Make | Your Own Meadow

In the last 50 years, Britain has lost more than 98% of its wildflower meadows but we can all help bring meadows back by doing our own small part

Allowing grass to grow long and planting wildflowers, doesn’t have to mean owning a field or even giving over your garden to it. We’ve put together a few easy ways to make your own meadow, no matter how much time or space you have. 

Got a day, a reasonable patch of ground and some patience?

Make a From Scratch meadow

You’ll first need to clear the ground - pull up and grass and weeds lifting the top 5-10cm of soil, which will help with reducing the soil’s fertility (we know this sounds mad, but you have to think a bit backwards where meadow gardening is concerned). Next, fork the soil through, rake it and then pat it down flat. Finally, sprinkle your wildflower seeds and water thoroughly and regularly as it grows. 

Got a decent patch but no time or patience?

Buy a meadow mat

Pre-grown meadow turfs can be bought ready to roll out on your garden and you don’t need much of it to make a difference. Once you’ve bought your mat, lay it out where you want it and water regularly as it beds in. Meadow mats are best laid in spring or autumn. 

Keen bean with a bit of lawn to spare?

Make a Plug Plant meadow

You can buy wildflower plug plants online or from garden centres, which you then plant into an area of lawn that you’re happy to leave to go wild. The beauty of this method is that you can choose exactly what you plant in and ensure the plants suit the type of soil you have. 

Short on space but not enthusiasm?

Plant a Flowerpot meadow

Buy wildflower seeds or plug plants (or a mix of both) and pot up groups of flowerpots with them. You can then move them around your garden as you wish - you can even have a mini meadow if all you have is a balcony. 

Lacking gardening knowhow but have a garden?

Just go ‘No Mow’

If you’re not too bothered about swathes of wild poppies, just mow your lawn only once in spring and once in autumn. You’ll find all sorts comes through and you can help things on their way by throwing a few seed bombs and scattering wildfower seeds occasionally in any spaces you spot in the long grass. You’ll save hours’ of lawn mowing time and the birds and the bees will thank you for it.

If you’re inspired by the idea of meadow-making, you might like to read our ‘gallery’ pages in our June issue, which we’ve called, ‘Making Hay’. It’s a collection of beautiful photographs from the book Meadow: The Intimate Bond Between People, Place and Plants by Iain Parkinson with photography by Jim Holden (Kew Publishing/ Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew).

Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

More ways to embrace ‘wild’…

More from our June issue…

Where to get wild

Take an outdoor course and you could learn a new skill and return home smugly clasping a new spoon, dreamcatcher... or goat (maybe not the goat)

There are plenty of local courses online, or look at those run by the National Trust (nationaltrust.org.uk/build-your-skills). Wild guides (wildthingspublishing.com) also list local courses by region. 

Woodcarving with Woodmatters, Cumbria

Try your hand at carving anything from spoons to stools. From £65, woodmatters.org.uk. 

Woodland Women, near Bristol

All-female day and weekend retreats in Tortworth Arboretum, eg, willow skills and campfire cooking. From £16.50, honeywoodscamping.co.uk. 

Wild Things weekends, Scotland

Women-only wilderness weekenders include foraging, wild medicinal plants and natural navigation. From £160, wild-things.org.uk.

Wild Bushcraft Company knife-making course, Wales

You’ll use 100% recycled materials to forge your own knife, complete with an antler handle. Four-day course, from £350, wildbushcraft.co.uk.

Wood craft courses, Sheffield

Craft courses are run throughout the year in Ecclesall Woods in Sheffield. From blacksmithing to furniture- making, the bustling Woodland Discovery Centre is a hidden oasis in the city. From £85, ecclesallwoodscraftcourses.co.uk.

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

View the sampler here.

More from the July issue:

More summer outings:

Recipe: Wild garlic pesto

If you’ve been to the woods recently and noticed a rather pungent smell, you’ve probably stumbled across wild garlic, otherwise known as Ramsons, which carpet our woodlands at this time of year. 

We asked expert forager Chris Westgate of Heavenly Hedgerows for her advice on how to pick and eat this most delicious wild plant:

• The whole plant is edible but the young leaves have the best flavour and their late arrival this year means they should be just about perfect now. They’re best eaten raw in a salad or used as the base for a pesto (see right). Cooking will help reduce the pungency if you find the flavour too strong.
• Try drying the leaves and adding them to sea salt. They keep for ages and taste wonderful on roast lamb or potatoes.
• Use the star-like, white flowers to prettify a spring salad.
• Once flowering, the seeds are also good to use. They pack quite a punch in salad or on top of a soup. They’re great pickled, too. Just pop in a clean jar and cover with vinegar for use during the winter months (they contain Vitamin C). 
• The plant is most easy to identify by its smell but it can be confused in looks with the poisonous Lily of the Valley, Lords and Ladies and Dog’s Mercury, which also likes to grow alongside wild garlic, so pick it with caution. Always wash the plants carefully at home before eating, making sure the leaves definitely smell of garlic.
• Abundant as it may be in parts, it’s good practice, as with all wild plants and fruit, to only take what you will use, leaving lots for wildlife and other people. And remember that it’s illegal to uproot a wild plant without the landowner’s permission.

Wild garlic pesto 

60g wild garlic
60g rapeseed oil
22g parmesan cheese
Salt
35g pine nuts
15ml rice or white wine vinegar or lemon juice

1. Wash the wild garlic, ensuring there are no other leaves in the mix. 
2. Finely chop and add to a blender with the pine nuts. Blend to a smooth-ish consistency.
3. Add cheese, salt, vinegar and oil. 
4. Stir with knife or spatula. Put in small jars until ready to use. Use within two weeks.

Sniff out wild garlic in a woodland near you, forage away and, if you’ve got a garlic glut, try one of these three recipes as well.

Wild garlic hummus

A vibrant green dip/spread with a wonderfully, earthy garlicky element, its Middle Eastern heritage remains.

Wild garlic and goat’s cheese pie

Based on the Greek dish, spanokopita, this pie is made with a mixture of wild greens.

Wild garlic gnocchi with tomato ragout

You'll need a translation for this lovely recipe from Fraulein Glucklich blog, but we think it's worth it.