EP223- First Week Of Sun, Creating Wildflower Meadows in Ireland: Tips for Spring Success & More

In this weeks episode we celebrate as Ireland's gardens awaken in a rare dry spell after many months of rain. Gardens are coming to life and it feels like we can start in earnest to get going and growing in our gardens. We'll guide you through nurturing your seedlings against the of spring weather. Crack open the greenhouse doors and join the buzz of activity as I share essential tips for keeping your tender plants safe from the chill. We'll also discuss the wonders of capillary matting, a garden lifesaver that keeps your green oasis hydrated under the intense heat that can build at this time of year.

We explore the creation of native wildflower meadows and the new course John has created with the guidance of expert wildflower grower  Sandro Cafolla.
Sandro's insights help us on the path to building ecosystems of enduring beauty and wildlife havens within our gardens.  I'll recount the joy of watching my own wildflower meadow flourish from Sandro's seeds, becoming a self-sustaining ecosystem that bring joy and supports biodiversity. You can find our collaborative course designed to arm you with the knowledge to cultivate your own patch of Ireland's natural heritage.

Master My Garden Wildflower Course is available here:
https://mastermygarden.com/grow-your-own-wildflower-meadow/

To Buy Native Irish Wildflower Seeds visit here:
http://www.wildflowers.ie

If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
Email:  info@mastermygarden.com   

Check out Master My Garden on the following channels   
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Until next week  
Happy gardening  
John  

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:12

How's it going everybody? And welcome to episode 223 of Master my Garden podcast. Now, this week it's a bit of a celebration here in Ireland anyway, because for the first time in about five months, we've had a week without any rain and it's very, very welcome, you know, as gardeners and for everybody in general, even if you have nothing to do with gardening, it has been so welcome. It has been a really dry week and a really drying week, so we've had not overly warm temperatures, except for last weekend, you know, last Saturday, sunday, we had good warm temperatures, felt almost summer-like at times, but there has been a wind all the time and that's really, you know, really drying up the ground. So loads of people are getting, you know getting work done. Now People are getting outside, getting planting and it has been so welcome. And you know there's a real, real sense now that we're we're kicking off and growth is kicking off spring flowers are in full bloom and the sunshine obviously amplifies them, makes them look so much better. And, yeah, there's a real, there's a real, real sense of relief that eventually it has stopped raining and that you know that things can feel a little bit normal and we can get going with so many of our jobs and there's, you know, the week itself now since then, you know, has been really dry and that's super, but the temperatures are still relatively cool, and that's that's super, but the temperatures are still relatively cool. And you know, over over this weekend this is going out on a friday, obviously and over this weekend nighttime temperatures are down at zero again for kind of two nights, three nights. Then early next week we're looking at, you know, temperatures one degree, two degrees, and but not much rain in sight, which is great. So it just shows that there still is a coolness there. And you do have to just, you know, be cautious a little bit with your seedlings, young seedlings and so on. And something else that a lot of people have flagged over the last week that we've had a really sunny week and again, that has been so welcome because light levels all along. Obviously we had a lot of rain. Welcome because light levels all along. Obviously we had a lot of rain, but light levels have been really poor, like we weren't getting, you know, even sort of sunshine in between the rain showers. It has been constantly, or had been constantly gray there for a long time, but a lot of people are actually getting caught out now with the light levels, and you know quite, quite strong sunshine over the last week, and where they're getting caught out and it has been very evident with you know, the big supermarkets as well. Where they're getting caught out is the.

Speaker 1: 2:57

The temperatures within your greenhouse can actually get quite warm at this time of the year. You know, because you have the intense sunlight and the quite strong sunlight and light levels, the temperature can build quite quickly and outside might feel cool, and so you could be pottering around or you could be going to work in the morning and feel that cool air. And you think you know my greenhouse, my polytunnel, my glasshouse, whatever it is is is okay for today, but the temperatures can get quite high in there quite, and that that can be a challenge for for seedlings as well. So you may have watered the previous day and you're thinking either good, for another day or two, because that's what we've got used to so much. So over the last few months, you know you water and you don't have to look back at them for for two, three, four days at times, and now that's not the case you need to keep a very vigilant eye on them, for on a number of levels. Number one the temperature in there gets really, really hot. I did see people posting pictures during the week of glasshouse temperatures hitting 45 degrees Celsius, which is extremely high. But I can imagine, because we had really good sunlight from sort of half seven in the morning right through till seven, eight o'clock in the evening, with clear skies, and obviously if your greenhouse is completely sealed up, that temperature is building all through the day and so that can put put seedlings under pressure. So just don't forget, don't forget to peep in at them every day, make sure they're. You know they're okay, water wise particularly, and you know, in that scenario capillary matting is definitely your friend.

