How to turn a field into a wildflower meadow 

If you are interested in meadows, and would like to create one yourself but don't have a big budget then here's how I did it. 

Before

This is my 7 acre field before we  started work on it. The hope is that next spring it will be full of wild grasses and flowers like the meadow below which I started 2 years ago.

My first small scale meadow

Only this meadow is only 60m squared. I made this one by taking off the topsoil with a digger and spreading bought seed. The results are wonderful but the method was too costly to use on a large scale. 

too costly to do the same for the whole field

So I began researching how to create a meadow on a much larger scale and after 2 years found an expert from the Somerset Wildlife Trust who very kindly explained the green hay method. I've set it out in full below, but in a nutshell, hay is taken from an existing wildflower meadow while it is still green (i.e before the seed has dropped) and is spread on a prepared field.

Crucial ingredients for creating meadow using green hay are,
An existing local site with an owner willing to buy or donate the hay
A willing local farmer to do the hard work using his machinery.

I found the wonderful Don, the owner of the 'donor' site by asking around. Everyone I knew who was into natural landscapes, wildlife etc I would bang on about my hopes to create a wildflower meadow. I was eventually put in touch with Don. His meadow has been in existance as long as anyone can remember (since before the war). I went to see it one late summer evening last year and was blown away at how beautiful the rolling acres of flowers and grasses were. I couldn't believe my luck when I explained the project and Don said he'd be willing to donate his hay.

Harvey, my friendly farmer has been taking hay off my 7 acre field for 3 years now in exchange for doing the work on the fields. The donor hay has been cut and is being baled as I write, I'm just hoping they'll be able to get back here tonite and finish baling my field as the donor hay should reach the new site on the same day...which should be tommorrow! More news then. In the meantime...

The green hay method for establishing new wildflower meadows

1. Prepare the new site 

a. by taking off as much grass as possible. Two cuts, (the second really close), is best followed by some sheep for a couple of weeks.

b. Scarify the sward - expose 50% of soil.

2. Collect seed from donor site

a. Cut hay just as plants have come to seed but before they are dropping.

b. Spread the seed onto the new site within hours of cutting. 

Best case scenario: hay is spread immediately

Worst case scenario: hay is baled and left overnight or longer

Intermediate: hay is left on ground and collected later

3. Graze new site one to two weeks later

Grazing by sheep or cattle or horses after seeding helps trample the seed into the ground.

4. Management

There are two schools of thought.

a.Treat as per an established meadow with one late cut the following summer. Ideally an early cut for sileage in April, leave May-July, cut early August. Or a variation, graze Jan-March, leave April - July, cut end July/early August and graze again in the autumn.

b. Graze all year round for first year to keep the sward open and maximise chances of seed 'taking'. Then treat as hay meadow thereafter.

The advantages of this method, and of seeding locally, are well described in the the Grasslands Trust site.