Wildflower Meadow: Grow your own in a container
The words ‘wildflower meadow’ conjure images of idyllic loose flowering landscapes, rolling through a valley, stretching on as far as the eye can see - but if you’ve got space for a container, you’ve got space for your own wildflower meadow.
Not only are they great for pollinators, and by extension the rest of the ecosystem, they also give us wonderful displays of interesting plants, beautiful flowers and enable close up views of the many interesting creatures, including bees and butterflies, that visit them.
Why containers?
An advantage of a container grown meadow is that provided the container isn’t too large, it’s moveable - which helps you find the right spot for it in your garden and let’s you play around with placement and position next to other plants and features.
I’m a fan of container gardening for precisely this reason, especially in smaller spaces - as you really get to know plants through continually rearrange your pots and tubs into new displays, and helping you showing off plants at their best, and tucking them aside when they are resting.
Native plants -
It is good to use wildflowers that are native to your area - part of the point of growing your own meadow is to help repair the damage caused by large scale agriculture and to support your local wildlife.
It is important that you get your seed from a reputable supplier who knows where their seeds have come from, i.e. those grown specifically for sale. It’s not ok to take seeds from any wildflower meadow that you find as those seeds will be needed to regenerate the meadow from which they come, and if that’s not enough to put you off, it’s often illegal anyway.
Keeping these things in mind, here is how to create your own wildflower meadow in a container:
Pot preparation -
You’ll need a good container - many different things will do but it must have drainage, if using a terracotta pot with a hole, place a few crocks over the hole so it doesn’t lose soil or get blocked up.
If you’re using something else, you may need to make your own holes in the base, as a rough rule of thumb, I usually put between 2 and 4 holes just under the thickness of a pencil in a 30 - 40 cm diameter pot.
Soil -
Wildflowers can thrive where soil is poor, so you don’t want your container to be full of nutrients. If soil is too rich, grasses tend to thrive, pushing out the wildflower species. If possible, use a combination of soil from the garden, or old soil from old containers that has some of the nutrients sucked out by former residents. You can also add a little compost and a few handfuls of gravel to increase drainage.
Water the container well before sowing the seeds to allow the soil to settle. This helps get rid of air pockets that may have formed during filling the container and ensures the soil is well distributed. It also makes the surface damp, and therefore sticky, which helps make sure your sees adhere to the surface when you sow.
Sowing seed -
Wildflower meadow containers can be sown in spring (March / April) or autumn (September).
It is both tempting and easy to sow seeds too thickly, there is absolutely no advantage in doing this you will only cause overcrowding and problems later on if the seeds germinate at all.
It is far better to sow the seeds at the amount per square metre as recommended on your seed pack.
If for some reason you don’t have the info to hand then as a rough guide, sow annuals at around 5g per square metre, and biennials and perennials at around 1g per square metre.
It can be quite tricky to sow the seeds thinly and evenly enough when seeding a large area but it is a bit easier in a container. Go steady, use your eyes and sprinkle thinly. Some people like to mix their seeds with a little sand so it’s easier to see where you’ve sprinkled. You can try it if you think it’s helpful.
Once sown, do not water the seeds immediately! There will be enough moisture in the soil as you pre-watered it. If you were to water now, the seeds tend to float up and become less well distributed. Wait for a day and then if you have a mist bottle, use this to create a delicate rain over the seeds again.
Final steps -
Place the container in a sunny spot and keep damp in the early stages. There is a risk of birds eating the seeds at an early stage, I usually leave this up to fate and am happy to accept a few losses but if it’s a serious problem for you then use a little netting to cover the pot while the seeds establish.
From here, allow the seeds to germinate and the plants should follow!
The final thing you need is patience -
If you’ve planted perennials, the plants won’t flower in the first year, don’t worry, this is normal. Just keep an eye on them and wait for year two when you should see flowers.
If you can’t wait that long, consider using a seed mix that also contains annual wildflowers too as these will flower in the first year while the others become established.
Once flowers go to seed you can collect the seed heads and begin the process again in another container or try sprinkling them in your garden.
