Advice on converting an ex maize field to a wild flower meadow

[Sarah]

Hello, our parish council in south Somerset is about to take in hand a field that is currently growing maize. (It will in due course be used as an extension to the cemetery). I believe the farmer has offered to sow it with a wild flower mix in the autumn, which is great. But... Does anybody have any experience of this? I imagine there would be (far) too much fertility in the soil for this to work. If so, how would you advise bringing the fertility down? Any thoughts, experience much appreciated.

[Jen]

Hello Sarah It will be interesting to see what happens to the maize field as it returns to a more natural ecosystem. My suggestion would be to contact Somerset Wildlife Trust who are creating and working with landowners and farmers to join together Living Landscapes. They may have done this before nearby!! Or know of ecological consultants or other contacts and organisations who have tended soil after maize production in Somerset.

I would highly recommend contacting Sid Hill Ecological Gardens .. https://www.sidhillecogardens.com
His planning and design is exactly what we need - everywhere.

The post about Heligan Gardens directs you to a great article on how they did it and the National Wildflower Centre for the right type of seed.

[Stefan]

The quickest way to determine if it’s high fertility is to take soil samples and have them analysed. No one can guess the actual nutrient levels and as presumably the maize crop was taken away for silage the levels might be far lower than expected.
But if it’s grade 1 land it’ll be naturally fertile. Only a test will give the answer.

[Sarah]

Hi Stefan, that's a sensible idea. Where would you recommend sending off for soil anaylsis please?

[Stefan]

Hi Sarah.

Try any of the ones listed here … or the RHS offer the service.

https://ahdb.org.uk/knowledge-library/s ... -companies

[Donna Cox]

If you're near a Mole Valley Farmers outlet they can do soil testing (the one at Newton Abbot does anyway). You need to take about a bread bag's worth of soil to them for analysis (per field). The cost of the broad spectrum test in 2021 was £25.20.

Matt Pitts from Plantlife has made an informative short video on how to take soil samples in the field....
https://youtu.be/2t9gdvQTDlY