I echo the above, gardeners love to see other people's gardens and also love talking about plants be they weeds or not. Invite your neighbours round.
I made exactly the same mistake as you in my first year gardening, chucked a load of mixed seeds down in the hope something that looked like the picture would pop up, it didn't, and like you I ended up growing some beautifully nurtured weeds.
Don't fret over it, it just proves you're good at growing things.
Those mixtures do occasionally work. I've tried them myself and they can sometimes work well. Based on past successes I actually tried a couple of mixes this year, but they have been dismal failures. I've attributed that mainly to the poor weather.
One major problem with a mix is that loads of stuff germinates (if you're lucky) but you really don't know which seedlings come from the seed you've sown, and which come from weed seeds that were in the soil. Some people sow mixtures in marked rows, so they know exactly where the desired seedlings ought to be.
It's heartening that you chose to sow a wildflower mixture. It shows good intent.
A mixture might be ambitious for a beginner. Buying very small plants early in the season (and making sure slugs don't eat them) might be more reliable. Or sowing individual varieties of seeds that are easy to grow, like sweet peas.
It's probably not too late to buy some little sweet pea plants to grow up those canes, and a box of small annuals, to brighten things up.
On the annuals front my local B&Q has loads of discounted trays of plants that have a few plants missing each or just need a good water to freshen them up. They're priced as low as 50p each tray but you'll have to find the discount section. This year I've bought petunias, lobellia, marigolds, geraniums and verbena all discounted, I guess that the rubbish weather we've been having has put people off buying plants.
Thank you so much for all these kind words. I will definately try to find some sweet peas and visit the discounted section in the garden centre and ask my neighbour round. great ideas! I've heard that toddlers and babies love marigolds, so maybe I will experiment with child friendly gardening this year...and remove those possible foxgloves as mentioned! your encouragement is really appreciated- thank you!
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I echo the above, gardeners love to see other people's gardens and also love talking about plants be they weeds or not. Invite your neighbours round.
I made exactly the same mistake as you in my first year gardening, chucked a load of mixed seeds down in the hope something that looked like the picture would pop up, it didn't, and like you I ended up growing some beautifully nurtured weeds.
Don't fret over it, it just proves you're good at growing things.
Those mixtures do occasionally work. I've tried them myself and they can sometimes work well. Based on past successes I actually tried a couple of mixes this year, but they have been dismal failures. I've attributed that mainly to the poor weather.
One major problem with a mix is that loads of stuff germinates (if you're lucky) but you really don't know which seedlings come from the seed you've sown, and which come from weed seeds that were in the soil. Some people sow mixtures in marked rows, so they know exactly where the desired seedlings ought to be.
It's heartening that you chose to sow a wildflower mixture. It shows good intent.
A mixture might be ambitious for a beginner. Buying very small plants early in the season (and making sure slugs don't eat them) might be more reliable. Or sowing individual varieties of seeds that are easy to grow, like sweet peas.
It's probably not too late to buy some little sweet pea plants to grow up those canes, and a box of small annuals, to brighten things up.
On the annuals front my local B&Q has loads of discounted trays of plants that have a few plants missing each or just need a good water to freshen them up. They're priced as low as 50p each tray but you'll have to find the discount section. This year I've bought petunias, lobellia, marigolds, geraniums and verbena all discounted, I guess that the rubbish weather we've been having has put people off buying plants.
Thank you so much for all these kind words. I will definately try to find some sweet peas and visit the discounted section in the garden centre and ask my neighbour round. great ideas! I've heard that toddlers and babies love marigolds, so maybe I will experiment with child friendly gardening this year...and remove those possible foxgloves as mentioned!
your encouragement is really appreciated- thank you!