Turning a small patio garden into a mini wildflower meadow

[Marinapeppina]

We live in an upper floor flat with steps down to our garden, direct access. It’s completely paved at the moment and I’d like to turn it into an eco garden.

how feasible is this? We’d hire someone to do it. We never ever use the garden as it is so I’d just like it to look nice and be a bit more ecologically friendly.

Making it ecologically friendly is a super idea and it could look very beautiful.

However, wildflower meadows are hard work and you do need to know what you are doing to create one.

I also think the way to go is to have pots with plants that are attractive to bees and butterflies, such as lavender and buddleia.

You could plant creeping thymes in the paving cracks and install a barrel pond for wildlife - fill it with rainwater and pop in some plants (you can buy packs of plants selected for tiny ponds) and don’t add any fish.

I think it could be very enjoyable for you too.

Removing a level patio is incredibly hard work. There will be rubble hardcore, then a ballast or sand layer then the mortar base for the slabs. You will have to pay for a skip and labour etc.

There are lots of ways to encourage wildlife into your garden without resorting to a wild flower meadow.

Do you own the boundaries?

If you neglect it as a patio and are really only interested in something to look at then be aware that anything growing needs attention. I’d start with something very simple like some big pots and see how it goes.

Following for inspiration. We have lots of raised beds that are currently home to weeds and ants! I've planted/sowed a few things but this is great info. Also very excited about a barrel pond now!

You can get wild meadow turf. It is more expensive, but it is obviously quicker. You can get different varieties for different areas as well

Pots are good for flying things but not good for the entire eco side, firstly there’s watering. Secondly you’re really limiting what happens to what can get in the pots. So you start at the base of the food chain by encouraging worms and beetles, then once you have those established the next layer will come and so on and so on. You dont get that with pots.

wild meadows aren’t a huge amount of work, once established. They do spend a lot of time looking a bit shit and you have to hold your nerve.
getting established and the right mix is the tricky bit - hence being a big fan of turf if you can afford it.

lift up the slabs have a look, also put in hedgehog highways and water. Kate Bradbury has a great book on gardening for wildlife and the rhs plant finder website is excellent.

I would think about wooden planters/ raised beds and fill with pollinators. And then cover the paving with small beach stones. I’ve done this with my tiny yard and it looks incredible.

We put this in our small urban garden. www.turfonline.co.uk/product/species-rich-lawn-turf/ Some people think it looks odd but we like it!

Then turning what’s there into a wild flower meadow is hugely hard work, it needs redoing each year, digging out, turning over, replanting, and during the winter will just be nothing. Although that’s commonly referred to as a wildflower meadow it isn’t actually a meadow. It’s an assemblage of corn field weeds, usually annuals, which can’t cope with competition and therefore rely on the ground being cleared annually by ploughing for the next wheat crop. The clues are in the names, cornflower, corn cockle, corn marigold etc.

Meadows on the other hand are for hay, the flowers are mainly perennial because it’s difficult for a seedling to take hold in a grass sward, things like clovers, buttercups, self heal, bedstraw, if you’re lucky, orchids. It’s managed by mimicking a hay meadow - let the animals (lawnmower) on till May, shut them out while the hay crop grows, cut it down in late July, then let the mower back on to graze the “aftermath”.

Don't take up the patio. Instead, build raised flowerbeds and get loads of pots and troughs. Thats what I did to my back yard and it looks gorgeous now with so many bees and insects visiting.

My best discovery, though, was erigeron which are daisies which grow super quickly and flower for ages.. Presumably Erigeron karvinskiana which are delicate daisy like plants, not Erigeron glauca which are bigger less delicate looking flowers with fleshy leaves. Equally useful in the garden but not the same effect .

Things need different sorts of attention. I find it easier to cope with major attention to my own timescale than lots of minor attention with no flexibility. Pots need watering daily in hot weather, and you have to find someone to help when you’re away. An apple tree may need a major pruning session but you can do it any time from late autumn to early spring, and you can go away for weeks without a thought.

I’d always get things into the ground if I could.

This.

Meadows are very in at the moment with lots of seed mixes available, and I think people imagine you just scatter the seeds around and voilà! It's quite a bit more complicated than that, especially if you want it to come back year after year.

There are lots of ordinary plants and shrubs which pollinators and insects love
(boring old buddleia for a start!) which will be much easier to grow and look after, an which will bring in lots of wildlife.

I was just reading in the RHS magazine about a new build development with some interesting wildlife friendly planting rather than just grass. It’s low maintenance and drought tolerant.
might be a good alternative to a meadow
https://www.bethchatto.co.uk/discover/our-blog/guides/planting-at-chattowood-housing-development.htm#

Absolutely no advice - just coming on to say that sounds lovely

Ironic that an advertisement for artificial grass keeps popping up when I open this thread.

Hateful stuff!

That development sounds very forward thinking and inspirational. I love the idea of it and the results are incredible.

I’m slowly replanting under hard surfaces in my garden and it is back breaking and expensive - I can do about 120x90cm at a time with digging up what’s under the pavers and replacing it. If you don’t do it properly it’s waterlogged and not fertile. In a smaller yard environment I built raised beds around the edge - be brave with scale so you don’t end up a slave to the watering.

Lamb's Ears plants attract bees like mad! We have them in pots. We got them last year, and have divided them into seven plants this year.

I discovered them whilst walking around our neighbourhood during our allowed hour's exercise during lockdown. I was mesmerised - I'd never seen so many bees on a plant. I took photos and googled when I got home

Wow, that's brilliant! I will see if I can them. Anything like this i love. The rosemary bush we have attracts lots of bees too

Lambs ear = stachys byzantina