Open Association of Landscape Industries
Preparing a bank for wildflowers
The area to be prepared for sowing wildflower seeds was a steep bank over looking a swimming pool in a secluded part of the grounds of a large block of residential flats in Torquay.
It was thought that the area needed changing to attract more people down to the swimming pool by growing wildflowers and attracting more insects, especially bees, butterflies and hoverflies.
There is very little top soil and the below this the ground is comprised of broken shaley limestone, probably
used to build up the bank when the property or previous properties were built, so we have brought in an
extra tonne of top soil. The seed mixture was mixed with sand at about 7 to 1 and scattered evenly over the
soil, then raked in very lightly using the back edge of a plastic leaf rake, and then lightly tamped down with a
metal soil rake.
It is a fairly sunny bank and will get very hot in the summer, so to reduce the amount of watering
and to prevent soil erosion, a textured roll of Geo Jute was laid on the soil, on top of the sown seeds.
The seeds grow up through the gaps and the material also hold six times its own weight in water, so there
should be no run off at all when the bank is watered.
The material and the supplied pegs rot away in about twelve months.
Work is now needed on the lower existing bed to make it fit in with the wildflowers,
And now we wait and see.
Add a Comment
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Comment by Rose Lennard on February 28, 2012 at 18:16 -
good stuff! what seed are you using? I am specifying some of the 'pictorial meadow' mixes for banks surrounding a client's manege - the perennial mixes as she doesn't want to have to resow annually. I wonder if the jute becomes messy as it degrades & breaks up, hopefully not I guess as the plants will grow through it and hold it together.
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Comment by John on February 28, 2012 at 18:05 -
Hi Pip
This is the first time I have used the Geo Jute matting, the pegs are about 5 inches
long and seem to be made of plastic, but they dissolve/rot after about a year just
like the matting. The Geo Jute will not be able to hold the soil back
on a steep uncompacted bank, but could be used on a 50 degree bank
if only the top few inches were disturbed. There are plenty of pegs so
an additional row along the centre of the matting would be feasible.
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PRO Member Comment by Pip Howard on February 27, 2012 at 23:55 -
''It was thought that the area needed changing to attract more people down to the swimming pool by growing wildflowers and attracting more insects, especially bees, butterflies and hoverflies.'' What a fantastically progressive comment. Have you used the Geo Jute much before John? And at what angle of slope will this stuff work on - or what size pegs can you get?
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