Go on a course: plant your own wild-flower meadow

Create a haven for wildlife. By Lisa Sykes

The first of many things I learnt about meadows is that they are definitely not low-maintenance, but don't let that put you off.

Fergus Garrett, head gardener at Great Dixter in the Sussex Weald, dispenses bucketloads of inspiration, instruction, advice and charm on his one-day course at Sarah Raven's Garden and Cookery School at Brightling. So much so that the moment it finished I dashed home and into my small paddock (aka future wild flower meadow) where I could take stock of what I already have plant-wise and begin making plans.

The course is effectively a day-long lecture, illustrated by wonderful slides of Great Dixter's many meadows through the seasons and annotated by Fergus' enthusiasm and expert knowledge. The audience were a mixed bunch: a fruit farmer who wanted to make a meadow in his orchard, a smallholder with a spare field, a man who'd just bought a former vineyard and a lot of ladies with very large gardens hoping to turn part of them into a wild flower wonderland. While Fergus didn't exactly dispel our collective dreams of picnics among the poppies he did make us take a reality check on the time involved to create it - not that it's backbreaking work, just that instant gardening it isn't.

To get the ideal mix of sedges, bents and fescue grasses delicately interspersed with lady's-smock, oxeye daisies, bird's-foot trefoil and tufted vetch can take several years and you probably need to sow a semi-parasitic plant called a yellow-rattle first. This very useful plant reduces the vigour of your grasses like reverse Viagra, allowing your prized snake's head fritilliaries and green-winged orchids to flourish.

I made five pages of notes on sourcing local seed, when and how to mow, tips on what grows well and where, and came away with a head full of summer flowers. But perhaps what I really learned from Fergus was that the two essential ingredients for meadow making are a combination of trial and error and patience. In the meantime you can still have the picnics among a work in progress.

For details about courses, contact Sarah Raven's Garden and Cookery School, Perch Hill Farm, Brightling, East Sussex (0845 050 4849; www.perchhill.co.uk). The house and gardens at Great Dixter are open April - October, Tuesday to Sunday 2pm-5pm (01797 252878; www.greatdixter.co.uk)

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