Wildflower meadow for National Gardening Week

This week is National Gardening Week and I'm planting a wild flower meadow in recognition. Of course I also want to attract lots of birds, insects and butterflies to the garden so that I can watch -and paint - them from the house. I'll be planting plenty of teasel in the mix for goldfinch, like the ones I painted below feeding on teasel heads.

Whilst preparing the ground for my new studio last year, I got the builders to dump the soil from the works onto this patch at the front of the garden.
It's almost solid chalk with barely any top soil, which will be ideal for wild flowers.



 I began sowing the seeds today. They include oxeye daisy, scabious, yellow rattle, birdsfoot trefoil, knapweed, kidney vetch and plenty of others. In fact I've got more wild flowers in my mix than grass.

 I collected many of the seeds from wild flowers already growing in the gallery car park, which makes the project a bit cheaper!

After this I'll cover the meadow with a thin layer of top soil and keep it watered. I'll keep posting as it progresses to show you how I get on.