Meadow Management
Managing diverse plant communities at scale requires a different set of tools and strategies than those used in traditional gardening. Our approach to meadow management centers on quality seed and strategic, targeted disturbance.
Site Assessment
While this field has lots of dense non-native clover and cool season grasses there are also many valuable native sedges, rushes, and flowering perennials such as boneset.
Before any management action is taken it’s critical to assess the existing plant community and determine which type and level of intervention is appropriate. The two first things we look for are the presence of native plants and the conditions for new seed germination and growth.
The presence of established native plants is highly valued. When native species are present—even if they comprise a minority of the plant community—there is a strong argument for working with what is already growing. Altering management regimes can release dormant seed banks or favor the growth of existing natives over non native plants. However, if a site is dominated by non-native grasses or other weeds—as is the case with almost all hay fields and lawns—then the best course of action is to remove the existing vegetation and reseed.
Factors that affect new seed germination and growth are the density and type of the plant material as well as the presence of thatch. In areas dominated by dense cool-season turf grasses new seedlings struggle to establish and are often quickly smothered.
Plant removal by harrowing & plowing
The power harrow in action.
When we need to completely remove the existing plant community we do so with a power harrow or plow. The plow turns over sod to a foot or more and is useful for sites with deeply established roots. The harrow has shallower vertical tines that are less disruptive of the soil profile. Killing grass by plowing or harrowing requires repeat passes on warm sunny days, ideally bridging summer and either spring or fall to target both warm and cool-season weeds.
Our power harrow is operated with a walk-behind BCS tractor, enabling us to access small yards and tight spaces.
It is still common practice for many meadow and restoration projects to be prepped with an application of herbicide, most commonly glyphosate (the chemical found in roundup). Chemical application is the quickest and easiest way to kill a plant community. However we believe the known and unknown costs to both humans and wildlife—in particular the community of soil microbes and fungi—are too great to justify the convenience. We never use any herbicides in our landscaping practice.
Seed
Seed is the backbone of every meadow installation we do. Seed is much more economical than live plants, and also allows for plants to more efficiently sort among themselves where they will grow.
We create custom mixes for each of our sites. This allows us to tweak the species list based on site conditions such as sunlight, soil moisture, and soil organic content. It also allows us some influence over the eventual height of the planting, an important consideration when planning meadows for smaller sites. We also value creating our own mixes because it allows us to stay true to our local plant community. Many commercially available native mixes are heavily weighted with near natives—plants from the Midwest or South that are not actually native to New England. A typical example comes from the beardtongue genus. Foxglove beardtongue, a midwest species with a range reaching into Pennsylvania, is frequently found in seed mixes (and nurseries) marketed as a native—while hairy beardtongue whose native range extends through all the New England states is sold far less often.
Seeding is best done in the fall. The majority of our native seed will not germinate until it goes through a cold moist period lasting multiple months meaning if seed is put down in the spring much of it won’t germinate until the following year. Preparation is also key, either by plowing and harrowing or haying (further detailed below)—to ensure good seed to soil contact.
Haying
Our walk behind hay-rake.
The purpose of haying wildlife meadows is to remove thatch—the accumulated dead plant material that hasn’t yet decomposed and can form a thick layer over the ground. As thatch piles up it creates a barrier to seed germination—both preventing some seeds from ever working their way to the soil and blocking other seeds that successfully germinate from reaching the sunlight above. The result is a progressive decrease in diversity as plants that rely on consistent recruitment of new seedlings fade out, replaced by plants who primarily reproduce through underground root systems.
Thatch also affects the soil surface micro-climate. By casting dense shade thatch decreases the temperature at the soil surface, which then favors the growth of primarily non-native cool season grasses. These cool season grasses are one of the primary obstacles to re-establishing native meadow plant communities. Removing the thatch layer at the right time helps the ground to warm up earlier in the spring and stay warmer later in the fall, which favors the growth of our native warm season grasses.
Haying is essentially an attempt at simulating the effect of fire. Almost every grassland ecosystem in the world developed with fire as a critical and regular influence, and a major function of grassland fires is that they burn off the thatch layer. Fire has some benefits which haying cannot replicate. Burning releases a huge surge of nutrients from the burned plant material back into the soil, and the black charred soil surface left behind warms even more dramatically from solar radiation. For the time being fire remains a fringe management strategy in the northeast and haying will remain a key tool in maintaining the ongoing diversity of meadows.
We use a 72-inch hay-rake attached to a walk-behind BCS tractor. This equipment, much smaller than most hay-rakes seen in the Berkshires, enables us to access small yards and tighter areas.
Mowing & brush cutting
Using a string trimmer to selectively cut non-native cool season grasses.
Mowing is perhaps the most obvious tool in meadow management. In the absence of fire mowing is what keeps most fields from becoming forest, and most fields or meadows in New England are mowed once a year. This prevents trees from establishing and visually provides a clean slate for summer growth. However, mowing is a significant disturbance and should always be done thoughtfully.
A mature meadow does not need to be mowed every year. Indeed, for a mature and diverse meadow there are arguments for not cutting every year. Mowing disrupts insects living or overwintering in the upright plant material. Toppled plants also contribute more to the thatch layer than those that are upright. After all, natural grasslands do not always burn every year and the new pant growth just grows in amongst the old. However, if a yearly cutting is desired for aesthetic reasons that works just fine too.
When we mow meadows we typically do so in late spring when a majority of insects will have hatched or emerged for the year. Mowing earlier can disrupt these lifecycles. We try not to mow in the fall unless the goal is to open up space for new seed germination, in which case we would combine that mowing with a haying. And in such a case we would avoid mowing an entire plot so that unmoved areas can act as wildlife refuges over the winter.
Mowing is also a crucial part of managing invasive and problematic weeds. Well timed cutting can reduce plant vigor and prevent seed set. When targeting specific species we typically use backpack handlebar brush cutters to allow for more selective removal and minimize damage to desired species.
The one time that frequent mowing is essential in meadow management is during the first two years after a new field has been seeded. Most of our native species are long-lived and deep rooted, but as a result they tend to be slow growing. In the first two years they are at risk of being smothered by weeds that put on rapid growth. New meadows are regularly mowed to about 6 inches to ensure that light continues to reach the emerging plants below.
Servicing the South Berkshire towns of:
Monterey
New Marlborough
Southfield
Mill River
Sandisfield
Otis
Sheffield
Great Barrington
Alford
Housatonic
Stockbridge
Lee
Norfolk, CT
Colebrook, CT
Reach out to schedule a consultation.
Whether you’re ready to dive in with a full design, or are just trying to figure out how you want to manage your landscape, I look forward to chatting.