fat meadows. On the other hand, it is much more fun to collect flower seeds yourself - the main advantage of this is that you are sure to collect the right plants. However, make sure you choose plants that are suitable for your soil - wet meadow flowers will not do well on dry meadows. The seeds are collected on a dry day, dried at home on newspaper or kitchen paper for a few days, and then stored in a paper bag (e.g. greaseproof paper) or a matchbox - but never in a plastic container.

Hay mulching as a method of propagation

A simpler way of propagation is the so-called hay mulching or the transfer of cuttings. When the seeds are ripe, mow fresh hay on the surrounding, flower-rich wild meadows and spread this as a thick layer on the recipient area prepared for sowing. The mature seeds fall out of the hay and sow the soil all by themselves.

Meadow flowers germinate in light

The seed, whether bought or collected by yourself, must not be covered with soil. After all, most meadow plants germinate in the sun and should therefore only be pressed onto the prepared and finely crumbled soil using a roller or similar. The usually very fine seeds should be mixed with a spreading aid (e.g. sand or sawdust). This measure facilitates the even distribution of the seed.

tips and tricks

Of particular interest are smooth oat meadows, which are also attractive after the main flowering period in June. Flowers such as yarrow, meadow sage, meadow knapweed or scabious thrive here. In addition, this meadow type often blooms a second time in late summer.

Category:

Herbs