Seed scattering project

Hi.

At the far side of the little car park on our rented flat, there is a long, narrow grassy bank, around 4ft x 25ft, full sun for half the day.

Last autumn I scattered some wild flower and poppy seeds which should come through at some point this year, and I've decided I'm also going to hit it with a load of other seeds and just see what happens.

I've got some very fine potting compost, and I plan on mixing my seeds with this and scattering at intervals, some wild flowers quite early then more sensitive flowers a little later into spring.

Once the last frost has definitely passed, I plan on the final scattering being lobelia seeds. I've never grown lobelia from seed before and have been reading up a little on it. Apparently the powdery seeds should just be scattered on the soil surface as they need light to germinate. Not the easiest thing you do on a lightly grassed area with powdery seed. Can I not mix the seed with any growing medium at all to make it easier to scatter?

The grass never gets high on the bank so enough light should reach the seeds, but I don't want to bury them.

Hopefully even if only a small percentage of the seeds I so make it to flower, it'll look great and attract bees, butterflies and other insects.

Thanks.

 

What a lovely idea @nightofjoy . Someone did this on some grass verges that ran off from a large roundabout near us last year. It really looked beautiful and was a true welcome to weary eyes after leaving the motorway too!

 

Yeah, I've got nothing to lose by doing it, except a few quid of seeds, and it will pay dividends if it works.

Our communal garden space is left mostly wild, due to our elderly landlord being fond of the foxes that occasionally make the small wooded area their home, so I hit it with about 500g of wild flower seeds last autumn, which should provide colour this year, and if the long grassy bank blooms all of the other residents in the building will be able to see it from their windows...

I plan on putting a row of white plant labels along the edge of the bank so when the gardener comes he'll know not to cut from that point onwards. I can't see him minding, seeing as he leaves everything apart from the main lawn alone at the landlord's request already. An easy gig, our place

 

Love it. I've been thinking about doing something similar. There are so many wasted areas which are just nasty graas. Given the issues with insect numbers councils should be doing this. I think it would be less maintenance for them as typically they just need to cut it back once year.

 

Do you have any advice on the lobelia? the 6 - 7 varieties I have range from tiny seeds to powder, which will be more difficult to scatter. Will the powder tolerate being mixed with a tiny bit of very fine see compost to make it easier to sprinkle? I know you're really only supposed to drop the seeds onto the surface...

 

And I totally agree, councils should be doing this, or should at the very least offer to supply seeds so that other groups that are interested could go out and do it. School children, the elderly & such would probably appreciate an hour or two outdoors scattering seeds and learning about the state of our insect populations....

 

I'd love to do this & i do have a few boxes of those Aldi wildflower mixes that have billions of seeds in them, far too many for me to ever use them all Would they be ok with the corporation mowing the grass regularly though? In wildflower meadows i believe they only mow once, in the springtime?

 

Hi @nightofjoy ,

Sorry but I think you would be wasting the Lobelia seed ( presumably you have Lobelia Erinus varieties .... usually used for edging and hanging baskets ). These are tender perennials which ideally should be sown on the compost surface indoors then planted out after all risk of frost has passed. They are usually grown as half-hardy annuals over here as it's not really worth bothering with digging them up and overwintering them indoors.

 

I found a couple of boxes too in colour schemed selections at In- Excess, thought I might scatter them down at bottom of my Dad's garden in his ' wildlife' area.

 

You could even try these maybe??

Beemat Bird Mat Pre-Seeded Grow Mat for Wild Birds

 

I don’t mean to put a damper on your enthusiasm but I feel this won’t be too successful. Firstly I would ask what is in the seed mix, native, non native or what? This is important. It sounds like this strip of grass is regularly mowed so anything higher than a few inches will not have a chance to flower. If your hope is to establish a wildflower meadow you should know that they require very specific management and they are not easy to establish. Grass is vigorous and will out compete most flowers. Do some research. Sorry if this is not what you want to read.

 

I buy seed from here

Wildflower Seed Mixes 100% Native British Perennial - Meadow Mania

Decent prices for larger weight and a good choice of mixes.

As has been mentioned above you need to try and find areas where they might stand a chance of getting established.

I have various mixes from the above supplier and am just getting a few areas of my garden prepared. Did a few small patches last year and it was very successful.

 

This is the section of garden that i will be creating a wildflower meadow. I am just clearing it a bit putting in a path and a small seating area and the rest will be wildflower. Hope to sow seeds this month.