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How to lay wildflower turf
- BBC Gardeners' World Magazine
Published: Wednesday, 20 April 2022 at 9:27 am
We show you how to lay wildflower turf – an easy way to establish a beautiful meadow.
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A mini wildflower meadow, with native flowers such as red clover, scabious and ox-eye daisies, attracts a wide range of wildlife, from bees and other pollinating insects to small mammals and amphibians.
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You can grow wildflowers from seed or from plug plants, but the easiest way to establish a wildflower meadow is to lay turf. Simply remove a few strips from your lawn and replace them with wildflower turf, which you can buy from online suppliers.
Follow our step-by-step guide to laying wildflower turf.
You Will Need
- Tape measure
- Garden spade
- Wildflower turf
- Garden rake
- Sharp knife
Step 1
How to lay wildflower turf: rolling up the original turf
Measure the area you want to transform. Use a spade to remove the grass and top layer of soil. Cut the grass into strips, using a spade, and roll them up for easy removal.
Step 2
How to lay wildflower turf: raking the soil
Prepare the soil with a rake, making sure it's level, and remove big stones. Consolidate the surface by walking up and down, taking small, heavy steps. Rake again.
Step 3
How to lay wildflower turf: laying the wildflower turf
Lay the turf on the soil, staggering the joints like brickwork. Use a knife to cut off any excess turf, then water it well. Keep watered but do not feed.
No room for a wildflower lawn? Plant a wildflower container.
How to maintain a wildflower meadow
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- Choose your location – most wildflowers thrive on poor soils, whereas grasses take over on rich soils. Lay your turf on poor soil if possible to give your wildflowers a chance
- Keep the fertility low – don't fertilise your wildflower meadow, as this will encourage the proliferation of vigorous grasses and flowers, outcompeting more delicate species and reducing biodiversity
- Suppress grasses – one of the best ways to do this is to introduce yellow rattle, Rhinanthus minor, a parasitic plant that takes nutrients from and weakens grasses
- Mowing – don't mow your meadow until all the flowers have gone over, giving them time to self-seed. You can aid this by shaking seedheads back over the area. Mow in autumn and remove all cuttings to keep soil fertility low
- Sowing – sow yellow rattle and new wildflower species onto the patch in autumn, if you'd like to introduce new flowering plants
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