Tiny Meadows

PLANT VERY SMALL WILD FLOWER MEADOWS IN THE CITY

Meadows are essentially grasslands — treeless fields composed of weedy plants and wild flowers. The advantage of growing weedy things is obvious: they grow without a whole lot of care or attention from us human beings. The disadvantage of growing weed things is also obvious: human beings don’t like weedy things. Weedy things symbolize neglect and a lack of care to keep the Wild at bay. Weeds are anti-civilization. Weeds are anti-civil, an insult to your neighbors. It is a civilized citizen’s duty to get rid of them.

Tiny Meadows (Malutkie Łaki) is a tiny project, which anyone can do, and goes like this.

First one finds a tiny place. It ought to be a neglected spot, neglected enough that no one cares what happens there, but not so neglected that cars are likely to run over it or dogs frequently relieve themselves on it. It also ought to be a visible spot because the point of a fully functional tiny meadow is to play or sit or walk in it or at the very least enjoy it, and one can’t do any of these things if one can’t find it.

Ironically, if one wants to plant new, unusual weeds, the first thing one must do is remove the old, regular weeds. If this is the first time a space is being approached for planting the best way to do this, and the most fun, is to simply get a shovel and turn the dirt over. Wait a few days and repeat this. Do this as many times as possible. Please don’t put chemical weedkillers on any land.

Second, get some seeds. You can either sow them in late fall and wait for the spring, or prepare the seeds and sow them in early spring. March is best. I used seeds from Łukasz Łuczaj. Since we are sowing in weedy city spaces, you might want to sow thickly. About 50 g per 10m2. You should mix the seeds with sand, approximately 5 times as much sand as seed. Sprinkle them across the plot. Water the plot and water as necessary and watch the flowers grow and bloom.

The next thing you will likely be doing is watching the city or a civilized citizen mow them down. If you’re lucky, this might actually help the flowers. If you’re not lucky, it could kill them. What do you do next? Sow seeds again!

Read about one little meadow HERE