Your garden has a major impact on your quality of life and it’s a critical part of your property too. Not only does your garden affect the value of your home, but it also gives you access to your own private outdoor space. By using exterior design to enhance the area, you can transform your garden into whatever you choose.
While many homeowners maintain clean-cut lawns, turning your garden into a wildflower meadow can be a fantastic alternative. To find out how to get started, take a look at these top tips now:
Analyze the Soil
Before you begin converting your lawn into a wildflower meadow, take time to analyze the type of soil that’s present. If it’s poor quality, a perennial meadow, where plants will last for more than a year, is usually the best choice. For areas with rich soil, an annual wildflower meadow can flourish.
Remember – you can’t remove a layer of rich soil and rely on the lower quality soil beneath if you want to create a perennial meadow in a rich soil area. Conversely, you can add high-quality, rich soil to your garden if you want to enjoy an annual wildflower meadow.
Get the Right Equipment
Any gardening job is made easier when you have the right equipment. You’ll need to prepare the ground, sow seeds and weed your new garden, so it’s vital to have the tools you need to hand. With high-quality machinery, like AKRS Equipment, you can reduce the time it takes to establish and maintain your new wildflower meadow. As well as cutting down the amount of work needed, using the right equipment can make home and garden projects much safer and more enjoyable too.
Stop Feeding the Lawn
Before you begin the transformation, stop feeding the lawn. Grass can grow quickly and may overpower wildflowers as it absorbs the majority of nutrients. As you stop feeding the lawn, growth will slow down and enable wildflowers to thrive as well. Ideally, you’ll want to stop feeding the grass for around a year before you begin the transformation. However, if you don’t want to wait so long to start enjoying your wildflower meadow, simply stop feeding the lawn as soon as possible.
Use a Wildflower Seed Mix
Instead of choosing different seeds and trying to ensure they’re evenly spread out over the garden, use a wildflower seed mix. This can be sprinkled over the garden and will deliver a wide range of flowers to enjoy. Of course, different seed mixes are available, so you can ensure that your favorite blooms will be a firm feature in your new garden.
Maintaining a Wildflower Meadow
Transforming your lawn into a wildflower meadow doesn’t just create a vibrant and healthy garden for you to enjoy, but it also cuts down the amount of maintenance work you’ll need to do. While you may want to weed the garden on a fairly regular basis, a wildflower meadow only needs to be mown around three times a year and shouldn’t be cut within the first year of sowing. Generally, you won’t need to water or feed the area, so all that’s left to do is sit back and enjoy the aesthetic of your new wildflower meadow!