How I created a mini-meadow in my garden
By Cate Taylor from Yorkshire
In February 2021, we moved into a new house with quite a big garden and lots of lawn space. We’d worked hard to make sure there were lots of bee-friendly plants in the garden of our old house and were keen to do the same here, so I signed up to the Bee the Change campaign.
We were really happy to see so many existing pollinator-friendly plants coming up in the new garden over the spring and summer but decided we wanted to do a bit more.
The first thing we did was to extend one of the flower beds and planted lots of dahlias which the bumblebees have loved.
(Bee the Change top tip: choose single-flowered dahlias like Cate rather than double dahlias, as bumblebees can’t reach the pollen and nectar if there are lots of dense petals.)
We then decided we didn’t need as much lawn space as we had. Seeing the photos of what other people have done to create wildflower areas in their gardens inspired us to do the same!
In June we dug out a large section of the lawn (which took a while but was a good workout!) We scattered lots of wildflower seeds, using a seed mix but adding in extra cornflower seeds as they’re my favourites. We also planted some verbena in there separately.
We then added a layer of topsoil (mostly taken from the grass we’d dug up) and covered it with netting* to discourage the pigeons from eating the seeds and walking over the shoots when they started growing!
We watered the seeds a couple of times when it was really dry and hot, but otherwise they took care of themselves, and by August we had a beautiful wildflower patch in the middle of the lawn, with lots of cornflowers and poppies, which the bees and butterflies have been enjoying ever since.
We’ve even noticed the birds enjoying hopping through the flowers as well!
Now we’ve been in our new house nearly a year and know what perennials to expect from the garden over the next year, we’re using the Bee the Change resources to work out what to plant this autumn and start planning for next spring.
* A note on netting: we would always recommend that people planting wildflower seeds follow best possible practice which fits their situation. This could include following checklists from organisations such as the Royal Horticultural Society as well as our own bee-friendly gardening guidance. In some situations, as the RHS state, it might be necessary to temporarily protect the seed with netting (for example, if birds prove to be a problem and alternative methods are not feasible). If netting has to be used we would always advise that it is regularly checked to ensure it doesn’t trap animals.
