I've just ordered some yellow rattle (Rhinanthus minor) from MAS Seeds and also from Emorsgate Seeds - together with a few other species and a hedgerow flower and grass mix to go along the ground slightly disturbed by the recent hedge-layering.
I hope to get the yellow rattle sown handy when back home and over-wintering for germination in spring.
With about 1 acre (0.4ha) to be left as grassland / conservation meadow - I've chosen this because it has a parasitic action on grass that will hopefully reduce some of the grass vigour and assist in establishing more traditional meadow-flower plants amongst the grass over a few seasons.
(The soil is reasonably good and not particularly the poor fertility type that is suggested as best for wildflower meadow establishment).
I'm still deliberating with respect to overall grassland species selection - I have a trial pack of a general northern meadow mix seeds, but the aim is to proliferate species favoured by the conditions and also locally prevalent.
The meadowsweet that already exists is something I wish to keep and encourage for brewing drinks from the flowers and leaves.
I need to come up with a scheme to reduce buttercups and docks (and dandelion) - preferably without chemicals (this year's mid-summer mow probably helped reduce the amount of seeds for next year)...
Our meadow was used as a donor meadow to reseed another low meadow some twenty miles away, in mid July it was mown and baled, carted to the other site and spread the same afternoon, specifically for the seeds it contained. 39 plant species were identified but it did not contain Yellow Rattle though there is some further across in the next meadow.
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