When to cut and manage a wild flower seed meadow
by Mr Sandro Cafolla, seed grower at Design By Nature  - Irish wildflowers at  http://www.wildflowers.ie

All meadows can be cut once per year, always remove all cuttings.

An Irish Wildflower meadow grown from seed

The first year, if there is a lot of growth cut after flowering, it can be cut.
or if sown late or the flora is small, cut it by the following spring. As the birds will eat the seeds, even if you cut it seed will be shed for the birds

Year two, cut fertile meadows to top grass in April, and maybe again in may if the flowers havn't poked through
in mid to late summer in the second year, the main flush of flowers will be over and the meadow can be cut, esp for sites where grass is likely to re-invade or was sown with seeds.

A two year old wild flower meadow in May

Other 2 year old meadows can be left uncut until the wild carrot, mullein or angelica has flowered in august/ early sept and set seed.
any meadow can be cut at any time. always cut 2 year old meadows by September at the latest.

the best advice is to top to 5 inches after the ox eye daisy and or yellow rattle seed has set .
then cut all away in Autumn but not too late.
Keep grasses out of young meadows and watch for dock and thistle.

A fully mature meadow after 10 years of short cutting on reasonably fertile late moist soil that warms up slow and dries out, the species range from acid wet loving buttercup, to dry alkaline loving pink Musk Mallow, the pink Ragged robin is in the foreground, with purple selfheal and white clover in the mid to near photo.st johns wort looks like ragwort, amongst the ox eye daisies, A band of annuals is resown each year in the far distance against the hedge

Year three
all meadows are cut at least once or twice, up to early may and again in September,
where grasses invade, cut twice by August
Tall meadow seed mixtures, no cut and short cut meadows, and mixtures of wildflower for fertile soil, will have there own instructions
the rule is, once established from seed, wildflowers can be cut, some don't like cutting but if you don't cut too low say to 4 to 6 inches, then most will survive to year three, which by then is the make or break year.

Look at the density of Plantain, the straight narrow leaf, even red clover cannot stop it as it locks up nutrients and attracts scratching birds to every DBN wildflower meadow mixture

Is there too much grass? aim for from 40% soil and flora to 80% to 90% total non grass cover
Is the soil too bare, have at least 40% bare soil after cutting and removing dead grass
has one species dominated? ox eye and carrot should dominate many mixtures in year two, they lock up nutrients,
Yarrow, trefoil and clovers will arrive shortly after, with cowslip, scabious, st johns wort and more arriving next,
meadowsweet, fleabane, bluebell, primrose, violet, and a few other choice species can take from three to seven years to flower from seed.

Yellow Rattle Wildflower Seeds

Try to maintain a healthy population of Yellow rattle, eyebright and or Bartsia as grass suppressors
Plantain and clovers are essential meadow species, meadow buttercup is supplied but not creeping buttercup.


If white clover and or creeping buttercup invade your meadow read the instructions for short cut meadows and mow the buttercup just as it starts to flower to 3 inches, mow the clover as it flowers to 5 inches and then see what arrives in your meadow from June to September

This is a real meadow grown from Irish native wild flower seeds at www.wildflowers,ie, the full photocase study of this >10 year old 2 acre meadow sown in Cabinteely Park, Co Dublin, owner:Dunlaoire Rathdown Co Council, can be see on our picasa web 

Mr. Sandro Cafolla.
T/a Design By Nature
Monavea,
Crettyard,
Carlow.
Ireland.

TEL; 00353 56 4442526,

Email: , info@wildflowers.ie
Web site http://www.wildflowers.ie

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