Rake, rattle and mow

On a fine sunny Monday morning I joined a mixed volunteer group led by Sam from the Luton Borough Council parks department working at Wigmore Valley Park Orchard. The volunteers are from a variety of backgrounds and community connections, so this made for a very sociable and friendly task.

In short order we'd raked up the mown grass and carted it to a haystack heap. Then after some ground preparation, seed sowing began.

Yellow rattle, an annual wildflower also known as 'Meadow Maker' is hemi-parasitic. It colonises grass roots and draws nutrients and water from them, which reduces the vigour of the grasses and their ability to out compete other wildflower meadow seedlings. They need a couple of months in chilly cold ground to germinate and will be flowering from June to September next year.