The rise of the pocket meadow in domestic gardens

It seems our roadsides and meadows are not the only places blooming with wild flowers, the UK’s domestic gardens are too.

In the past two years we have sold more than 127,000 packs of our Mini Meadow Wild Flower Seed with rootgrow™*, which, when planted covers an area the size of 86 football pitches, that is an additional 150 acres of wild flowers in our gardens alone!

Pockets of wild flowers in domestic gardens provide rich biodiversity, creating nectar and pollen for bees, butterflies, moths and other invertebrate, essential food for birds and bats and they also play an important role in supporting the wider ecosystem and improving soil health, something that we are passionate about.

Our sales director, Simon Taylor believes this is down to a number of factors: “Many of us have a greater understanding of the benefits of wild flowers thanks to the work of conservation charities such as Plantlife, which work tirelessly to save threatened grasslands and create new ones.

“Wild flowers are also relatively low maintenance, they reseed year after year to provide a patch of nature, making them great for anyone with a busy lifestyle that wants to create a habitat for wildlife in their garden.”

We spoke to Dr Trevor Dines, Botanical Specialist, Plantlife, he told us that “The colour, structure and scent provided by native wild flowers in a garden is a joy to behold and something every gardener should consider; wild flowers are hardy, resilient and well adapted to our climate and soils. But their appeal is so much more than aesthetic and practical; bees, birds, butterflies and other wildlife rely intrinsically on wild flowers to survive and flourish. Opening your garden to the glories of native wild flowers is an act of love – fostering new relationships with species such as ragged-Robin and pasqueflower that are declining rapidly in the wild. With 97% of wildflower meadows having been eradicated in less than a century, and the last remaining fragments of grasslands increasingly vulnerable, there has never been a more important time to embrace and foster the wild in your own garden.”

Our Mini Meadow Wild Flower Seed’s contain 17 specially selected flowers and plants that can be found in lowland meadow habitats and are listed by the RHS as perfect for pollinators. The mixture also contains soil-conditioning rootgrow Mycorrhizal Fungi which has the ability to improve the long term health of soil and unlock and access nutrients from it far more efficiently than the plants own roots, reaching further into the soil seeking all available moisture, minimising the need for synthetic fertilisers and pesticides.

How to sow your mini meadow

Ideal for sowing in the Spring or Autumn.

Wild flowers can be sensitive to competition from weeds and so prepare your ground by clearing weeds and other debris.
Rake over an area of 3m² (approx. 2m diameter circle) to level the soil leaving a rough surface for the seeds to fall into.
Broadcast the contents of the packet across the prepared area
Keep well watered.