We have found the most effective way to hand cut a wildflower meadow is to use a hedge trimmer, if you don’t have access to one a strimmer will suffice. Never leave the cuttings to mulch down on top, always collect.
Maintenance Cutting Regime Options:
- Late Summer Drought Cut – August – cut down to 5 cm – and collect all cuttings – Used in hot dry summers / droughts where flowering is over quickly, as a “tidy-up”. Ensure to give it a good water following the cut. This cut is used when the life cycle of the Wildflowers has been turbocharged that season due to extreme heat, and so their flowering is over quicker than normal. No autumn maintenance cut is required if completing a late summer cut. But instead an early Spring cut will be required the following year.
- Autumn Maintenance Cut – September / October – cut down to 2 – 5 cm – and collect all cuttings – Often used as the main and only cut of the year when the weather patten has been fairly average. Ensure to give it a good water following the cut, it will then turn green within a week ready for overwintering. Left alone over Winter, nothing to be done apart from carefully raking off any leaf fall if required (leaves can block light levels for seeds, hindering their germination rate the following season, they can also mulch down creating extra unwanted fertility in that area). Autumn cut can be completed as early as mid-September. Do not perform the Autumn cut later than the last week of October, as the weather still needs to be mild enough for the area to recover and go green ready for overwintering. Needs to be completed well before first frost sets in.
- Early Spring Cut – February / March – cut down to 2 – 5 cm – and collect all cuttings – Spring cut before active growth starts, in late February / early March to reduce the height of the sward following a mild Winter where the meadow may have already started to grow some height back. Or in instances when a prior Autumn cut was not appropriate and therefore skipped.
- Early Summer HIGH Cut –May / June – cut down to 15 – 20 cm – and collect all cuttings – The proactive approach with longevity in mind, to reduce fertility & species dominance. Often referred to as the ‘Chelsea chop’ as it’s completed in late May / Early June when Chelsea Flower show is on! Yes you may be cutting it whilst it’s looking its best, however you will end up with a more robust & more diversified specie mix later in the year. This high cut is virtually just taking only the flowers off, rather than letting it get leggy and go over with wind / rain. Because once it goes over, there’s nothing that can be done – this cut prevents that from happening in the first place. Gives the flowers a chance to re-boot and re-flower, drawing more fertility out of the ground in order for them to flower again. Keeping the meadow slightly shorter and more diverse, opening up light levels, to help shorter species. Encourages later flowering, sometimes even in October. Give it a good water once sward is opened up. The early Summer cut is often used when the meadow is on a very fertile soil, dominant species starting to grow & take over, reduce it back allowing for a level playing field.
Key points to consider:
- These regimes are based on you having a healthy meadow as you expect it to be. (I.e if it’s an inherited site, or you’ve seeded it and it’s gone wrong etc then other regimes may be required)
- We recommend no more than 2x cuts per year for a healthy meadow
- With the ever-changing climate, it’s also important to remember that the maintenance regime(s) you carry out this season, may not necessarily be the same for following season(s)
- Important to consider any annual species you may have in the meadow – once you cut them, they won’t be seen again (so in some instances it’s best to postpone any cutting until mid-late Autumn)
- Every meadow is different and unique, if you are unsure on what cut to do and when, we would encourage you to send us photos and a little background history of the meadow and we can advise further