Speaker 1: 4:44

For any of you that don't know what capillary matting is, it's a special matting that goes underneath your plants. So you have your seedlings in trays or in pots or whatever the case may be. They all have holes in the bottom and ideally you're going to be watering from the bottom as much as possible. But with capillary matting it actually it's material that will hold the water within the material and then up through the little holes in the bottom of the pots or trays, the water will be, will be drawn up to the roots under the plant through capillary, through a capillary action and where that's a real I suppose it's a brilliant support for you in your greenhouse, is that on these really warm days you can actually put lots of water onto that, so the plants themselves would stay dry, which obviously is better for you know, in terms of disease control and so on, but you can put a lot of water in there and the plant can draw it up through there as required. So you're going to have a lot of evaporation at this time of the year from the plants, and the fact that you have all this water held underneath in capillary matting means that you just get way longer, because if you take little pots and the little multi-cell trays, for example, nine times out of ten they're black in color. The temperature can get quite high there and around the root zone and the water levels in there are not going to be that high. So if there is no reserves of water available to the plant, they can dry out very quickly and that's why, as I say, at this time, your capillary matting is a really useful and beneficial thing for you to have in your propagation area, in your greenhouse and so on, and it just, it just means that you don't get caught out, because a lot of people have got caught out.

Speaker 1: 6:31

I mentioned the supermarkets earlier and it was really interesting to see last weekend the sunshine comes along with that wind that I was speaking about, and I don't know how many pictures I saw online of various supermarkets with their trolleys and trolleys and trolleys of bedding plants and they all flattened dead. Um, it's in terms of bedding plants. It's absolutely horrible to see because it's such an intense you know, bedding plants are such an intense crop to produce and then to see them basically like they're going to be dumped. There's no question about it. I was killing some time on Saturday afternoon and ended up in another big box place. Big box place and again a similar scenario loads of veg plants, loads of bedding plants, all keeled over and dead for lack of water.

Speaker 1: 7:30

That's kind of frustrating to see. You know, just, it just doesn't make sense to have that sort of thing happening, that you, you don't have the facility to to look after them in a way that that they need, and now they are going to end up being dumped. So all of the energy, all of the compost, all of the effort, all of the transport that has gone into it and then they end up in a bin. Basically, that's kind of frustrating to see. But in our own gardens, you know, that is the. That is a bit of a challenge at this stage and you do need to watch out for it. And again, I've I've seen loads of gardeners into different online groups at the moment getting caught with that, because we have gone from this transition of almost no sunshine so temperatures in in greenhouses not rising that high to all of a sudden 12, 14 hours of good strong sunlight and everything's sealed up and then you're just getting these really high spikes in temperature. Growth is phenomenal now in greenhouses because of that. But on the flip side of it, you just have to watch your seedlings and be careful with those.

Speaker 1: 8:38

The fact that the ground has dried up is really making things in terms of the veg garden. It was really making things, you know, in terms of the veg garden. It was really making things more workable. So, for example, last saturday I got some of the potatoes into the ground, I planted earlies and second earlies, again blight-free varieties. I planted vitabella and aloe wet. So they're my two early and second early blight free varieties. And I still have to plant axona sarpo axona. So interesting to try these because these all did really well last year. You might remember me saying on the podcast well, unfortunately slugs caused a major issue for me and I didn't get to experience the potatoes as as I should have. So planting them again because they grew really well, but just I didn't get to harvest what I should have off them, and particularly the axona, that one, because it was later that one really got decimated and I didn't get to try it. So really looking forward to that, but that's all in the ground.

Speaker 1: 9:42

It's really good time now to get to get sowing. Ground temperatures are still relatively low, but the fact that it's dry and we are getting good sunshine, it's a good time to get sowing outside. Ideally, I'd like to see temperatures creeping up another bit, and I'm sure they will over the next week or two. But the big thing is now to get to get started outside. Get your seedlings out, get sowing and you know we can really kick off now. Everything, everything can start from here.

