Trying to make a meadow which has rich soil

[David Crook]

A very interesting conversation has just taken place on the Moor Meadows email exchange and I thought it would be helpful to post it here on the forum for those of you who aren’t in the email exchange. The question was as follows:

“I have just cleared a small area (10m x 6m) of nettles and hemlock (including roots) just opposite my barn. I plan to sow a mixture of native grasses and wild flowers in the next few weeks. What company and seed mixture would your recommend? There will obviously be nettle and hemlock seeds lying dormant, but I presume these will be having to compete with the newly sow seed so shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Is this the case?”

Comment 1: The presence of nettles in the area you’ve cleared suggests that it is very fertile and wild flowers will struggle to compete with the nettle seed and tougher grasses. As it’s near a barn there might have been a manure heap there at some point.

One option would be to plant a crop like potatoes in the cleared area this year. They would suppress the nettles and reduce the fertility so that you could plant the wild flower mix in the autumn. The other advantage of doing that is that you could collect local seed from a nearby meadow over the summer. There are lots of Moor Meadows members in the Chagford/Moreton area. If you want to press ahead, contact Julian at Goren Farm to see if he has any seed left: https://www.goren.co.uk/.

Comment 2: It sounds like your soil there is very rich if it has lots if nettles etc. Wildflower seeds will not compete well with those species so you would probably need to remove a good bit of topsoil to get down to poorer soil conditions...
Comment 3: Why not add some arable weed seed, eg poppies, corn marigold, corn cockle?
Comment 4: Courgettes, Marrows and Squash?

Comment 5: What about Jerusalem artichokes?

Comment 6: I would definitely leave it a year to get on top of nettle regrowth from roots and seeds, and to check if there are other challenging weeds such as couch grass and bindweed. this also gives a chance to remove some of the nutrients by harvesting the top growth and adding it to your compost heap. Then I would advise that it's best to treat it as a garden rather than wildflower area. As others have said, sounds like it would be great for potatoes, squash and other heavy-feeding plants - remember that potatoes were first introduced to Europe as a prized tender ornamental plant for the beautiful flowers in whites, pinks and purples depending on the variety. It took quite a while to convince people that it wasn't poisonous and could be eaten!

Research by Sheffield University, the RHS and others shows that the next best thing to native plants for wildlife are those that are closely related to native species (ie. in the same genus) as they can support many of the same invertebrates etc. Shrubs would be my first thought as they will thrive on high nutrients, compete well with weeds and give year-round interests as well as structural habitat diversity - a range of niches for many different species from nesting birds to invertebrates. Roses (David Austin's English roses are a good bet) would do well there as they thrive in rich soils, there are ornamental willows and dogwoods that can be coppiced for stem colour - willows also give important early pollen for bumble bees. Fruit trees on dwarfing rootstocks may do well depending on aspect/drainage, they give great blossom and most are closely related to native species. There are also decorative forms of other shrubs such as purple-leaved hazel and elder (if coloured/variegated leaf plants are your taste - it's a divisive issue) whilst some of the less invasive ornamental species of comfrey, and some of the more robust geranium species would make a good weed-supressing ground cover under the shrubs. You could also have native or garden bulbs planted underneath for spring flowers. There are of course many more native-adjacent garden plants which would make a lovely garden that is working with the site conditions rather than against them.

[David Crook]

Another comment just in: Nettles are great for some caterpillars and make super soup

[jo treweek]

Someone suggested jerusalem artichokes. Having introduced these to my garden some years ago I now have to contend with a forest of them several metres tall that seem impossible to get rid of.... only so many "fartichokes" a family can consume....

[Jane W]

Yes, I share the experience with Jerusalem artichokes...pretty difficult to get rid of once they're established....and also the stems are quite tough, and difficult to cut, I seem to remember, so tricky even to scythe or mow.
Just looking at the rhubarb coming up this morning... and maybe that's another suggestion...as its very nutrient hungry and easy to harvest, fairly disease resistant, low maintenance etc.