Our 3 acre meadow has been evolving for 10 years now. Originally a regularly mown area, it was decided to manage it as a traditional hay meadow and it has produced some fairing results, there is a diverse range of flowering species in it now but the grass is still very dominant. We have left it to its own devices cutting and collecting the grass in late September and planting only a few Fritillaria meleagris bulbs.
Meadow after scarifying Close up of ground
Doing some research this year on hay meadows I have found that we are cutting it far too late and possibly encouraging the grass rather than weakening it to encouraging flowering species. We need to be cutting it in mid July, lifting the cuttings and then regularly mow it until late winter/early spring emulating animal grazing.
Yellow Rattle seed
This autumn we have scarified it very hard exposing a few bare patches into which we have sown some yellow rattle (Rhinanthus minor) . Yellow Rattle is an attractive, partially parasitic, grassland annual. Once it is established it can reduce the competitive vigour of certain grasses, by up to 50%, benefiting other wild flowers.
Raking in the seed Ground after raking
We have also stripped the turf from a small area and double dug another small area which will be left to regenerate, Lord Hertford and his groom have had canter around the site on their horses to help break up the sward little. Other areas particularly around the trees have been left uncut to allow some cover for any creatures. I look forward to seeing how these areas develop and how the meadow evolves over the next 10 years.
