Our new Space building looks out over our wildflower patch. It’s actually quite a large patch – about 9 metres by 23 metres. And “wild” does not mean “neglected”. In fact, it requires quite a lot of attention.
Many wildflowers do best on poor soil. In that sense, our soil is not ideal; but it’s perhaps not surprising that the soil should be full of nutrients given that it’s in the middle of a farmyard!
Given the richness of the soil, grass tends to predominate. The best way of controlling it is to plant yellow rattle, a distinctive plant which is said to be semiparasitic on grass and inhibits its growth. However, yellow rattle is an annual plant, whereas most of our wildflowers are perennials. To some extent, the seeds from one generation of yellow rattle will produce the next; but some help is needed.
In June, everything is growing energetically: click on an image to enlarge it
Our June gallery
