Hope for the Lappinch

So our attempts to create a wildlife-friendly field margin do not exactly appear to have been a success!

Late last September, full of enthusiasm having just moved to the farm, we ordered an acre’s worth of AB8 Flower Rich field margin seeds with a view to creating a wonderful habitat for insects and farmland birds around our winter wheat crop (more of which in future). Having seen so many arable fields planted right up to the field boundary and subsequently soaked in herbicides and insecticides we were determined to try and do better.

However, various delays and distractions related to work, life and moving in, meant that we did not get the seed in the ground until late October – by which point the cold wet weather of autumn was firmly upon us. The results (or lack thereof!) speak for themselves – not even a weed to be seen, let alone the hoped for mix of nectar-rich wildflower seedings and fine grasses.

A real disappointment but an important lesson too – especially given our plans to establish more flower and herb rich plots over the coming years.

What did we do wrong?

Quite simply, we were too late and the weather had turned. In hindsight even late September, when the seeds first arrived, was probably going to be a challenge for what are fundamentally wildflowers that should have gone in during the warmth of mid-late summer (as of course they would have in a traditional meadow).

So what are we going to do?

Having taken proper advice (always a good idea…), we are going to sow mustard seed as soon as the weather warms up a little. It’s cheap, fast growing, simple to establish (let’s see about that…), and should provide plenty of flowers and seed for pollinators and wildlife during the coming year. It is also good for soil health and will protect against soil erosion.

So, hopefully, all should not be lost and, along the way, we have certainly gained some important experience that should benefit us in future as we seek to establish legume and herb rich swards more broadly across the farm (GS4 for those interested).