Speaker 1: 10:13

People might say this is, you know, late and you know that the season has passed, but it is absolutely not the case. When it comes to the vegetable garden You're looking at. You know, traditionally the start time was always early May and I suppose what has happened over the last number of years? People have just started to go earlier and earlier and earlier. But cycles of weather don't overly change. I know we're getting longer periods of wet, longer periods of cold and then sometimes these dry periods which we got last May, but typically when you can get out to the ground in a certain area doesn't change a huge amount from year to year and for certainly for this area here you're looking at early may and and then you can really get going outside. In some other other places you might be, you know, might be good to go straight away. So just watch for that. But definitely it's not late and don't worry if you haven't started yet. You can still still start today and have a really successful season because with the right plant combinations, with the right sowings, with the right successional sowing, you can have crops basically from June right through now to right up into the autumn and beyond that, june right through now to right up into the autumn and beyond that. So don't think that it's too late if you haven't done much yet. There's loads, loads of opportunity.

Speaker 1: 11:44

So the other thing that I noticed a lot over the last week is obviously bedding plants. I mentioned them in some of the big supermarkets, all dead in trays. But it is kicking into, or starting to come into, bedding plant season and just watch for that. At the moment it's still cool enough. A lot of those bedding plants, you know, likes the begonias and petunias. They, they don't like cold very much and, as I say, this weekend we're looking at zero, one degree, two degree for the next few days. So they definitely don't like that sort of temperature. They, they prefer 15 degrees plus all the time. So, you know, just watch that if you are, if you are getting your, your bedding plants out. There's still loads of time to sow some annuals as well. You know, certain annuals sow directly into the ground at this time of the year and they will, they will do really well from now on. So, yeah, don't don't go too early with the bedding time. Again, mid, mid, mid may, whenever the last frost has passed, that's kind of a good time to kick off. So, you know, any planters are doing, any window boxes you're doing, and the wind that we've had over the last week will do as much damage as the cool or the cold that that's there at night time, so just watch for that, but it's it's a good time to be to be getting thinking about it now.

Speaker 1: 13:03

And the main, the main topic I wanted to cover this week is the creation of wife flower meadows. So back in july 2020, I had sandra kafola on the podcast and sandra kafola, for anyone that doesn't know, is, without a doubt, the, I suppose, the most knowledgeable person on wildflowers in ireland. He has been growing them since the 80s and he knows every wildflower that's. You know even the regional ones that are, that are that will only grow in certain areas. He knows how to grow wildflowers, the one and he knows the the right mixes. He knows what will grow in certain areas of the country, what will grow in certain style types, what won't grow. More importantly and yeah, as said, there's nothing that he doesn't know in relation to Irish wild flowers and we we created a course together, which I'll go into in a minute, but the episode that we covered in July 2020, which was, you know, in we were still in COVID lockdowns at the time and it was a hugely popular episode and actually, to this day, it is the second most popular episode of the podcast. So we're 223 episodes in and this is the second most popular episode and still gets hundreds of downloads per week.

Speaker 1: 14:33

So the and what lots of people have said in relation to it is that you know they they wanted to create a wildflower meadow and when you, when you look online, it can look a little bit complicated in ways or there can be misinformation, and that episode just kind of cut through all of that and really got to the nitty gritty. Now that doesn't mean that creating a meadow is complicated, because you can walk into, you know, any garden center in the country and you'll see boxes of what they call wildflowers. Now they're floral meadows, so what they are is cultivated flowers that you can basically create a weed-free patch, sprinkle them out and you'll have phenomenal flower off them, but they're not long-term meadows. So they're cultivated flowers that are designed to flower for one year, maximum two, and then they die. They're designed to flower for one year, maximum two, and then they die. And this is where people sort of get a little bit. They're not certain of what they're actually creating.

Speaker 1: 15:40

So when you buy a floral meadow, which is typically non-native, they're sometimes called wildflowers on the boxes, but they're not. They give you that look of a wildflower meadow. They are high but they don't. They don't last, there's no longevity in it. They would have benefit for pollinators, obviously, because there is flowers in it that would be beneficial for pollinators. But they are only short-term meadows, whereas a native wildflower meadow is a long-term. It's a long-term meadow. You're basically creating an ecosystem within your garden and that's the big difference between the two.

