Lynsey Grosfield
In ecological terms , a meadow is a biome intimately devoid of woody plants , favoring grasses and herbaceous plants instead . These gay space are vital yet belittle habitat , often merchandise in urban area for monocultures of lawn grass .
meadow and grasslands have an evolutionary relationship with skimming animal and human activities . Far from being sodding , untouched biomes , the life of a hayfield is contingent upon upon the removal — via graze and browsing or clarification — of tall woody plant that would shade out the lower - growing living . Along with declamatory herbivores , we humans have assist create an bionomic niche that aliment pollinators and provides habitat for an array of other creatures , especially birdie and pocket-size mammals .
Meadow gardens are a belittled way to bring some of the richness of that biome into small - scale space of culture . Mine are found weaving throughout the garden , primarily on myhügelkultur pile . I ’ve found they ’ve set off a cascade of reactions in terms of exalt the space . First came the flowers , then add up the insects , then came the birds , and of late , I ’ve had Sir Henry Wood black eye move in . It should be mark : Meadow garden are not for the nurseryman who does n’t like interacting with wildlife ! Beyond getting to know your non - human neighbors , hayfield gardens bring home the bacon a hardheaded design : You ’re never without cut flowers orseeds to deal with friends and neighbors .
Making a meadow garden is as simple as choosing a admixture of annual and perennial flush and grasses to seed on an area . Ideally , these should be native flowers and grasses , but those move in anyway ; in the interim , any “ cottage garden ” mixture will provide an fantabulous base . I make apollinator garden mixfor this purpose .
Maintenance of your meadow garden should be minimum : Disrupting the grunge with tilling willdisrupt the sprightliness web . Weeds — often an over - zealous nurseryman ’s word for aboriginal works — are as much a part of the biome as the other flowers , so seek to resist pull them out unless they threaten to overtake the entirety of the space .
Once the garden is established , it will - reseed and mulch itself , so you could enjoy the ever - interchange landscape painting of heyday for years to come !
