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Annual meadows

Just imagine a meadow full of flowers outside your back door. It's a dream many gardeners share and it can come true if you plant one of the popular annual meadow mixes, available in our garden centre. These annual meadows offer a beautiful palette of colours that will fill you with joy. We will show you exactly how to get started.

PREPARE THE GROUND FOR YOUR ANNUAL MEADOW

Whereas wild meadows grow best on poor land, annual meadows need good garden soil. So weed the site, add organic matter and rake it into a fine tilth just like you would for sowing any seed. Start the preparation of your ground within a year of the sowing.

CHOOSE ANNUAL FLOWERS TO ADD TO YOUR MIX

Now it is time to choose which plants to sow on your annual meadow. Cornfield annual mixes include poppies, corn marigolds and cornockle. It is also possible to choose a blend for short stems (around 40cm tall) or perhaps you want to combine particular colours: red flax, black-eyed Susan and Californian poppies, for example, for a hot-coloured meadow. Many people choose to plant yellow rattle. This parasitic plant weakens the plants that could hamper the growth of your meadow flowers.

SOW YOUR MEADOW FLOWERS

Sow your well-chosen seeds and mix them with silver sand. This makes it easier to distribute the plants evenly. Then scatter the little seeds at about 3g (a smallish handful) per square metre. Rake in afterwards and water your seeds well. Then you can watch them grow! Once the flowers start growing, it is important to keep an eye on them. Mow your meadow in the first year after sowing and cut the flowers to a height of 5cm. Cut a path through your meadow to show that you have deliberately created this and that you plan to maintain it. Clear the ground in late August. In this way, grasses are kept at bay and wildflowers are allowed to persist. Some flowers will re-seed, but to get your special mix back again you should re-sow next spring.

CREATE YOUR OWN ANNUAL MEADOW

Do you want to make your own annual meadow but do you not know how to start? Our staff in our Poynings garden centre would love to help you out by giving you advice and suggesting flowers that should not be missing in your garden. Come visit our garden centre and ask one of our employees about planting annual meadows.

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