Creating a wildflower meadow

In short: A wildflower meadow provides food and habitat for insects and needs less care than a lawn. Crucial are lean soil, native seed and mowing twice a year.

In more detail: Many wildflowers grow only on nutrient-poor soil. Rich soil favours grasses and weeds that crowd out the flowers.

In detail

• Preparation: Remove lawn, make the soil leaner (mix in sand, remove topsoil).
• Seed: Regional wildflower seed of native origin, no garden mixes.
• Sowing: In spring or autumn scatter on bare soil, press down, do not bury.
• Care: Mow twice a year (early summer and late summer), remove cuttings.
• Patience: In the first year often only a few flowers appear; from the second year it blooms richly.
• Benefits: Bees, butterflies, birds and hedgehogs profit (insekten-und-bestaeuber, igel-im-garten-schuetzen).