Question about yellow rattle

I want to make a wildflower area in my garden and have been learning about yellow rattle but haven’t quite got the level or clarity I needed from reading online.

So will this work if start the process this summer? …

I mow my lawn area where the seeds will go. Then put down weed control fabric over it for a few months to kill as much weeds and grass so yellow rattle will have contact with soil.
Lift the fabric in Nov/Dec and sow the yellow rattle seed and stamp it in.
Leave it until spring and then just plant my wildflowers amongst the yellow rattle.

Is that how you use yellow rattle?
Will the rattle seeds be disturbed/buried/killed if I plant the other flowers amongst them or will they have already started growing? I won’t be sowing wildflower seeds, I’ll be planting plugs I think but it depends on what you guys say maybe.

thanks

 

I'm not sure about laying the fabric as yellow rattle is a semi parasite with grass, so I think you need grass (and of the right species) for it to grow. The people I know that have tried yellow rattle have scarified the grass, where you can choose how much bare ground to leave, before sowing in the autumn.
The biggest issue is where the grass is just to strong as it can easily out compete wild flowers. Our back lawn is poor and we have tried scarification to provide areas for seeds to grow but never had much come up because the grass is just to strong. We switched the approach to plugs and it's been far better but never got yellow rattle to establish. We do have plenty of other species which thrive though.

 

Oh I see, I didn’t realize the yellow rattle actually needed grass to grow, I thought it just kept it at bay.
In that case, maybe I could actually get away with not using the yellow rattle and just laying the weeding fabric over the lawn until I plant the wildflowers. Then again it would be best if I can try and get the yellow rattle grow as the grass will no doubt come back full force in future and overpower my flowers. The grass here is very thick and lush and a nightmare to mow. Hmmm.

Do you mind me asking which wildflowers species are thriving in your garden? I am in Shetland so the species that thrive here will probably be different than in England or mainland Scotland.

 

Birds foot trefoil, self heal, red and white clover, daisies, achillea, cat ears, ox eye daisy, fox and cubs plus a few more I can't think of at the moment. We also have daffodils, crocus, tulips and a few other bulbs in there. I used locally collected seed because that way you know what will thrive and what grows in the same conditions.
Someone with conditions closer to your climate may be able to better advise, where I live we had less rain in 8 months then Scotland did in one weekend (2022) and most of our wild plants just burnt off.

 

The basic need for establishment of wild flowers in grass is to have (or produce) low fertility in regard to the soil. It needs to be 'poor'. The reason wild flowers are not everywhere in pasture is because agricultural practice requires that grass production is better than that. This involves boosting fertility with nutrients, that wild flower species do not require; and the modern grasses do.
If you require grass seed that may be suitable, have a look here:
Meadow Grass Seed | Buy Online | Boston Seeds

 

Ok thank you for that. I will look around and see what grows here as your climate is so much different than mine.

 

It's always better to see what's in the local area @Daalamist , regardless of where you are.
Conditions aren't just determined by the soil type, or even the temperature highs and lows - that's only part of the picture. The length of time an area is at a high or low temp, and the length of time it's wet or dry, are the important bits. Then you add in exposure - and wind. It isn't as simple as many people believe.
Many of the plants @Thevictorian mentions will be fine where you are - most of those grow well here where I am, but it's also about getting them establsihed initially, and then waiting...

Yellow rattle is parasitic on grass, but it needs the grass to start off doing that, and it will be easier to get plug plants, grow them on and then plant them if you want to try that, but it isn't a quick process. If you have richer soil, you'll find it very difficult though. I've never found it easy here, in any garden I've had.

 

I have found yellow rattle purchased seed had pretty poor germination even when sown into pots with a small amount of grass to latch its roots onto. At the place I volunteer we are considering harvesting our own from elsewhere in the land so that at least it's fresh. But we are trying to add more wild flowers into an already wild area.
As others have said, the point of the rattle is the same as starting with poor soil - stop grass outgrowing the other plants. So perhaps you could actually kill off the grass completely and sow your mixed wild plants into bare soil?

 

I have been toying with the idea f using yellow rattle to clear my garden of field grass but reading the above I now think it will not work as the grass blown into my garden has fibrous roots but also millions of small bulbils which the rattle would not affect. Rather like the bulbils of celandine, really difficult to see let alone pick up to remove.