Put A Spring In Your Step With A Wildflower Garden

Spending time outside in nature can help foster greater wellbeing, with natural daylight helping to reinforce our internal body clock, improving how we sleep.

With that in mind, Spring is the perfect time of year to get out into the garden, take stock and make plans for the year ahead – and if you’re green fingered, consider what you might want to plant.

We’ve teamed up with our sustainability and environmental partner, the Eden Project, to share some advice on creating a beautiful wildflower garden this Spring.

Here, the National Wildflower Centre at the Eden Project share their tips for creating one of nature’s most beautiful outdoor spaces.

Let Your Garden Relax

If you’re after a garden that’s generally low maintenance then why not consider creating a wildflower lawn or meadow? Bursting with colour, this type of garden is also great for wildlife and bees, creating the perfect space to connect with the natural world, for flowers and wildlife to form their own habitats, and for pollinating insects to thrive.

The simplest way to encourage wildflowers into your garden is to ‘say no to the mow’ and avoid cutting your lawn excessively throughout the warmer months. Instead, adopt a two-cut approach to your garden. This means you only mow it once in the autumn and once at the start of Spring – just make sure you remove all the cut grass so it doesn’t build up on your lawn, blocking the healthy flow of air to it.

By reducing how much you mow your garden, you’ll give perennial wildflowers a chance to push through the grass and flourish. Depending on your soil type, you can expect to see species such as rough hawkbit, yarrow and selfheal coming through, leaving your once quite lawn buzzing with life. What’s more, you’ll have time to actually enjoy it as you won’t be mowing the lawn every week!

Diversify Your Garden By Adding Plug Plants

Once a few wildflowers have started to bloom on your lawn you can give them a helping hand by planting some more wildflower seeds or even planting some wildflower plugs. These are little plants ready for you to plant straight into the ground – perfect if you’re after quick results!

You can purchase these plugs online or at any good garden centre, just be sure to buy them from a UK source, or even better, a local garden centre to ensure you’re keeping the carbon footprint of your order or purchase down.

You can even make your own plug plants if you fancy it. Just plant your favourite wildflower seeds into small pots or a small nursery bed. If you don’t have huge amounts of outside space, then you could always have a go at growing some wildflowers in window boxes instead.

If You Can’t Make A Wildflower Lawn Or Meadow, Make A Wildflower Border Instead

If you can’t turn your lawn into a wildflower meadow, then consider creating a wildflower border or bed.

To do this you’ll need to lay a couple of inches of inert substrate, such as sand. This helps to keep competing grasses or plants at bay, giving your wildflowers the best chance to survive and prosper.

Simply sow your seeds or plug plants directly into this at a sowing rate of 2g per square metre and soon you’ll be able to enjoy the benefits of a beautifully wild and natural border.