Meadow management

[feelinglikepeaches]

I’m year 4 with my perennial meadow which I started from scratch (ie removed turf). There’s good diversity and wildlife. However everything including the grasses and flowers gets so tall and when wet and with dogs can get messy. At the moment I just mow once at the end of Summer- does anyone have a mowing regime (eg mowing at a high setting in Spring??) that helps keep things shorter and more like a traditional meadow? I think I probably need sheep!

If you mow in early spring, you won’t have flowers. That’s the problem with the ‘meadow’, it’s not a garden, it’s a meadow. It’s meant either to be grazed, or left until May/ June and then cut and baled for hay ( then grazed).

you could mow some paths through it in Spring, so that you had access.

I experimented with the ‘meadow’ the first time round in the 1980’s! I came to the conclusion that it was more trouble and less interesting than perennial flower beds and a shrubbery.

We have hay meadows (8 acres) they get cut and baled in June, then again late Summer. Slowly returning to a more diverse sward.
I agree with moving a path through. How large is your meadow ? As you could also experiment with different habitats to benefit wildlife if that is your main motivation.

You can try a mow at the end of May, then leave it to grow till end Aug.

Traditional meadow is grazed over winter, shut up in about May, hay crop taken off late July (after 15th July is specified in Environmental Stewardship Schemes in N England)then animals let in again when it’s grown back up. You can leave the hay cut till end Aug if you want to enjoy the flowers for longer.

That’s really helpful- thank you!

Completely agree with an earlier cut and collect, we cut our meadow back in late May and it's much better this year. Before that we had red campion up to my shoulder level! We'll do another one in late October.

Should say ours is a Pictorial Meadow ( Woodland Edge) not a traditional cornfield meadow.

Meadow is not huge- 25m x5m. Impressed with your acreage Mrji! Tackling tree boundary this year which is overshadowing part and encourages lawn grass to invade. Just raking off the mowings this weekend and transporting 100s of frogs!

Yeah, I have the same problem, my “meadow” is migrating across the lawn as it chases the sun. Next year I shall mow a wide path at the S.