Earlier this week, Country Life reported that King’s College, Cambridge, has replaced its ‘once extensively manicured turf’ with a ‘lush, majestic meadow.’ The carpet of poppies, cornflowers and oxeye daisies — which stretches from the college chapel to the River Cam — first flourished in 2020, after three years of sowing and maintenance.

The impact on biodiversity has been astonishing — bat numbers in the college gardens have increased threefold and invertebrates by 25 times — but, oh my, do we all underestimate the work a wildflower meadow requires in order for it to take hold and succeed. Firstly, you will need patience, because it can take years to convert a lawn into a well-balanced mix of grass and wildflowers. Secondly, you need the right kind of soil — well-drained and low in

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