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Sowing a Wildflower Meadow
If you followed my IndieGoGo campaign or noticed my Wildflower Meadow Campaign page, you’ll know that this year is about doing, not dreaming. My family has several acres of Suffolk farmland that’s left fallow and not managed. A local farmer grows a few arable crops, but the place is largely left to itself. So, having been inspired and realising that the time to act is now, I started the first campaign of many (I hope) to transform Brimwood Farm into a nature/wildlife haven.
Though we didn’t raise enough money to sow the entire field, we got about one third of that cash. Excellent, and I’m totally grateful for everyone that helped. The lovely folks at Meadow Mania also threw in a few extra seeds for us. So, this May (a little later than planned due to other commitments), I headed off to Suffolk – with a merry band of helpers – to sow the former arable field.
When you’re sowing a small wildflower patch in your garden, it’s relatively easy to prepare the ground. It involves removing the top layer of fertile soil, digging out as much grass as possible and creating a fine till. On a larger scale (think 2.5 acres) this is harder to do. The field was last used for barley, so I’m hoping that removed a lot of the nutrients. The oilseed rape field has sown itself onto the land rather a lot too, but the plants (though they might not look it) aren’t very close together. With the number of wood pigeons breakfasting on that field as I peeled myself out of a damp tent, I think it’s probably quite good there’s some foliage already there. Also, the previous use means, at least, that grass is extremely sparse.
We also weren’t, in any way, able to create a fine till to sow into. It’s heavy clay, and it had been dry for several weeks….no amount of hoeing would’ve solved that. However, I’m hoping that the cracks across the somewhat undulating field will protect some of the seeds until they germinate. There are already quite a few ox-eye daisies growing, so for some wildflowers at least, it’s a suitable habitat.
Armed with a pot of seed (carefully measured out for an even spread) and a spoon, we marched across the field in a line, sowing as we went and accompanied by the dogs who woke the occasional snoozing hare.
I’m really excited to see how these seeds grow, and will be checking back in at the field in a few weeks – though, we haven’t had a lot of rain so I’m slightly worried I’ll be rather disappointed at the lack of growth. We’ll scythe the whole lot down in the autumn. We’ve also got some more projects planned…..one being to plant a British bluebell wood and add additional native trees. There’s also other ideas like a bird nesting project, pond dredging and hedgerow maintenance scheme. There is A LOT to do, but it’s thrilled to actually get working and encourage as much local wildlife as possible into this new sanctuary. We’re quite close to Minsmere (for anyone who watched Springwatch), so adding another local area for creatures to live and breed will be a big boost.
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