Hi Claire, depends what you have really. Lots of people get a really good result with wildflower meadows sowing direct. Our thankless clay though tends to not give them much chance and the local 'wildflowers' (weeds) take over. I put in a free packet last year and was rewarded with a huge stand of ragwort. Not that I have a problem with ragwort, but it certainly wasn't what was on the packet or the contents of it.
If you are going for native wildflowers you can start them in trays outside fairly soon. You can either pot them on or plant them out when they are big enough to handle, treating them like any annual grown from seed. Much depends on what you have, your soil etc so a bit more info will help. If you have some great well prepared soil, direct sowing will work too.
I would have thought, by definition, wild flower seeds could just be scattered anywhere where's there is grass or woodland, and would grow. That's what happens to self-seeding flowers in the wild, surely.
Seeds sown very recently using natures own propagator, always best to wait and with longer daylight hours, no leggyness. IMO that is, I know lots of people love to start in February!
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
It would be easy to think that Green Gran. But in practice I find most species do far better nurtured. It really depends on the soil and situation a lot. If someone puts in a wildflower mix on carefully prepared soil, free of other seeds, it will probably do well. If you try it in an area of grassland or woodland, not a lot of hope, they will be swamped by the really common species which will proliferate because conditions suit them already.
Many of the wildflowers are now rarely if ever seen much of the 'wild'. In many areas it is intensively farmed and managed and hasn't been wild for a long time now. Even the road side verges get mowed to death around our towns and now increasingly in rural areas.
Like I say though, people can have success just bunging them in, I never do though, so I treat them like any other annuals and biennials with much better success.
The poor soil thing comes from the modern concept of managed wildflower meadows. These are subjected to exhaustive mowing and maintenance to recreate something that used to happen through the natural process of early cultivation/grazing.
The 'real' wildflower meadows were actively cultivated and improved with fertilizer, the animals were left to graze the meadows after they were cut for hay and the droppings did the job.
Feeding wildflowers and treating them with care can end up with some amazing specimen plants from native seeds. Bunging in a packet of mixed seeds onto open soil, well it may work, for a season or so, it may not. Which is a shame as many people get disappointed with them and don't try them again.
The only seeds I have sprouting right now are my rose seeds.
I'll probably start some veggies after Easter. I always start them too soon and they end up really spindly from lack of light inside so I'm trying to be patient and not jump the gun, lol!
Stagbeetle I would say with your sweet peas to pinch them out above the first set of leaves stops them being long and leggy and new shoots will come out lot stronger, the potatoes look just right all other seeds look great
So good watching seeds grow and seeing everyone else's
Hi guys, I haven't planted anything yet, I'm more of a flower gardener and cut flower patch, I will do some planting at the end of next week as I can't get outside yet (two massive planks of wood in front of the back door) I will be planting a wild flower patch and sweet peas etc loads of lavender too as I have just been given a bed at my local church to fill so I am going to plant it up with a border of Lavender to make it smell nice and year round colour I have no idea what I am going to be planting in the middle of it yet so I don't know if anyone has any ideas for that would be great!!!! Thank you in advance!!
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Hi Claire, depends what you have really. Lots of people get a really good result with wildflower meadows sowing direct. Our thankless clay though tends to not give them much chance and the local 'wildflowers' (weeds) take over. I put in a free packet last year and was rewarded with a huge stand of ragwort. Not that I have a problem with ragwort, but it certainly wasn't what was on the packet or the contents of it.
If you are going for native wildflowers you can start them in trays outside fairly soon. You can either pot them on or plant them out when they are big enough to handle, treating them like any annual grown from seed. Much depends on what you have, your soil etc so a bit more info will help. If you have some great well prepared soil, direct sowing will work too.
I would have thought, by definition, wild flower seeds could just be scattered anywhere where's there is grass or woodland, and would grow. That's what happens to self-seeding flowers in the wild, surely.
Seeds sown very recently using natures own propagator, always best to wait and with longer daylight hours, no leggyness. IMO that is, I know lots of people love to start in February!
It would be easy to think that Green Gran. But in practice I find most species do far better nurtured. It really depends on the soil and situation a lot. If someone puts in a wildflower mix on carefully prepared soil, free of other seeds, it will probably do well. If you try it in an area of grassland or woodland, not a lot of hope, they will be swamped by the really common species which will proliferate because conditions suit them already.
Many of the wildflowers are now rarely if ever seen much of the 'wild'. In many areas it is intensively farmed and managed and hasn't been wild for a long time now. Even the road side verges get mowed to death around our towns and now increasingly in rural areas.
Like I say though, people can have success just bunging them in, I never do though, so I treat them like any other annuals and biennials with much better success.
I agree Gemma. It's a much repeated fiction that wild flowers 'need' poor soil.
Maybe it relates to growing plants in grass where the grass gets too exuberant in good soil and swamps the other plants.
and I was disappointed to find none of the wild flower mixes at the local GC were native mixes
In the sticks near Peterborough
The poor soil thing comes from the modern concept of managed wildflower meadows. These are subjected to exhaustive mowing and maintenance to recreate something that used to happen through the natural process of early cultivation/grazing.
The 'real' wildflower meadows were actively cultivated and improved with fertilizer, the animals were left to graze the meadows after they were cut for hay and the droppings did the job.
Feeding wildflowers and treating them with care can end up with some amazing specimen plants from native seeds.
Bunging in a packet of mixed seeds onto open soil, well it may work, for a season or so, it may not. Which is a shame as many people get disappointed with them and don't try them again.
The only seeds I have sprouting right now are my rose seeds.
I'll probably start some veggies after Easter. I always start them too soon and they end up really spindly from lack of light inside so I'm trying to be patient and not jump the gun, lol!
Stagbeetle I would say with your sweet peas to pinch them out above the first set of leaves stops them being long and leggy and new shoots will come out lot stronger, the potatoes look just right all other seeds look great
So good watching seeds grow and seeing everyone else's
Hi guys, I haven't planted anything yet, I'm more of a flower gardener and cut flower patch, I will do some planting at the end of next week as I can't get outside yet (two massive planks of wood in front of the back door) I will be planting a wild flower patch and sweet peas etc loads of lavender too as I have just been given a bed at my local church to fill so I am going to plant it up with a border of Lavender to make it smell nice and year round colour I have no idea what I am going to be planting in the middle of it yet so I don't know if anyone has any ideas for that would be great!!!! Thank you in advance!!
Saxifraga x arendsii 'Purple Robe'