Speaker 1: 16:20

So anybody can buy a pack of those seeds that I'm talking about, sow them as long as you have a clean seedbed, sow them and have nice flower this year, but they won't be good next year, if they're there at all. So some of them are purely annual mixes. You get high color for one year and then they disappear. But what you get with a native wildflower meadow is you get a mix of flowers. So there's annuals, biennials and perennials all in the same seed mix and they will grow and they will work at different. They will. They will grow, they will flower at different times. So obviously, year one is going to be dominated by annual flowers. You get a small number of those that will flower in year two. Year two is going to be dominated by the sort of long or the short-term perennials, for example, oxide daisy and ragged robin and so on. And then after that year three, which actually can be a year where it's not high color but the the this, the meadow will change and evolve over time and what ends up happening is you're creating a meadow. For the long time Now I sowed a wildflower meadow using seed from Sandro and I suppose my idea was there was two reasons why I sowed the meadow.

Speaker 1: 17:45

Number one I wanted to reduce the area that I was mowing. Number two I wanted it to look good because it's at the front of the house. And they were the initial. They were initial sort of main reasons for for sowing the meadow. But it has. For me it has totally changed.

Speaker 1: 18:03

So now that meadow, it has taken on something different. It's all year round. There's some activity in it, wildlife wise, the. Obviously you get a lot of pollinators when, when the flowers are out, but I planted irish grown bluebells in it. The bees are on that early in the year. There's some dandelion through it. The bees are on that at the moment. There's all other, all other native plants they're attracting in, but also different types of flies. Then the goldfinches and the bullfinches come in and they're feeding off those feeding off the seed heads of certain flowers, and so the, the meadow has become its own ecosystem, and I have been blown away by the level of, I suppose, wildlife that has been attracted to the meadow, not just the, not just the pollinator aspect of it, it has been the whole benefit to birds particularly. There was also shrews in in it all. Somewhere you could hear them squeaking, and so it became something different. But that's what a native meadow gives you over.

Speaker 1: 19:22

You know the, the floral meadows that you will typically see and, as I say, sometimes called wildflower, but in the course. So the course is with sand oats. As it starts off, it's just an introduction to wildflowers, a little bit like what, what I've spoken about there, the difference between a floral meadow and a wildflower meadow and then we get into how to sow a meadow, how how to prepare your ground, how to care for your meadow afterwards, because again, we're not looking at something that's going to flower this year and then begun the following year, and this is going to be something that's going to flower this year and then begun the following year, and this is going to be something that's going to be there for 10, 15, 20 years time and it's going to develop and change and it becomes an ecosystem and we show you how to care for that and we go through all of that and we lean on Sandro's knowledge, which is phenomenal. As I said, nobody knows more about wildflowers than Sandro, you know he just there's no flower that he doesn't know, and how it grows, when it flowers, how different seeds work together. You know we talk a lot about yellow rattle, which is seen as being, you know, a brilliant, brilliant. It's known as the meadow maker, and we talk about that. And then how other flowers and other seeds within the mix are there to reduce the nutrient levels which allow the other ones to thrive, and so it's not just a box of seeds that's going to flower for one year and look good. This is, as sandra calls it, an ecology of seed, and that course is available on on master, my garden website, so it's also available in the show notes here. So it's only 47 euros. There's about three to four hours of videos of myself and sandro.

Speaker 1: 21:07

We go through everything that you're going to need to create a wildflower meadow. Now, to be honest with you, there's some brilliant stuff in it, even if you're not creating a meadow, even if you're just interested in the in the creation of one, or you're interested in the ecology that it creates, or you're interested in the process of what Sandro does in creating these meadows, I think you'll find it interesting. But if you are of a mind to create a meadow native Irish wildflower meadow then that course would be really beneficial. And what it will do is it will allow you to create a meadow that's going to last for a long time. One of the things that we'll look at is no more May, which will be coming up in the next couple of weeks, and this is where it's. It's a very good idea in that you're not mowing for the month of May, and you know this is in if you want to create a wildflower meadow. So you're not going to mow for the month of May and when you're not mowing, then you're going to. You're going to basically allow a wildflower meadow to emerge from the area that you're not mowing and that, as I say, works really well in some situations.

