Sow a Flower Meadow

When to Start: Early autumn
At Its Best: Summer
Time to Complete: 8 hours

Materials Needed:

• wildflower seed
• horticultural sand
• spade
• wheelbarrow

• bamboo canes
• spring-tined rake
• garden rake
• string and bird-scarer, such as ribbons or old CDs

Mix Seed With Sand

To sow seed over a large area, first mix it with clean, dry horticultural sand. This helps spread the seed more evenly, and makes it obvious which areas you have already sown.

Remove a Layer of Topsoil

Topsoil is full of nutrients that encourage strong grasses to grow at the expense of delicate wildflowers. Use a spade and wheelbarrow to remove the top few inches, and recycle it elsewhere in the garden. Also remove any weeds and roots you find that could regrow and compete with the flowers.

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Prepare the Seedbed

Remove stones from the area and rake over the soil to break up the surface. Leave the site for two or three weeks, and then weed it again. To prevent the seeds from washing away, water the area before sowing, not afterward. Use canes to mark out the area into square yards, and sow each square with your batches of seed and sand mixture.

Enlarge Photo+Shrink Photo-DK - How to Grow Practically Everything © 2010 Dorling Kindersley Limited