We smothered our (Southern Willamette Valley, Oregon) lawn in cardboard last year and planted a meadow from a Northwest Meadowscapes seed mix (https://northwestmeadowscapes.com/collections/specialty-native-seed-mixes-for-pollinators-and-more/products/native-pollinator-seed-mix-1). It was doing great through June but has started to seriously dry out. We have multi-zone sprinklers that hit the old lawn just fine but the meadow is so tall that we just get little pops of green where the water stops. I thought there were some later blooming flowers in the mix but there's not much happening at this point.
We're not sure how to proceed here and could use some advice. Do we let it continue as is and hopefully stuff comes back in the spring? (We're patient and we don't care if it's ugly, we just want the plans to do well.)
Do we need to get extra-tall sprinkler heads for our irrigation system (and if so what does that even look like? We'd rather not have pipes standing at shin level out there). Is there an alternate irrigation situation we need to consider?
Have we already shot ourselves in the foot by letting things dry out this much, so some of the perennials in the mix are never going to establish? We really want to avoid a situation where we allow our old lawn and accompanying weeds to make a comeback.
by Phasmus
6 Comments
Ymmv, but what I plant from seed I water frequently year 1 as it’s getting established, can’t bank on rain being enough when things are just starting out
We hand water new plantings at least 2x week depending on temps and rain for at least the first year to get them established.
Some native bunch grasses intermixed and a higher density of stuff. Water the first year so it’s roots are well established.
I would consider reading the seed list, some seeds don’t germinate the first year and they have to be cold scarified first. You will need to reseed and you can also pick up plants to add to it as well, like a shrub that is a keystone for Oregon Prairie. Keep working it.
I have had a meadow for about 4 years now and it is the same. The PNW isn’t as wet as it used to be…Also this is a La Nina year, so cooler and dry in the summer. You really only need a sprinkler, or if you have time, spray with your hose once a week, and make sure you saturate it so the water gets down deeper into the soil.
Watering tall meadow plants: you can get tripod sprinklers that are movable and attach to a hose. Big box hardware stores will carry them.
Something like a feed store should have even taller tripod waterers.
My landscaper made me some even better ones out of pvc pipe and the sprinkler hardware. They are sort of sled/t-shaped so you can drag them toward you by the hose pipe instead of wading into a muddy field.
It’s unlikely you lost many seeds because they were never going to germinate this summer anyway—so many are playing a much longer game. Unlike some other seed, even seeds of the same species will break dormancy and germinate on staggered schedules. So on a quality native seed label or web info they should tell you the total germination percentage after some period of years.
You might ask the seed company for the timeline for the plants in the mix. There should be some quick starting annuals and short-lived perennials that come up quickly and crowd out weeds.
The rest of the seeds in the mix should have a balance of bloom times and bloom color. Mixes should also be organized around moisture preferences.