Speaker 1: 22:17

But if you have a lawn that has been sown and a lawn that has been kept as a lawn, you have maybe not allowed any wildflowers to develop, so some of these are considered weeds within a lawn and if you have been maintaining that in that way, then you're not going to have any of these species to come forward when you stop mowing, so you'll end up with just long grass and it becomes. You know, as I said before, it becomes a field of silage, for want of a better word. But if you have a lawn that you know does have the likes of achillea, that has been just kept really low, you know it's there but it's just kept low you have plantains, you have, you know, dandelions, things like that, and they will come forward. If the lawn itself has been in terms of, if you're comparing it as a lawn, if it has been sort of a lower standard lawn, then the no mow actually does allow things to come forward that do create, um, a wildflower meadow. But, generally speaking, someone that's changing a lawn into a, into a wildflower meadow, will need to start from scratch, and we show you how to do all of that within the course. So, yeah, perfect time, the. The sort of best months for for sewing are end of april through to sort of mid-june, and then your next best period are the, the next really good period for doing it, this september time, and you know, if you're doing it either of those times, then you'll be really successful with creating flower meadow.

Speaker 1: 23:57

The the episode. As I said, that was episode number 26. If everyone wants to go back and and re-listen to that. It really was a brilliant chat. We answer all the frequently asked questions of of wildflower. You know wildflower meadows. We do that in the in the course as well.

Speaker 1: 24:13

We look at when do you cut, how do you cut, what happens in the winter time in the meadow? How do you make sure that the perennials come forward? Can you plant bulbs in your meadow to add extra feature, which I have done some I I have planted a lot of bluebells in it. I have planted some daffodils in it. I have quite a lot of crocus in it. I have certain bulbs like that. I'm thinking of adding Camassius to it as well, just to add an extra splash of color, because while there's a nice bit of color in it, currently it's not full color yet. But give it another three to four weeks, there'll be really good color in it and yeah, it's a brilliant course. Give it another three to four weeks, there'll be, there'll be really good color in it. And uh, yeah, it's a. It's a. It's a brilliant course.

Speaker 1: 24:59

I've created this master my garden school, and I'll be adding courses as we go along. Some of you have joined already. So grow your own food course again. If you haven't jumped on that and you're thinking of starting growing your own food this year, then definitely that's a worthwhile course for you. Yeah, so it's just an extra level of support, an extra level of detail that will really help you. You know, in the two courses that are there so far, it'll really help you grow your own food from scratch. It'll help you have crops all year round. It'll help you know what to sow on a monthly basis. It'll show you how to sow, how to plant out and all of those, all of that really basic, solid information that will allow you to grow your own food for you and your family. And then the wildflower course again has built on some information that we would have given out on the podcast previously, but again it will really help you create a meadow that's going to last for a long, long time in your garden, and for me the meadow has.

Speaker 1: 25:59

You know, at this time of the year it doesn't look wonderful, but then when it comes in the summertime and you have all the birds, all the bees, all the pollinators, all the hoverflies, all of that activity, then it really is it's magical activity. Then it really is it's magical. You know, there's obviously I have in the center of it just a circular grass area, and just to sit there, actually immersed in the middle of the meadow, is just really, really nice. And, yeah, it's, it's something beautiful and something that will look well in every garden. And sandro I'll put the link to sandro's website now. Any seed that you need for any situation, sandra will help you with that. And yeah, it's, it's. He really is the export in in wild flowers within ireland.

Speaker 1: 26:48

So delighted anyway, after the first full week of sun here in ireland, that we can. We can really get going with everything. The temperatures are coming up. Just watch for the few things that we spoke about to the start in your tunnel as you're planting outside, you know, a little bit of protection with either frost fleece or bionetting. Be vigilant of slugs, you know, last week's episode covered that. But be vigilant of that because with the moisture levels we have had, they're still going to be prevalent. And yeah, other than that, we're up and running and delighted at last to have a week without any any rain. So hopefully that that continues for a little while. I'm sure in a few weeks time we'll be. We'll be saying we we need some rain, but for now delighted to have at least at least a week behind us of dry weather, ground conditions getting better and we can really get going. So that's been this week's episode. Thanks for listening and until the next time, happy gardening, thank you.