Meadow Making
23/10/2026Homestead park is growing a new perennial wildflower meadow
If you have visited the park in the past week, you may have noticed large piles of cut grass and bare patches in the main lawn on either side of Cherry Avenue. Plenty of people have stopped to ask the gardeners what we're doing, and we have loved the curiosity and questions about these changes. We hope that more people stop to enjoy the emerging story of this space and join us on this—admittedly muddy—journey!
So what, exactly, are we doing to the lawn? We are cultivating a wildflower meadow! The bare patches are where we have removed mats of grass in a process called scarifying. We have used an electric scarifying machine, which looks like a tiny push mower but uses rotating, vertical tines in place of a horizonal blade. This helps to aerate the lawn, improving soil health, and leaves behind more bare soil in which wildflower seeds can germinate, take root, and (hopefully) flourish.
This work follows a few trial years where we let the grass grow longer on either side of Cherry Avenue. In 2025, we left some of these areas longer as a part of 'No Mow May' -- a global initiative to support biodiversity and wildlife at a critical moment in early summer. Mowing less also reduces our use of fossil fuels, so leaving some areas longer helped to cut down on mowing while we awaited the arrival of our new, ride-on electric mower. By giving the grass a longer growing season, we also gave the existing seed bank of wildflowers a chance to spring back into action. Throughout April and May, many of these sections transform into a mesmerising sea of yellow thanks to Ranunculus acris (meadow buttercup).
In summer 2026, after deciding to leave some areas uncut for the whole of summer, we started to spot small patches of Echium vulgare (viper's bugloss), Centaurea nigra (common knapweed), and Leucanthemum vulgare (oxeye daisy) emerge in the areas we had left long the previous year.
What’s next
Inspired by what was tenaciously fighting its way through the thick lawn grass, the garden team visited our friends at the Forest of Flowers in Huby for a special wildflower training day in June 2026. We brought new knowledge back with us, as well as locally sourced seed from the Forest of Flowers to give our new meadow a strong start.
Buying seed from nearby was particularly important to us. It cuts down on emissions from shipping seed from further afield, but it also means the seeds we use are from a local plant community that has adapted specifically to Yorkshire's climate. This leads to heartier, more resilient plants that are already connected to the wider green corridors around York.
Alongside watching how plant-life responded to these new mowing patterns, we have also kept an eye on how people use the main lawn. Please be assured that we will be keeping lots of large areas of mown lawn for you to be able to enjoy playing games, having a picnic or just relaxing on a deck chair in the sun. We have even followed the desires lines—unofficial paths—that slowly emerged in the longer grass this summer and transformed them into official mown paths, adding to the lines of whimsy and wonder that will allow folks to wander through the wildflowers. We hope that in the coming years that exploring these meandering paths becomes another enjoyable and entertaining main lawn experience!
You can take part
The next step is to sow seeds into the patches this autumn.
If you would like to lend a hand in shaping the story of this meadow, come join the Meadow Makers event on Wednesday 28th, October from 11am – 3pm. For more details about the day and what to expect, see the What’s on Page of the Park Website.
This is a slow project that puts into practice permaculture principles of making small and slow changes while observing and working with nature. The meadow will take several years to fully sink its roots into the soil. We will continue to share new chapters of this process on our Making a Meadow live-log – we hope to see you there and in the meadow soon!
