How To Make A Wildflower Meadow From Scratch - Timelapse & Revisiting 2 Years Later

I've been creating wildflower meadows for over 18 years using this method. It never fails, it's all about preparation and ensuring these vital habitats need maintenance only once per year. In this video I create a 1/2 acre wildflower meadow from scratch and return two years later to see how it's getting on . . .
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Many thanks,
Joel Ashton

[@kingfisher3011]

Its so satisfying to see the fruits of your labour and proves 100% that it increases the much needed biodiversity which we have been losing at an alarming rate seeing those butterflies esp late in the year was an absolute joy I have witnessed this since leaving my own front lawn to its devices Keep up the amazing work Joel you are an inspiration to myself and so many like minded folk !!!!!

[@blue2mato312]

Couldn’t agree more! Joel certainly is a huge inspiration and that is needed everywhere.

[@simonwhite5535]

Joel Ashton x1000. Imagine that if you will, the whole of the British Isles could be rewilded within the next 25 years!! 😉 Your work ethic and force of nature is a pure and required inspiration fella!! Thankyou!! ❤️

[@bobgoodman2687]

Another beautiful job, so inspiring. Great work changing that tyre/track too!

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

Thank you Bob, so much - I really appreciate this. On another large project with huge machinery so I'm hoping the tracks stay on! 😂 Best wishes, Joel

[@justlaughatlife8461]

Your channel and videos and even your character are hitting new heights of brilliance brother ! It’s just pure positivity and helping the world get better ❤️‍🩹 in every job you d0 !! You are blessed mate and so is everyone who watches your work! Stay great !

[@UkAmphibians]

Another Amazing video thanks for sharing joel I’m just updating our pond videos on our channel where the frogs have just started to come back to breed 🐸💚🐸

[@ChopsyMiche]

Oh my gosh I absolutely love this💚 It looks so, so beautiful. It was wonderful to see you create this. You are so good at what you do. Having such heartfelt and deep passion shows in every smiling flower. And see those gorgeous and amazing butterflies. Absolutely pure joy. Next year it would be wonderful to see it in the summer with all those beautiful flowers showing themselves off. Until next time, thank you🌻

[@itsmewende]

That was some project, I bet it was stunning with the annuals. I let the wild Queen Ann's lace grow along the roadside of my yard, even have some that bloom a really nice soft pink. You guys have a lovely weekend.

[@fouulg1]

Fantastic work Joel, having spent all weekend landscaping my garden its great to see a glimpse of what's possible Tom in cold wet Warwickshire

[@karlitobergkamp8082]

Looks brilliant as usual Joel. Proper hard graft raking over that area on your own but all worth the Prep when there is such an amazing end product.

[@nickiramsay2421]

Wonderful! I love the revisits you do. It’s so lovely to see all your hard work paying off 🦋🐛🐝🌼🌸

[@atticbrowser9698]

Thanks Joel for another beautiful video. I’ve learned so much watching your videos over the past year. We have just bought an acre of land behind our house and your work given me the confidence to start to turn it in to a wildlife garden. I can’t wait to see how things develop next spring! Cheers and thanks again.

[@deborahflello2316]

Hey Joel your channel is growing nicely just like your wildflower meadows. Congratulations good job!! regards Deb

[@janiedunn637]

❤️ just a 👍🏻 job you’ve done have a nice weekend Joel

[@EnglishMadeleine]

Just goes to show how much work goes into these meadows, but so worth it 😍

[@kingfisher3011]

Thanks

[@jamescunningham1973]

Stunning Joel,beautiful

[@helenhawkins4054]

Just magical, it gives me hope.🤗

[@malcolmbell5266]

Another great job done Joel

[@charlotteseden9303]

The way you do the job is just perfection. I love watching it. Everything looks great and that little pond will be the cherry on the cake. Good work!☺

[@keithroberts42]

Thanks for the name drop Joel. But you are right I’d be enjoying that flower meadow spotting all the butterflies 🦋. My tiny wildflower meadow I started this year was mostly frequented by bumblebees and hoverflies which is still very worthwhile but I do need more butterflies visiting.

[@wildlifegardener-tracey6206]

Fantastic!

[@SisterDogmata]

Hey Joel! Loved this time lapse video! Hard to believe that it's only taken two years to look so natural! Reminds me of so many places we played in as kids. Thank goodness our gardens are becoming little pockets for wildlife for our children and grand children to enjoy. It's never too late to make a difference and encourage all the wild things back. Best wishes.

