An accurately and closely mowed lush green lawn in the garden or front yard is something fine. However, it is enjoyed almost exclusively by humans. For many insects struggling to survive, the famous “English lawn” with its short stalks resembles a desert. Food: none. Neither butterflies nor wild bees, hoverflies or other flying six-legged creatures will find a single drop of nectar here. Not to mention the evergreen gravel gardens that have recently come into fashion. If you want to help endangered and all other insects and put a colorful bouquet of flowers on the living room table from time to time, you can do that very easily. A wildly blooming flower meadow offers everything that bees, butterflies and their floating friends need to live.
Here we explain how you can quickly and easily create a wildflower meadow and how to properly care for the colorful blossoms.
Important: Lay out your flower meadow between March and May, but no later than June.
The flower meadow (a seed mixture for butterflies is available here) should be mowed for the first time about ten weeks after sowing. It is mainly weeds that are at stake. The flowers, which are also inevitably shortened, sprout again in the days and weeks that follow without any problems. And best of all: the carpet of colorful and wild flowers becomes even denser with mowing. In the first year, the meadow may have to be mowed several times in order to get the weeds under control in the long term. Later, between July and September, it is sufficient to bring the lawn mower to the site.
Tip: Mow in two stages and leave the second half for a week on the first stage. The bees will thank you.
And another component is important when creating a wildflower meadow: patience. It can take several years for the sea of flowers to unfold its full splendour. Especially if the soil is rather nutrient-rich when sowing. This initially benefits lawn grasses. But they gradually remove the nutrients from the soil. If the soil is poor enough, the wildflowers will crowd out and spread out on the lawn.
Important: A one-year-old mixture must be sown a second time the following year. If you want to green your meadow permanently and are less colorful, it is best to use local biennial or perennial mixtures.
Sources: “nabu.de”; “GEO”; “mein-schoener-garten.de”
This article contains so-called affiliate links. Further information are available here.
