A bout 3 years ago we decided to have a go at creating a small meadow in the garden. I love wildflowers, and the thought of a colourful tapestry of grasses and native plants swaying in the breeze on a sunny day seemed just a few months away. Just stop mowing and wait. Wrong, as usual!

Recently I visited Great Dixter, Christopher Lloyds garden on the Surrey/Sussex border. Christo died a while back, but his head gardener, Fergus Garrett has carried on the good work and the garden is looking as lovely as ever. As part of the visit, Fergus explained to us how they created a meadow. I wish I heard it before I went down what seemed like a fairly quick and easy path! This is how to create that fabulous meadow:

• Remove all top growth when mowing, you need poor soil for wildflowers to flourish and win over the lush grass
• If the soil is too good, yellow rattle is a semi parasitic plant that will see off the grass, but be careful, it spreads like mad
• Mow in August after all the plants have set and deposited seed for next year and the dragonflies have done their thing
• If you have spring bulbs planted in your meadow, mow again late winter so you don’t damage them when in flower or leaf and you can see them properly when they come up
• Be patient – Fergus said that it takes about 7 years to establish at Great Dixter.

To be fair, our meadow is coming on. We now have a small patch of ox eye daisies, wild sweet peas, periwinkle, stitchwort and geraniums, as well as buttercups and clover. In spring there are English bluebells and we have planted a tree peony, a black stemmed bamboo and a species rose to add a bit of height and interest. At Dixter they had huge numbers of green winged orchids which looked absolutely lovely so I’m on a mission to find seeds of that. So who knows – perhaps in another 4 years it will pass muster!

Thanks once again for those of you who paid our garden a visit this year. We have raised a huge sum for charity and enjoyed sharing ‘Charnwood’ with people who really appreciate the work we have put in. As I write this we are getting ready for our opening in June, so as you read it we will be having a rest from gardening, feet up, wine in hand, completely oblivious to the weeds all around us!