Meadow ideas / inspiration

[Ideaswoman]

Hello,
I have stuck a load of pots down on two triangular areas at the back of our garden where we did no-now this year with fairly unspectacular results (just a few ragworts and some not very tall grass).

I'm thinking if we leave these pots (some containing random bulbs, some just weighed down with soil, some taken from displays elsewhere in the garden) on over winter, say until early March, we would have sufficiently weakened or killed the grass to enable sewing of seeds of annuals/wildflowers/taller grasses etc.

My questions are: is this even a good idea? What flowers may work best for this? Budget is not big and with small kids we don't have much free time for faffing with anything. Just sew and forgot ideally. At most plug perennials - would they work? That back bit of the garden is north facing but the two areas are reasonably exposed so would get a fair bit of sun.

Thanks in advance!
Actually I was surprised how good just having random pots of things that had gone over looked all clustered together ...

You’d do better to lift the turf from the two areas and with it the top few cm of fertile soil. Then you’d be able to sow your annuals on the less fertile soil, where the grass would have less of an advantage.

Wildflower meadows are not easy to grow. As we all know, neglected gardens don't turn themselves into beautiful vistas of native wildflowers, they just grow tussocky grass and ragwort and are a pain in the neck.

Leaving the pots on the grass will leave you pot-bottom-shaped spots where the grass has died back but they are unlikely to join up properly and the roots may spring back to life.

If you want a wildflower meadow do what @MereDintofPandiculation says (she's always right); if you want an easy way to make a new flower bed for more cultivated stuff then put something like a sheet of cardboard under the pots so you get a good bit of coverage; in the spring take it off and rummage out the roots that are left, and plant there.

Ok, thanks both! I'm sure I'll accumulate enough cardboard over the winter months to put some under the pots. I haven't the time or inclination to actually dig out the top layer of turf (but appreciate the advice). I guess it's going to be a fun process of experimentation whatever happens!

I haven't the time or inclination to actually dig out the top layer of turf (but appreciate the advice) It's not as difficult or time consuming as it sounds. Take a spade and cut two lines about 7cm deep, a spade with apart, and the length of the bed. Cut across at about 30 -40cm intervals. Place spade under one end and lift the slab of turf. The top few centimetres is massed grass roots, which end abruptly, so if you get the spade under that , it lifts easily in one slab. I could do the area you're talking about in about an hour.

If you don't want to compost the turf, place it upside down along the line of the hedge where it'll rot down and give extra nutrient to the hedge.

Ok! I might do that with one of the beds and not the other then as a bit of an experiment. I quite like the idea of having some grass surviving to give a bit of a meadow effect. I'll post back my results ...thanks for good tips, esp about feeding the hedge!