I seeded a patch with poppies and various wildflower seed on poor soil in mid April and the germination seems poor. Watered every other day. There isn't hose access so I wonder if we needed more water, or maybe slugs just ate the seedlings... disappointing. I would hope that 4-6 weeks in we would be seeing a lot of strong plants, but we have few.
Having tried several areas with varying success over the years, I think the formula for success comes down to: 1. Good preparation of the bed, rake it to reasonably fine tilth, give it a 2 or 3 weeks then remove any weeds. 2. Get a good seed mix that suits your soil. Ive never had great results from one of the garden centre/supermarket packet jobs. They are often not great mixes of species and usually seem very heavy on one or two species. Its usually cheaper and more reliable to get from a specialist such as meadowmania, pictorial meadows, meadowmat etc. You'll also have a much better choice of mixes, and they will be much better balanced. 3. Sow according to the recommended coverage, I mark out in 1 metre squares and divide the seed accordingly then sow by hand 1 metre at a time. Gently firm the seeds down by walking on them. 4. Keep the soil moist until a good amount of germination, and until the seedlings are looking strong.
After that they should just look after themselves pretty much, apart from removing nettles etc.
Ive just sown my last area I had to do with a perennial mix from 'Wildflower Lawns and Meadows' 3 weeks ago (quite late), germination has been excellent and very pleased so far, and there seems to be a really good variation in the seedlings so have high hopes. Most of the garden was done with a mix from Meadowmania which has been brilliant, but I wanted to add a bit more variation on this area.
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But it's looking promising!
1. Good preparation of the bed, rake it to reasonably fine tilth, give it a 2 or 3 weeks then remove any weeds.
2. Get a good seed mix that suits your soil. Ive never had great results from one of the garden centre/supermarket packet jobs. They are often not great mixes of species and usually seem very heavy on one or two species. Its usually cheaper and more reliable to get from a specialist such as meadowmania, pictorial meadows, meadowmat etc. You'll also have a much better choice of mixes, and they will be much better balanced.
3. Sow according to the recommended coverage, I mark out in 1 metre squares and divide the seed accordingly then sow by hand 1 metre at a time. Gently firm the seeds down by walking on them.
4. Keep the soil moist until a good amount of germination, and until the seedlings are looking strong.
After that they should just look after themselves pretty much, apart from removing nettles etc.
Ive just sown my last area I had to do with a perennial mix from 'Wildflower Lawns and Meadows' 3 weeks ago (quite late), germination has been excellent and very pleased so far, and there seems to be a really good variation in the seedlings so have high hopes. Most of the garden was done with a mix from Meadowmania which has been brilliant, but I wanted to add a bit more variation on this area.