Here is one downland edge site I have created this year using a combination of my luxury and economy wild flower seed mix. The field had been rabbit netted as rabbits are a nuisance when creating wild flower areas as they will eat the seedlings as they germinate and create huge bare areas. Prior to seeding we made the field was nice and bare.
The field was a clay site although against the chalk downs, originally weedy grassland and hence it received the preparation as per my advice sheet which I send out with my seed mixes which you can view here  https://www.wildflowerlawnsandmeadows.com/995-2/ in fact the site was so weedy that I left it barren a whole year and it was given 3 weed treatments, different weed species would germinate from seeds on the soil surface every few months, Hogweed was the most troublesome and was still germinating this spring. But by February this year it was ready for seeding, I did it all by hand using my trusty push spreader, it was a cool day so the exercise kept me warm! As with most of my creations I do not cultivate after carrying out the weed control otherwise more weed seeds are brought up to the surface to germinate along with my sown seeds.
The field was over 2 acres and was the side of a hill so had dominating views over the landscape and a lovely open setting for a wild flower meadow, warm and sheltered in places which is very good for wildlife as well as for the aesthetics for people and the landscape.
Four months later it looked like this:
One notices some interesting things when seeding by hand, for instance I came upon this great big worm
But look at how he helps with the seeding – see the wild flower seed stuck on his side which is being tucked into the ground as he slides into the soil 🙂
The field makes quite an impact now on the edge of the downs
Bear in mind that my luxury mixtures are basically perennial wild flower mixtures (hence they come up year after year without the need for re-seeding) and so what is showing this year is just the small annual component and next year the perennials will be ready to flower and so the colour scheme will change and be more diverse from month to month from April with yellow Cowslips right through to October when late flowering species will be blooming such as lavender coloured Devil’s-bit Scabious, dark red Betony and white Yarrow, amongst a host of other species, as I have over 40 wild flower species in my luxury mixes for open sites. To see the complete list of wild flower species I put in this seed mix click here.