[@geo.m1639]

Great vid

[@Hunter-type]

Oh man, amazing...... wish I had the awareness when leaving the military to plan and develop a career doing exactly this, would have suited my Neural divergent brain... Great work Mr. the amount of times I have sewn Wildflower seeds on College Green Bristol following a protest which Bristol has a lot of.... when the grass turns to mud, in the hope of something special.... alas I sort of knew I was hoping too much as the ground is too rich..... and gets mowed to death.... One dark night I may just plant some fruit trees there....

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

If you have the time, and the energy (having a military career would suggest you'd have the energy!) then drop me a line at [e-mail] - I work all over the country and have teams dotted about who help when I'm in the area and also travel with me when it's viable. There's always time.... Have a great weekend, best wishes - Joel

[@Hunter-type]

@@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton Wow that's a very lovely invite Joel. I wasn't expecting that. My military career was a long time ago, served almost a decade in the Grenadier Guards, ( I'm okay now though) lol. have spent the last 20 years in varied jobs from working a Regional advisor in Afghanistan, to helping vulnerable adults around with their drug and alcohol problems, to being a gardener to have a break from working with people. Thought it was worth sharing that to paint a brief picture so to speak... worked with a small gardening team called Earth Timber Stone with a great guy called Jody Fairish who you remind me of a little as he too has created an awful lot of habitats for wildlife, a lot with the Avon wildlife Trust. Anyway if you think I could help in any way I would love to, I only Garden for one customer now, which is an amazing large plot in the Chew Valley area, so would love to be more creative for wildlife, and I have a feeling we would connect well, which is important. I guess you wanted all this in an email.... sorry it feels a little expectant at this stage to be emailing you.... but yes I will if you believe I could help you and your team at some point. I just watched your 100th pond build.... congratulations I know it was a fairly old video, I hope your customer bought tea every time she appeared... thought that was amusing.... I actually love my old customer being around, we've become friends, and I love that I inspire him to collaborate with me in the garden at the ripe old age of 82. I've learned so much from him.... Thank you Joel.

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

@@Hunter-type Yes yes YES! So good to read this and please DO drop me a line at the email address I gave, as I say I work all over the country and I'd love to talk about this further. Can't wait to hear from you! [e-mail] - just in case it gets lost above. Enjoy the rest of the weekend, and thanks again - Joel

[@george-1961]

Thank you for this great informative video Joel. Your landscaping skills are off the charts. Take care and keep up the good work 👏

[@george-1961]

Joel I think your digger will sink in my winter boggy garden 😆

[@CrazySexyDutchYessss]

turn it into a bog garden, job done lol

[@blue2mato312]

That was some epic hand raking all of that! Great to watch the creation of this wildflower meadow which is such a needed habitat! 🌸🦋🐛🐝 When I have a small patch (a little embankment) of wildflowers with thistles, the «yellow buttons» (tanacetum vulgare) wild strawberries and more how should I manage it? Should I ever cut it? It hasn’t been cut in many years, but I do water it during droughts. Late summer there has become a butterfly haven there if it’s not too dry, those little coppers, several different blue butterflies I think, peacocks, whites, admirals and the brimstones. The wildflowers are not sown or planted, they have made their way on their own since this little slope with very coarse «soil» was made years ago.

[@CrazySexyDutchYessss]

AFAIK wildflowers need maintenance if an invasive one takes over before they are established (I have so many sorrel/sticky willy weeds I have to remove some of it) OR if grass is present, then you have to mow after seeds have dropped/before wildflowers come back up in spring. If the plants are stable and the butterflies happy it might be OK? A local group may be able to give you better info :)

[@CLAYMEISTER]

I have a small lot next to my home in Illinois, USA... there is a low spot that floods during wet weather and it turns into a miniature pond for a short while, then dries out as the weather warms up. I look forward to a mallard duck "couple" that shows up every spring to inspect the premises. Your video sparked the notion to make that low area even bigger, creating a larger "pond". I guess it's more like a big puddle, but even that makes its own contribution to the overall scene. Your videos are inspiring me to start small and constantly build meadows, useful wet areas and to diminish the lawn-look and create lower maintenance, high-value, high beauty natural spaces on my allotment, loaned by God.

[@eliasdk9559]

Great video Joel. Do you sow wildflowers such as hogweed, ragwort and spear thistle in these meadows?

[@CrazySexyDutchYessss]

I hoed out the grass from my 3x3 meter patch, as it's clay I have to see what seeds will "stick". There is also waterlogging in heavy rain periods, some wildflowers can take this, but some cannot. Our local wildflower lawn has field scabious and loosestrife among many other plants, but dry soil plants cannot grow in it. Seeds are also grown in trays so I have plug plants and seeds. Next year I will know more :)