Wild flower mix

I sowed some wild flower mix seeds on a west facing slope on the 6th of April. I don't see any sign of life, should I be worried or will they still arrive? I did my best to keep them wet during the dry spell over Easter but there was a couple of days it dried out a lot.

 

Hello Eden1.
Usually when we refer to sowing wild flower seed, we have in mind the seed having been collected, harvested from the wild, fields and meadows. When it comes to us wishing to in some way or other to replicate a wild or natural garden etc, methods change regarding seed sowing etc.

Firstly we have to relate to and isentify the natural or wild state of growing etc. In the wild. Most seed are dispersed by the wind, others are spread via birds and animals having digestived them and passed out in their exctretia. Either way, the seeds end up on the soil surface.

In general practice of horticulture, we tend to gather, obtain our delected seed and diligently go through the process of sowing. This may be, sowing directly into the soil or into seed trays, cells etc. This is where perhaps the problem lies.

In nature the seeds are scattered by whatever means. The seeds may well remain upon the soil surface for days, months even years. Consider the flowering deserts. We as upto date gardeners molly-coddle our seeds. We prepare suitable containers etc and we sprinkle the seed, we then cover the seed. This is good, correct in many cases but not always best for wild seed.
Depending upon your area of seeding. Pots, trays, cell or open spaces. Simply spread the seed and wait and wait and wait.

 

If in doubt sow another packet. I did a couple of areas in my garden last year and the results were worth it. The areas I did last year are mostly coming back nicely and I topped up the more bare looking bits. I have also seeded a new stretch of garden. I have given it a few applications of seed and it looks to be just starting to kick off. I bought my seeds from meadow mania. Bigger packs and not too expensive and applied probably a lot more than recommend.

As I said the results last year were well worth it. Great for the wildlife, great to look at and low maintenance.

 

Patience is a virtue I'm going to have to learn by the sounds of it.

 

If I sow more should I rake it in? This might damage seed already sown that may or may not have already germinated?

 

Never been too hot on wild flower meadows but I have had a major rethink since seeing a superb display on my niece’s new build estate recently.
Stunning.
The area has poor impoverished soil and is not watered at all. Had a chat with the guy leading the landscaping team there so I am thinking of converting an area at the top of my garden so will check out Mike’s suggestion re Meadow Mania

 

I don't think I would be too worried. My girlfriend dug in one of my wildflower areas last year with a fork thinking they were weeds. I trampled them back down again and watered them and they were fine.

 

The meadow really isn't looking to good at this stage, there is a bit of small growth but its hard to tell if I've weeds or meadow plants. I was thinking of buying more meadow seed and mixing with compost and rolling seed bombs to kick start things. This way I'll not be trampling what little delicate growth I already have. Will this work. Can anyone recommend any good meadow seed I can buy online? Am I too late to be doing this?

 

I admire your ambition. Usually when we talk about seed sowing etc, we are talking about specified seeds that will provide us with plants that are usually associated with our food or general garden.

Sowing a wild meadow. Now that is a different matter. Might we be thinking along the lines of setting aside a corner of, let's say the average garden or are we talking about a field of say one or more acres.

I honestly have no idea of the ratio of viable wild flower seed, neither without doing research on the many hundreds of wild flower species, neither have I much information on whetherornot wild flower seed is subjected to the same tests etc as say our garden veg seeds. What I do know is. Most of the seeds we buy and sow are now the result of years of research and tinkering about with. I am not talking about GM crops etc. Basically we buy a packet of seed and follow the sowing instructions. As a result of the scientific tinkering, we can expect that our efforts of sowing will give us plants within, weeks/months.
In the case of wild or meadow seeds. Here you have a mixed assortment. If and when mature enough, these plants will flower, become pollinated, set seed etc all at different times. So using the corner of the garden as the 'meadow' appearance of tiny plants can be very sparse, if at all. Also in the wild, the seeds are distributed by birds, animals wind and rain. It may take a long time for a tiny seed to eventually become settled in the soil.

How many times have you bought a bag of compost and perhaps years later, a strange wild plant sprouts up. Germination times vary so much.

