Every now and again something happens that restores your faith in the world’s natural order and reminds you that given time and a bit of luck all will come right in the end.
Now, we love our wooden bell tent decks – they add warmth, a touch of luxury and make the tents a darn sight easier to clean. However….when we lift them off the meadow at the end of September we are left with two nice round circles of bare earth where there was once grass and clover. Its a bit unsightly and not great for the meadow….or so I thought.
As I mentioned in an earlier post I have been growing wild flower plug plants over the last few months and have also been experimenting with scattering wild flower seed in patches on the meadow. The seed hasn’t really taken, I think because there is too much competition from the grass, and there is a possibility that the plug plants may have the same problem. Hmmmmm – what we really need is a nice bare patch of earth…..I can tell you are already there – I admit it took me a bit longer but I got there in the end.
So, no longer do we have two unsightly bare patches on the meadow. Instead we have …taadaa!….a wild flower nursery. I have a rather odd mix of wild flower plants as not all of my seedlings survived. There appears to be a mix of Oxeye Daisy, Common Sorrel, Yarrow, Ribwort Plantain, Meadow Cranesbill, Selfheal and Ladys Bedstraw. It is a start though and I am now just crossing my fingers and hoping that they make it through to next summer.
Each year we will move the bell tents and pitches to give different areas of the meadow a break, so next September I will be able to start two new nurseries in a different spot, and so on and so on, hopefully spreading the wildflowers across the meadow as we go.
