Practical Advice for Meadows
Our team is lucky to receive requests to care for properties with meadows. They range in size from 1/8 of an acre to part of 4 acres and include varying degrees of meadow management. Our team has observed that our fine gardening skills paired with exacting plant ID is the perfect fit for the work they require.
The meadows we encounter are usually adjacent to lawns and paths managed by a landscaping and lawn care crew. Typically the approach is to let these areas of lawn grow out and to decrease inputs like fertilizer and lawn seed. As a result, these areas are usually a conglomerate of aggressive natives and volunteers originally from Eurasia that have now “naturalized” in our region. The lawn care crew mows these areas annually. In doing so, they level everything growing in the area.
In the context of meadow management, this approach fails. Mowing down woody invasives and volunteers simply defers crucial maintenance.
The amount of work only increases each year that these stubborn and persistent species are mowed, rather than weeded or dug out.
Woody species on the state’s invasive species list are usually the first and foremost voracious volunteers. These are usually multiflora rose, which are then accompanied by a weedy type of cherry, and volunteer sprouts from nearby trees. Multiflora rose, in particular, grows a robust root system, especially in response to annual or tri-annual mowing schedules.
Rather than take the overall mowing approach, we recommend annual or biennial comprehensive weeding to remove these invasive and woody species. At first, meadows that have only been mowed will take significant work - the longer the mowing and no weeding period, the more labor hours. But eventually, management becomes significantly more sustainable.
The ingredients for successful meadow management?
Familiarity with pervasive and aggressive woody volunteers.
The right tools that make the work possible.
We rely on AM Leonard’s nursery spades (use our promo code CAPEANNGARDENS to get 10% off your whole order, and we get a commission at no cost to you).
A brush mower and/or a push behind string trimmer, depending on the size of your space.
We like DR Brush Mowers and the Earthquake Push Behind String Mower (no affiliate relationship).
The right personal protective equipment: gloves, shoes, and pants.
An annual weeding and mowing schedule.
Do you have a meadow area you’d like managed better? We’re happy to help.