A flowery meadow for science

HHoGent’s “FlowerPower De Tuin” citizen science project, in collaboration with Mijn Tuinlab and Knack, is studying the best way to turn part of your lawn into a beautiful flower meadow.

Participants receive a soil test on their lawn. They then create 3 test plots of 2.25 m2 each, which they develop into a flowery meadow for 2 years, mowing twice a year. Several times a year, they count the flowers, bees, butterflies and other insects in the test plots.

Stephanie Schelfhout,researcher at AgroFoodNature explains: “The first test plot simply needs to be mowed twice a year. In the second, a mixture of annual and perennial flowers is sown in the lawn. We also sow in the third plot, but after the sod has been removed. In addition, we also ask to take soil samples. In this way, we can learn very precisely and on a large scale what management produces the most colorful flower meadow and whether such a colorful flower meadow is attractive to bees, butterflies and other insects. Is it enough to mow less often? Should we sow flowers for a better result? What role does the soil play? We want to formulate a well-founded answer to these and similar questions.

Added value of grasslands

In any case, the meadows have a great biodiversity value. But the natural value of flowering meadows is no longer known because we hardly see it any more, specifies Stéphanie Schelfhout: “The flowering meadows typical of the past have disappeared, in particular under the pressure of the intensification of agriculture. At present, only 3% of the Flemish area is made up of biologically valuable meadows, a fraction of a century ago. If all the gardens together do a little bit, we can do that 3% maybe 4%. It may not seem like much, but it is an important step forward for our pollinators, such as bees, bumblebees and butterflies. ”

Mow can not

The FlowerPower research theme is closely linked to Knack’s “Maai Niet Mei” campaign. A collaboration was therefore obvious, explains his research colleague Jorunn Dieleman: “The basic principle of Maai Mei Niet is that everyone with a garden can do something for nature. In Flanders, almost 10% of the area is made up of gardens. So, managing lawns – or parts of them – differently could give biodiversity a huge boost and help avoid the climate crisis. Our added value for the Maai Mei Niet campaign is that we provide it with a more scientific basis with the data that we collect and analyze through our research.

HoGent