The Urban Environment Division’s customer service point at Työpajankatu 8 is closed on 8 November due to a staff development day. The telephone service is also closed.  

Urgent parking control requests concerning vehicles that are hindering traffic can be submitted by calling the number 09 310 70014. We will resume normal service on Monday 11 November.  

Management of meadows and fields

The meadows, fields and pastures in Helsinki offer beautiful open landscapes for year-round outdoor recreation. Their regular cultivation and management ensure the preservation of the valuable cultural landscapes and contribute to biodiversity.
Photo: Jussi Hellsten

How we manage the meadows 

We mow each meadow once or twice during the summer.  If our goal is to diversify the vegetation of the meadow, we will remove the clippings. However, if the main goal is to keep the landscape open, we will leave the clippings in the meadow. In some meadows, we use grazing animals such as sheep and cows to help with landscape management. 

In the meadows that are most valuable in terms of flora or cultural history, we also use manual methods such as a scythe.   

In landscape fields, we cultivate native cereal varieties, sunflowers, lacy phacelia or peas. You may pick the flowers and peas for your own use. 

Guidelines for the management of meadows 

The management of meadows and agricultural areas is guided by the city’s nature management policy, which we are currently updating. Once the City Board has approved the new policy, we will also update the more detailed meadow management guidelines. 

Plans and policies 

Frequently asked questions about meadows

Yes they could, and this is what we are doing in the case of suitable small lawn areas all the time: we leave dry grass areas and areas around trees uncut to allow clover and common yarrow to bloom. Larger lawn areas are turned into meadows more deliberately. 

Lawns have also been turned into meadows by the OmaStadi project. 

We take animals into account by mowing the meadows outside the bird nesting season. Furthermore, we start the mowing in the middle of the meadow and work our way towards the edges to allow animals plenty of time to get out of the way. 

You may pick a bunch of flowers in a meadow for your own use, subject to the restrictions below. 

Flowers must not be picked: 

  • In valuable meadows or meadows in conservation areas because they are home to particularly valuable plant species 

  • In meadows in developed parks   

See the locations of valuable meadows in the map service. 

 

Read more

Meadows and landscape fields on the map
See the locations of meadows and landscape fields in the city map service.
Meadows on the map, divided by management method
See the map service for the management method of each meadow.
Contact us in any matter related to the maintenance of parks and green spaces
Give feedback or ask about the maintenance of parks, meadows and forests.
Management of forests
Learn about the forest management principles and management methods in Helsinki.
Nature conservation
Read about how Helsinki protects its nature by safeguarding biodiversity and establishing nature reserves and other protected sites.