Create lean meadow and fat meadow and care tips

Colorful and rich in species - this is how rich and poor meadows present themselves. The location and also the soil decide which type of meadow is suitable for your own garden. Meadows rich in flowers are becoming increasingly popular among hobby gardeners. With the colorful meadows you get a piece of wild nature in your own garden. But spreading plant seeds alone is not enough. Because in order to create rough meadows and rich meadows, you have to make some important preparations beforehand.

Valuable biotope in your own garden

In times of monoculture and heavily cultivated areas, lush flowering meadows are a thing of the past. The species-rich landscapes can almost only be found in domestic parks and gardens. There, flower meadows offer a variety of plants and endangered animal species an ideal and safe retreat. The gardener himself can not only enjoy a colorful meadow, but can also lean back and relax in summer. Because mowing the lawn or fertilizing will do more damage to flower meadows than benefit them.

Lean or fat meadow, the location ultimately decides. Depending on the location and the substrate, however, it is by no means unusual for both types of meadow to be present in the garden. This can occur, for example, on an extremely steep slope. The nutrients flushed out and the rainwater collect on the flattened areas, while the slope itself is suitable for rough meadows. Before you start sowing suitable wild plants, however, the priority is to prepare the soil.

Create fat meadow

Nutrient-rich meadows, often also referred to as fat pastures, fresh meadows or intensive grassland, can provide a habitat for around 40 different types of plants. In the case of fat meadows, however, not only the location is decisive. Because if the spot was previously maintained as a bed or ornamental lawn, the area can definitely be used as a fresh meadow in the first few years. Only after 2 to 3 years can you be sure whether you can use the area for a species-rich dry meadow. Maintaining a fat meadow in an unfavorable place is difficult, if not impossible. Because the heavily consuming plants withdraw the vital nutrients from the soil. Unlike in ornamental or useful beds, the application of organic fertilizer is difficult, because flower meadows in particular are extremely sensitive to foot traffic. Another problem: on particularly hot summer days, the fat willow must be adequately supplied with water. A professional soil analysis can tell you more about the nature of the substrate and what type of lawn is suitable for your garden.

You have two options for creating a lush meadow: either you create the area from scratch or you transform an existing ornamental lawn into a lush flowering landscape. While the first method is labor intensive, the latter will require some patience from you. So that the existing lawn plants do not crowd out the wild flowers and herbs, you must first weaken the lawn. Stop fertilizing and use a scarifier to remove moss pads. The seeds are sown on the resulting bare spots. In the first few months, mowing is still done as usual and as short as possible. This weakens the grass plants, and at the same time you can effectively suppress the growth of unwanted weeds. When redesigning the garden, you can already create the ideal basis for a fat meadow:

1. stake out area.
2. Completely remove the soil to about 50 cm.
3. Mix the excavated earth with large amounts of clay, horn shavings and compost.
4. Fill back the prepared substrate and start sowing.

A fat meadow can be cut back 2 to 3 times a year with a lawn mower or a scythe. The plants are shortened to a maximum of 8 centimeters. To increase the nutrients, you should leave part of the clippings and not break them off.

The design of a lean meadow

Of the more than 200 different "meadow types", rough meadows are clearly among the most species-rich. The more lime content the soil has and the poorer it is in nutrients, the more varied the colors of the flowers and herbs on it. Butterflies, bees and bumblebees find a wide range of food here almost continuously from March to September. A dry meadow also requires little maintenance and can consciously be left to its own devices. Due to the slow growth of the plants, mowing is only necessary once in September. Creating a lean meadow in your own garden also requires a lot of effort. The first important step is to completely stop feeding. To turn an ornamental lawn into a poor meadow, proceed as follows:

1. Roughly remove withered grass and moss pads with a rake.
2. Use the scarifier to chop up the roots.
3. Fill in bare spots with sand and lime.
4. Sow flower and herb seeds.
5. Keep treated areas moist and do not step on them.

The lawn plants must not have the opportunity to displace the plants in the flower meadow. Here, too, regular pruning in the first year is absolutely necessary. In contrast to wet and fatty meadows, however, you should dispose of the clippings in the compost as quickly as possible. If a fallow area is redesigned, lime and sand are roughly applied. You can do without a deeper removal of the soil if the site has not been intensively cultivated and fertilized beforehand.

care tips

Give your lean or fat meadow time to develop. The process can sometimes take several years. With a few simple tricks, the resilience and vigor of wild plants can be promoted. You should lay out stone slabs or gravel paths to cross the meadow area. Rich and poor meadows not only offer plants, but also small animals and insects a safe habitat. Therefore, mow the meadow piece by piece and at different times. In shops for beekeeping supplies you can often get seeds for bee-friendly flowers at reasonable prices. These are perennial and extremely robust. Flower meadows are not limited to any particular size. Even in a few square meters you can create the variety of plants from poor and fat meadows.

Conclusion

Rich and poor meadows are species-rich biotopes in which particularly endangered plant species can often be found. The flower meadows are extremely easy to cultivate and do not require any complex care measures. Only the preparation and the creation of the area requires a lot of work and patience. The location and the soil conditions mainly determine which "meadow type" is suitable for your garden.

Worth knowing about rough meadows shortly

Background & Special Features

• A poor meadow is characterized by the fact that it is very poor in nutrients and yet many different plants grow and thrive on it.
• However, since the soil is poor in nutrients and the location of such a meadow is usually quite sunny, there is only tentatively growing vegetation.
• So you have to mow a poor meadow at most twice a year.
• Basically, the more nutrients a soil contains, the faster they grow grasses and the more often the meadow has to be mowed.
• Frequent mowing does not give many types of flowers the opportunity to flower.
• If you would rather have a natural biotope in your garden, then you should decide to create a poor meadow.

Create lean meadow

• First, the existing lawn must be removed.
• A layer of 2 to 3 cm of sand is then applied to the floor and worked into the existing floor with a rake.
• So that the water can drain off better later due to precipitation, it is highly recommended to first work in a layer of gravel.
• After the sand has been introduced, the floor may still need to be whitewashed - depending on the basic condition of the floor.
• Basically, you don't have to do anything else, because the course of nature itself ensures that this area is now visited by plants.
• Due to the pollen flight and also animals, a number of different grasses, flowers and herbs settle as if by magic.
• But you can also help nature a little and sow wildflower seeds on the future lean meadow.
• In addition, you can preferred flowers or Herbs plant and also increase the abundance of flowers with a few bulbs and tubers.
• If it is a wild flower seed, then the surface must be smoothed over with running boards or smoothed out with a roller.
• The area must be watered regularly for the first four to six weeks so that the seeds can germinate.
• Rainwater, which is collected in a barrel, is best suited for this. Rainwater is much softer than tap water.
• You have to mow the poor meadow twice a year at most, with the beginning of June and the end of September being the best times.
• So that the lean meadow can continue to thrive, the clippings must be removed in any case.

Animals and plants in the poor meadow

Predominantly plants can be found in the poor meadow. Particularly suitable are: white clover, meadow clover, ranunculus, dandelion, yarrow, common dock, thistle, common trefoil, goat's beard, daisy, daisy, Lesser Hawkweed, Curled Dock and the Many-Leafed Lupine.

There are also many animals that are attracted by the many different plants. Insect life in particular is increasing rapidly and so there are many butterflies, bees and a wide variety of beetles and flies. They are attracted to the nectar of plants and attract many insectivorous birds themselves. Many slugs, woodlice and centipedes also settle on and in the ground. Ground beetles, various worms and slow worms are also constant visitors to a poor meadow. These animals find ideal living conditions here.

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