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Lucy
Gardens.com - Gardening for Kid
Wild Flower Meadow
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~ if you have the space in your garden then trey and grow a meadow with
wildflowers
~ these attract the local wildlife, birds, butterflies and bees and are
beautiful too
~ add a small garden pond and you will have a little wildlife sanctuary
at your hands
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What's
NEW
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| A
Meadow Garden Patch |
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~ a wildflower meadow
is wonderfully natural looking in any garden
~ it provides a habitat for many insects and small mammals
~ it is a convinient solution for brightening up large areas of grass
~ Maya loves
our meadow garden and old-fashioned garden activities like making flower
crowns and playing hide and seek are a firm favorite
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Watch
out for!! |
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perennial wild flower meadows dont tend to flower in the first season after
germination
~ so if the kids are disappointed with apparent "failure" reassure
that they will succeed next season |
| How
to Maintain a Wild flower Meadow Garden |
Sowing
Wild Flower Seed |
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it is easy to maintain requiring only 1 or 3 cuts a year
~ after the flowers have stopped blooming you need to leave them until they
go to seed ( self seeding for next years wildflower blooms)
~ In the followign years, plant additional perennials and grasses to fill
gaps and replace annuals. |
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Little Kid Gardeners are often eager to see results
~ it takes patience to grow a good wild flower meadow but kids will be rewarded
year after year
~ success rate increased if wild flower seeds are first sown into seed trays,
then planted on into small pots
~ let them grown in the pots and plant out in the autumn (about 12 month
later)
~ If you are starting a new wild meadow then remove all weeds properly first
~ then sow fresh grass seed at about 1.5 th of the usual recommende rate
for your wild meadow patch
~ the grass mixture should not contain any rye grass as it tends to overtake
~ then on top of the grass seed mixture add your wildflower seed mixture
~ Rake the seeds in
~ the ground now needs to be rolled over lightly to firm the seeds in
~ Allow the plants to grow well by keeping the soil evenly moist for the
first growing season
~ let the kids pull up invasive weeds, and any tree and shrub seedlings
that have found there way here
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| Choosing
Flowers for a Wild Meadow |
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the ideal soil for a wild meadow is poor topsoil
plants for Wild Meadow Gardens
Oxeye Daisy (chrysanthemum leucantheum)
Yellow Rattle ( Rianthus minor)
Poppies
Bachelor's buttons ( selfseeding)
Cosmos ( selfseeding)
Vigorus Grasses
~ Knapweeds ( Centaurea spp.)
~ Musk Mallow ( Malva Moschata)
~ Field Scabious ( Knautia Arvensis)
~ Bladder Campion ( Silene Vulgaris)
~ Tansy ( Tanacetum Vulgare)
Spring Bulbs and Flowers for Wildlife
~ Cowslip ( Primula Veris)
~ Bugle ( Ajuga Reptans)
~ Daisies ( Bellis Perennis)
~ Lady's Smock ( Cardamine Pratensis)
~ Cat's Ear ( Hypocheris Radicata)
~ English Bluebell ( Scilla Nutans)
~ Snowdrp ( Galanthus Nivalis)
Late Flowering Plants
~ Musk Mallow ( Malva Moschata
~ Meadow Clary ( Salvia Pratensis)
~ Hardhead ( Centaurea Nigra)
~ Field Scabious ( Knautia Arvensis)
~ Cornflower ( Centaurea Cyanus)
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| Wild
Meadow Gardening for Kids |
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Wild Flower Meadow
Building a Sensory Garden for Kids, sowing a wild flower meadow and indeed
any Gardening with Kids is an exiting adventure,start simple with our
gardening resources for kids and
you soon will have a happy little kid gardener too
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