Wildflower area - help needed.

Not an expert on this, but maybe a few observations might help? Firstly, it's a bit of a puzzle that the flowers used to be there but have now disappeared - has this area always flooded, or is this a recent thing? This could have made less than optimal conditions (eg seeds drowned and unable to germinate) - grass seems to be less susceptible to this sort of thing. Also, you say that  because of the flooding the soil is quite fertile - in my experience, this is actually a BAD thing for wild flowers which do better in poorer soil (poor soil = more flowers as they get desperate to reproduce quickly!). I'm not sure how you could reduce the soil fertility if this is indeed the problem, but someone out there may have a suggestion. Perhaps you could trial a small area to see if this has any effect? Keeping the grass short-ish while species get established may also help (not too short or you will also mow the flowers, clearly!). By the same token, you also need to make sure you don't mow until the plants have cast their seed. We're lucky in having (more or less accidentally!) a lovely mix of wildflowers in with our rather old and neglected lawn - the only thing we ever do to it is mow it a little when it starts getting a bit shaggy!

Hope some of this helps?

Hi WF - I don't know it this is viable for you or whether you have the rest of that (what looks to be) large area ear-marked for something else. If you haven't and if you are using seed to start your meadow, might you be able to scatter / sow over a larger portion of that area and see what transpires? I was just thinking that, that way, the wild flowers would be able to show you where they want to grow.

Hi WF - I've been looking through my books for you and this is what I've found so hope it helps.  Unfortunately though, it doesn't say anything about an area which is prone to flooding

As Cartimandua has said, a fertile lawn is not great for creating a wildlife meadow, as it encourages the grass to grow as well as the plants you have put in, also if the grass species is coarse, this also deters flowering plants from succeeding.  Here are some suggestions:

• If you know that the turf is fertile, cut it very low (1-2cm) and often, for a year.  During this time, apply no fertilizer and remove all grass cuttings after mowing.  This reduces soil fertility, giving wild flower species a chance.
• Strip the existing vegetation back to the surface of the soil.  Sow a wild-flower seed mixture over the area.  This gives the wild flowers a better start on the site, with less competition from strong grasses.
• Strip the vegetation and sow with a special grass mix containing native meadow grasses.  These will compete less with flowering plants than coarser grass species.
• Bent (Agrostris) or fescue (Festuca) are less invasive and the wild flowers will thrive among these.
• Maintining your garden: Three cuts a year to stop the grass from becoming coarse and swamping other plants.  Each time, rake up and remove all cuttings and compost them if possible.
• In October & November, give the meadow a very low cut, within 2-5cm of the ground.  This allows you to see any spring flowers amongst the short grass and it will not need cutting again until the summer.
• Leave the next trim until all the early summer flowers have finished flowering and seeding in early July.
• This gives the seeds time to scatter and so increase the flowers for next year's display.  Cut to within 8cm of the soil surface.
• Make a third cut to 8cm at the end of August.

Phew!

That's impressive Kezmo, and VERY useful and helpful information. Well done you for finding it and (possibly) typing it all out (or did you copy & paste?).

Thank you Squirrel ! nope all typed out by my own little fingers! Don't do much typing any more and had to have  a cup of tea afterwards!

Thanks for that Kezmo, I’m a two finger typist too so I know how much effort that took.

I have been mowing the area for eight years and removing the clippings and it hasn’t helped, each flood just replaces the nutrients.

The grass that is there is very coarse and it’s a tall growing variety. If I want summer flowers my only hope will be to remove all the grass and start again. It’s a huge area and the ground is rock hard.

I have made a note of your suggested mowing times and I’ll follow it next year and see how it goes. I’ll post the results next year. If all else fails I can at least have a spring meadow. The area is full of spring bulbs that make an appearance before the grass swamps them.

Think you hit the nail on the head when you said it floods and you get fertile silt as grass loves that and probably grows so fast so it crowds everything out,difficult to correct unless you can stop flooding and introduce some poor soil but sadly probably one case when with the best will in the world so costly as to make it impractical.Sorry for giving my view which is not what you would want to hear but most wildflowers if not all are on relatively poor soil. 

There is not a chance of stopping it flooding, where the snowdrops and crocuses are now is 5-6ft deep when it floods, I also think the Environmental agency might be a tad cross if I tried.

My only option is to work with the conditions and find the flowers which will grow and flower before I have to mow. It’ll be a few years of trial and error but I’m an optimist and very determined.