At our October Meeting we were delighted to welcome Ros Epson to talk to about meadows. Ros is an early adopter of garden meadows having planted one in her garden 20 years ago. Who knew there are so many different types of meadows? Alpine meadows, wet meadows, dry meadows, forest meadows, grass meadows, high meadows, low meadows and even cultivated meadows.

If you would like to plant a meadow in your garden, remove all turf, scarify the soil and then sow your seeds. Watch and wait. When the meadow is established you will need to mow it at the appropriate times, leave the cuttings for two days so the seed falls from the flower heads and then rake up all the cuttings for compost. if this sounds like hard work you could consider buying a sheep or two or a couple of cattle to do the work for you! In summary, a meadow in your garden will make your heart sing with joy, unless you are a garden footballer – in which case stay with grass as a trampled meadow will make you cry.

Judith McCann, Secretary AHS.