Victoria, thanks for your good explanation. Now that I know that, there is
another good reason why I shouldn't just sprinkle them on the ground - my
chickens would *love* them!!! So, I will put them in a tray and do it
properly - fiddly or not! ))

Many thanks,
Jaqy

"Victoria Clare" wrote in message
.206...
"MC Emily" wrote in
:

Oh yikes, I hadn't thought it would be that complicated!! I'm not
really a 'fiddly' gardener and this seems awfully 'fiddly' to me. How
would they go on if they had just fallen 'in the wild'? Do they not
do very well?

Differences are that:

- in the wild the seed is fresh, and appears at the right time for the
soaking, chilling, etc to happen automatically.

- in the wild you get a lot more seed than just one packet! Most of it
dies, gets eaten, etc. But if you buy a packet of seed you expect to get
more than one plant out of it.

Thus HW's advice: by bagging, chilling, and cultivating in a tray, you
make
the best of seed that is bound to be a few months old (more germination)
and you don't expose any of the seedlings to slugs, snails, etc until they
are big enough not to be simply mown down and vanish.

If it seems like too much hassle, you'd probably be better off getting
some
plants instead; they will seed themselves eventually, if the conditions
are
right, and with luck you will also be able to divide the clumps after a
while too.

Or you could try buying bags and bags of seed and just sprinkle it: you'll
lose a lot, but you should get a few germinating.

I also find British native wildflowers very fiddly from (bought) seed,
though I've had a lot more luck with stuff that I've just picked straight
out of the hedge and bunged into some compost.

Victoria