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Large area Heather Planting
Hampshire Steve
Posts: 17
in Plants
Hiya
I am looking at planting a large area of heather as ground cover. I have nice Sandy soil and all the indications are good.
I need to plant around 1 acre (In 2-3 locations) and therefore young plants will likely be uneconomic for me sadly.
I am therefore thinking of spreading Heather brash (or bales) which apparently contains lots of seeds and also gives a good medium for the seeds to grow when spread as a 1-2" layer.
Sadly I am struggling to find suppliers of Heather brash and wondered if anyone had any ideas or had done this before?
Cheers
Steve
0
Posts
It might be worth contacting any conservation bodies in your area to see where they source their supplies.
Thanks for the tips guys. I'm sure there will be some heather experts out there. I have asked around at our local golf club as they must deal with this problem quite often
Steve
The National Trust are working to restore Hindhead Common and the Devil's Punchbowl to heathland so I would suggest contacting them. Not far away from there is Lynchmere Trust which is also doing similar work. Most of the task is getting rid of bracken and birch trees though and both use cattle to help manage the land.
Another common ground cover plant found on these acid sandy heaths is blaeberry/bilbery/whinberry/whortleberry. Well worth considering adding these to the mix.
There's sure to be a suitable supplier on this list - http://www.floralocale.org/Suppliers+with+stock+type+-+Seed+-+wild+flowers
Thanks guys. Great tips. Keep it coming.
I am just 2 miles from Hindhead and the punchbowl so undoubtedly they should be able to help..with advice at least. My soil is pretty similar.