Making a Mini Meadow
Let’s make a mini meadow together.
If you're passionate about supporting biodiversity and want to bring more life to your outdoor space, consider turning a small spot in your lawn into a mini meadow of native plants. By creating a pocket of biodiversity, you can provide food and shelter for local wildlife while adding beauty and intrigue to your landscape. In this blog post, I will guide you through the process of transforming a patch of your lawn into a vibrant mini meadow filled with native plants and pollinators.
Choosing the Right Spot: Select a suitable spot in your lawn that you would like to convert into a mini meadow. Consider factors such as sunlight exposure, soil quality, and accessibility. The largest selection of flowering native plants thrive in areas that receive at least six hours of direct sunlight per day, so choose a location with ample sunlight. Look at areas of your lawn that you don’t frequently use, like the slope of this hill leading to the stream. I like to paint lines of the proposed planting area, and then look at it over a few days to be sure of my decision.
Soil quality should be fine as it is, if it’s been lawn for 5 or more years. If you are a new construction home, the soil may need to be amended when you plant because construction often means the soil is just a mix of whatever was left behind. To be certain, google your state name and soil test. You’ll find a university extension office in your state offering relatively inexpensive soil tests.
Research Native Plant Species: Before diving into your mini meadow project, spend some time researching native plant species that are indigenous to your region. Look for plants that are well-suited to meadow-like conditions, such as flowering perennials grasses. Native plants have evolved alongside local wildlife, providing essential resources for insects, birds, and other creatures. Certain plants attract certain pollinators. Milkweed is the only food source for monarch caterpillars, and a key plant to include. Aim for a diverse selection of flowers and grasses with varying heights, colors, and bloom times to create a visually appealing and ecologically beneficial mini meadow. Some key places I like for researching native plants are the National Wildlife Federation and Prairie Nursery. There is also an extensive list of resources on The Home Grown National Park Website, with some specific by region.
Laying out the plugs ordered from Prairie Nursery
Planting Plan: You will want color Spring through Fall. When selecting plants, make sure to pick plants with bloom times across the seasons. Measure your area and draw it out on graph paper, giving one box to each square foot of space. Make your final plant list, and then color code it, filling in the spaces with the associated color of where you want to plant things. I generally start mini meadows with baby plants called plugs, giving them 1 to 2 square feet of space depending on their mature size. You can design your space however you like. I prefer groups of plants in swaths for maximum impact of color. Also think about how you want to experience the space. I like to include pathways through mini meadows of mowed lawn, like you see here.
Buying Plants: Shop locally at a native nursery for mature plants if budget permits, or you can order baby plants online somewhere like Prairie Nursery or Prairie Moon Nursery. Ordering online is best in the early spring or fall.
Preparation and Clearing: Remove any existing grass by manually digging them out or using a sod cutter which you can rent from Home Depot. This is hard work. Roll up those sleeves and beg your family and friends for help. Make sure to remove the entire root system (4 inches or so down) to prevent regrowth. Alternately, you can cover the area with tape free cardboard, and mulch it to hold it down. If you choose this route, plant to prep the area in the Spring and plant in the Fall (or visa versa).
Planting and Maintenance: Plant to plant in the early Spring or Fall. Follow the planting plan you created. Water the newly planted area thoroughly and apply a layer of mulch around the plants to suppress weed growth and retain moisture. You can order mulch in bulk to be delivered by the yard, or ask a local landscaper for help. Initially, the mini meadow will require watering to help the plants establish their root systems. As the plants mature, they will become more resilient and require less maintenance.
Year Two: Good growth as plants creep. Keep on top of the weeds.
Encouraging Biodiversity: To further promote biodiversity, consider incorporating elements such as rocks, logs, or a small water feature into your mini meadow. These additions can provide habitats for a variety of beneficial insects, amphibians, and other creatures. Additionally, never use pesticides and herbicides in your yard, as these chemicals harm the very wildlife you're trying to attract. This includes tick sprays which kill anything small they come into contact with. Try tick boxes instead…that’s another blog post.
Observation and Enjoyment: Once your mini meadow is established, take time to observe and enjoy the new ecosystem you have created. Plants generally sleep, creep, and then leap over three years as they get used to the land. Plugs the first year will look sad-but you can do more for your money and expect a filled in space in that third summer of growth. Watch as butterflies flutter from flower to flower, listen to the hum of bees, and delight in the visits of birds and other pollinators. The mini meadow will continue to evolve and change throughout the seasons, providing you with a front-row seat to the magic you can make at home. Leave it standing in the winter to feed the birds with the flower seed heads, and provide shelter. Then after 3-5 consecutive days of nights above 50 degrees, you can cut everything to 12 inches. Leaving these stems provides nesting sites for bees.
By transforming a small spot in your lawn into a mini meadow of native plants, you can create a pocket of biodiversity that supports local wildlife and adds visual appeal to your landscape. Embrace the opportunity to contribute to the conservation of native species and provide essential resources for pollinators and other creatures. Start small, observe, and expand over time to create an enchanting haven of biodiversity right in your own backyard. You won’t regret it.
Plants In This Mini Meadow: Asclepias incarnata, Eryngium yuccifolium, Amsonia tabernaemontana, Aster novae-angliae, Echinacea paradoxa, Filipendula rubra, Liatris pycnostachya, Ratibida pinnata, Veronicastrum virginicum, Schizachyrium scoparium and Sporobolus heterolepis.
