You may be wondering why there is a barren semi-charred field on the “other side of the tent.” What you are seeing is a moment of transition. In the next two years this field will become a thriving, colorful meadow with wildflowers, butterflies and birds. But creating a meadow from seed, as we are doing, takes a couple of years. Here’s the timetable:
We are in the midst of completing a one-year process of preparing the site. Site preparation has involved removing and suppressing weeds that would otherwise overtake any seedlings trying to break through the ground. It also involves planting a cover crop (completed last year) to inject nitrogen naturally back into a depleted soil that had been fallow for years.
Not everything went according to plan. (Remember the “weed-eating goats”?) Nor to schedule. We determined that a subsurface holding tank was needed to address runoff from the parking lot, which interrupted the planting of the cover crop.
But all that is water under the bridge (or ground) and we’re on to Phase 2.
Starting mid-to-late fall this year, our meadow’s seeds will be sown. We have hired expert meadow guru Nick Novik who will be roughing up the ground, removing more than a few rocks that emerged when the tank was installed, and sowing our meadow-to-be seeds. The seeds will then overwinter; a process needed for their biological systems to be set. In other words, simulating the seed’s natural overwintering process helps them develop a stronger embryo, a softer seed coat, and better preparation to absorb water and nutrients, leading to improved germination rates for many perennials and native plants.
And then spring will be here. The seeds will sprout, and with each passing week we should notice more and more green. This will continue throughout next summer, as the seedlings spend their energy and time growing and strengthening their root systems preparing to become fully developed plants.
This is the wonderful phase in which the seeds that became small plants over the summer, will once again go into dormancy to continue building their root systems required to support full grown adult plants. Voila! A beautiful self-seeding thriving meadow will begin to emerge in the spring. We will have a path that will run from the main entrance framed by the arbor and from the left side of the parking lot (on the other side of the tent) for all of us to enjoy the natural beauty that’s been hiding in our backyard for decades.
Sources:
Larry Weaner: https://www.lwladesign.com/perspectives/establishing-a-seeded-meadow-what-to-expect/
Wild Seed Project: https://wildseedproject.net/blog/return-of-the-meadow