Might I direct you to Suttons Seeds. Not that we want to lose you but. They are experts with seeds. I found them most helpful back in the 70's/80's. When I was working and lecturing. TIP. Set out your enquiry well and you will probably not only get a good valid reply, but more than likely a good sample of seed.

 

I met a truly inspirational guy whilst taking Nico in the woods. Full of wildlife ideas, ways of living with nature and appreciating all the bugs and insects.
I love my cultivated spaces here but will incorporate more areas for wildlife too

 

Check out meadow mania if you want to buy more seed. They appear to be one of the main suppliers and a lot of the other brands are their seeds repackaged. They've got a lot of different mixes available.

 

I've attached a couple of pictures. The first was established last year an that is a picture of this year's regrowth. The second larger area was down this year and has really started to come together this year.

 

Hi,

I bought a large box of wildflower seeds from our local "Home Bargains" and scattered these but later whilst browsing the web I came across Meadow Mania and bought more seed from them also scattering this. I had removed a big snowberry hedge including stumps and roots also lots of other bushes together with brambles and mile a minute vine; I turned the grass over by spade and Christmas two years ago my wonderful wife Bron generously bought me a new Hyundai rotavator; when I tried to use the rotavator for the first time it bogged down on the grass sods; stones and roots everything being sodden so I had to wait months; going over with the rotavator for the first time it was almost uncontrollable as it bounced up and down also our site is very steep indeed and I was rotavating across the site. A forum member kindly suggested I try rotavating uphill and wow what a difference; after a number of passes the soil was brilliant but I let it alone allowing any weeds to appear then before sowing the seed I went over again with the rotavator; all this was extremely hard work.

A couple of months ago when I tried to sow the seeds the prevailing breeze made the job about impossible until I wondered if I could use the breeze to my benefit? I tossed seed into the air and watched as the breeze made a much better job than I in spreading the seed; the only problem was a strip of soil the seed missed but I had planted two rows of Primroses. At the top of the meadow flower patch I had planted Sky Rocket Conifers and Potentilla's.

I'm amazed by how the seeds have taken off; it's like the day of the triffids; I couldn't water when dry due to the distance from the bungalow and let nature take its course after all these seeds are never watered other than by rainfall in the wild.

Good luck with yours Eden1.

Kind regards, Colin.


What a huge difference a lot of work makes; rotavated a number of times.


Meadow flower seeds putting in an appearance.


Please note how steep our site is; it's difficult standing upright without trying to do any work.


The flowers really are shooting up.


A bit sparse at the front due to the breeze whilst sowing the seed but I'm pleased it's turning out so well.



The garden as it was; the hedge had been 8' tall and I brought it down to 4' tall then completely removed it; the laurels and other trees;bushes were cut back and the grass turned over by hand before I could rotavate it. By the time the rotavator had been over a number of times it became much easier and the Hyundai rotavator became a good friend.

 

I very much like the multi-colour diversity of wildflowers...

2012 - Wildflower seed mix (exactly as described)


2013 - Buttercups and giant teasel


2014 - Daisies and mallow


2015 - Green manure (sweet clover?) and purplish mallow flowers


2016 - Rise of the thistle


2017 - Invasion of the thistle
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However, when creating that "wildflower meadow" look, I think that you should choose flower seeds which are suitable for your soil and environmental conditions as well as providing year long visual interest.

At the community garden, we haven't yet got it right. Despite sowing the same Wildflower seed mix (we were given 1kg of seeds altogether) year after year and also letting the flowers self-seed, we never did manage to get the same stunning display as we did in 2012.

This particular mix would produce flowers in July-August if sown in April-May. If sown in October then the flowers would appear around May the following year.

The downside of this mix is that from October to April, the site will look like a completely dead overgrown mess.

 

I wanted to have wild flower meadows here but after reading about all the preparation needed I decided to just let the grass grow and see what happened. So far I've been very pleased with the results. The wild flowers that grow along the lanes naturally end up here and the wind and birds bring seeds in too. I've also added 3 Poppy plants, 1 Marsh Mallow and 1 Knapweed. The Poppies have self seeded everywhere . I've cut paths through the meadow to navigate around the garden and cut it twice a year. I'm debating whether to plant some Yellow Rattle into certain areas to weaken the grass a bit.