A Wildflower Meadow

[sandyRoe]

Well, not a meadow exactly, more an overgrown lawn.

If I bought a lot of wildflower seeds would it be enough to sprinkle them in the long grass or would it need more preparation?

[MargoTester]

Yes just sprinkle the seeds appx 1-4 grams per sq meter. Don't think you need to be too fussy

[Auntypoll]

That's not true. To have wild flowers in your garden you need to cut the grass as short as it will go and aggressively rake it up. Then scatter the seed and water well . That's according to Monty  Don who has a video on it.

[rowanwitch]

Sorry lots to do,  take off the grass and most of the topsoil, for the first year( next year) sow with yellow rattle. Cut any grass that has regrown in mid sept and remove. Then sow with a wildflower meadow mix appropriate to your area,   meadowmania are a good supplier but there are others.   I would also plant lots of snakeshead fritillaries, and maybe camassia at the same time,  also cowslip, and oxslip  if the ground is damp enough.

[rowanwitch]

It's something that if you wait for nature will take 10+ years and without weakening the grass ( yellow rattle paracitises and weakens it) will look more like a field than a beautiful flower meadow

[melv16]

I gave up hope on my allotment with growing wild flowers in the beds...the soil is far too fertile. 

I now grow them from seed in plugs and transfer them into the soil. Scabius, cornflowers and corn marigolds are some of my successes. 

[sandyRoe]

Thanks for the comments.

It sounds like too much work.  I'll just get a gardener to mow the grass.

[Buenchico]

https://www.rhs.org.uk/lawns/creating-wildflower-meadows

[Chipchopper]

I find that finding the right plant for the right place is most important , I've sown yellow rattle to weaken the broader leaved grasses, but it only appeared the first year after sowing, then fizzled out.

In the woodland edge area, the red campion has done well, and so has the birds foot trefile in some of the sunny spots.

But the most impressive plants of all, this year are the pond edge plants, with teasle about 6ft high, that should keep the gold finches coming back!

[Chipchopper]

"preparation?"- I think, just sprinkling seeds in the long grass will be a disappointment, you really need to scarify the areas where they are to grow to give them a kick-start. An alternative might be to buy some turfs with the wildflowers already growing in it, if you're impatient like me.