The Meadow Makers' Network Forum

Our rattle is doing well in Chagford. I've started to harvest seed already.

you can always put Yellow rattle in the freezer for a while before sowing - and I would say you are not too late. I walk around the field with some pre-chilled seeds and sprinkle onto molehills and badger scrapes - works really well

I think in this case I would be inclined to leave it to nature to decide - our meadow goes down to a wet common which has ponies and cattle grazing. It is on the edge of Dartmoor and is peaty soil. We have an abundance or orchids, ragged robin, Bog bean - in fact a Bio Blitz was done on it and it ha...

I use grass cuttings as a mulch all the time. don't pile them up against the trunks of the trees. If you compost them you must layer or mix with something to allow airflow. Haystacks could spontaneously combust if the hay was not properly dried. it's the balance between air and water that created th...

Hey people! anyone have any cunning ways to control blackthorn without using any herbicides? we have a lot of suckers creeping in and whilst I would love to let the area scrub up it's just not practical where it is.

we've done two bioblitzes on our churchyard in Chagford wit the help of UCL happy to share etc

I started with 600 grams of Rattle on a 4.5 acre field in Chagford - I sowed it in Autumn over a period of time into molehills mainly and any poached or bare looking areas to get best seed contact with the soil. I now have it all over - if you want to come and collect some I do charge a bit but if y...

Failing getting it turned and baled it can be composted. Ideally it would be mixed with some tougher materials (like woodchip) to allow an airflow through and then a good aerobic compost could be made - which could be used on other Parish projects such as community gardens or allotments. I was takin...

Hi Stephan I've now given away all my Yellow rattle seed for this season - that's the plant you really need to weaken the grasses through its hemi parasitic nature. I was told by the nay sayers that our field was 'too rich' for wildflowers. Also it was full of 'rubbish' plants like nettles, docks an...

Hi Peter, many of the seeds need overwintering to get germinating so best sown in autumn - or you can mimic by putting in the freezer for a few days prior. I established yellow rattle very successfully by sowing on molehills and where the badgers had scraped up the field. in the churchyard after mow...