Perhaps the former veg patch would’ve been more suitable for a Cornfield mix rather than a meadowland mix, as the flowers that grow in cornfields are those that like recently tilled rich soil.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Good advice from @Jellyfire, especially I think with respect to purchasing seeds from one of the specialists. I too tried a small border last year with an off-the-shelf packet of wildflower seeds from a shop. I had no idea what was in there, and didn't have a great handle on identifying weeds, which led to a disappointing outcome. This year I have gone with seeds from meadowmania, who were very helpful during the ordering process. Crucially, the seed mixes I have planted do not have a huge variety of species - although still enough to produce a lovely display, judging by the pictures on the meadowmania website. Not having too many species makes it far easier to tell if a seedling is part of the mix or not, and I think that I just about have a handle on it now (after getting some extra help in this thread). If your patch is not too large, then removing the odd weed is not too onerous. What I also did is plant quite a few plugs up from the seed I received, which helped in a couple of ways; firstly it gave me some plants that had a head start and secondly it gave me a good idea of what the seedlings I was growing should look like. I think one thing that would be incredibly useful would be if the wildflower sellers were able to provide a set of pictures showing young seedlings of all of the varieties in a mix. I keep meaning to spend half an hour on my patch with a camera to record an image of each species seedling in my mix. Online resources are there for seedling ID but a lot harder to find than for the flowers.
Thanks @Silver surfer, I did wonder about teasel but I am not fully convinced that the leaf is similar enough. Here's a pic of the underside - what do you think? Certainly doesn't have those defined thorns, but perhaps that comes later? I know teasel wasn't in the wildflower mix we planted for most of the patch, but we did plant a "pond edge" mix from Suttons, whose contents are largely unknown (I did email them to ask, but they didn't reply - I wish these commercial wildflower mixes would just list the varieties as it would make weeding a lot easier!).
pretty sure thats a teasel. The giveaway is the leaves collecting water at the joint. Apparently its thought they may be partly carniverous, and use the nutrients of the dead insects that collect in there
edit: Ignore that I was looking at the picture of the teasel! Yours isnt a teasel Matt
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Perhaps the former veg patch would’ve been more suitable for a Cornfield mix rather than a meadowland mix, as the flowers that grow in cornfields are those that like recently tilled rich soil.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I think one thing that would be incredibly useful would be if the wildflower sellers were able to provide a set of pictures showing young seedlings of all of the varieties in a mix. I keep meaning to spend half an hour on my patch with a camera to record an image of each species seedling in my mix. Online resources are there for seedling ID but a lot harder to find than for the flowers.
Seems to be a few of these around but not sure whether they should stay or go?
edit: Ignore that I was looking at the picture of the teasel! Yours isnt a teasel Matt