Hello there,

I'm new here and a total gardening novice, so please forgive my ineptitude. I've heard people talk about scattering seeds and then flowers growing up from them. I have some overgrown grass in my garden that I would prefer to be some wild flowers and have a spare packet of wild flowers that includes field cornflowers, field poppies, ox-eye daisies, cowslip and foxglove.

If I were to sprinkle these seeds around the grass, is there any chance that they would grow/flourish? Would it help if I mowed the grass first? Or would I have to disturb the soil first/remove the grass/go through the normal seed growing routine?

I live in Buckinghamshire and like the rest of England, it is insanely sunny at the moment

Thanks for any feedback!

On Mon, 12 May 2008 19:38:50 +0100, Flash
wrote:


Hello there,

I'm new here and a total gardening novice, so please forgive my
ineptitude. I've heard people talk about scattering seeds and then
flowers growing up from them. I have some overgrown grass in my garden
that I would prefer to be some wild flowers and have a spare packet of
wild flowers that includes field cornflowers, field poppies, ox-eye
daisies, cowslip and foxglove.

If I were to sprinkle these seeds around the grass, is there any chance
that they would grow/flourish? Would it help if I mowed the grass first?
Or would I have to disturb the soil first/remove the grass/go through
the normal seed growing routine?

I live in Buckinghamshire and like the rest of England, it is insanely
sunny at the moment

Thanks for any feedback!

If you just scatter them in the grass they don't stand much chance.
One method of starting a wildflower meadow is to grow the plants on a
bare patch of soil, or in pots, cut the grass, remove circles of turf
and plant the wildflowers in the circles of earth. That gives the
wildflowers a chance to establish. The soil does not need
fertilising.


Pam in Bristol

It is absolutely pointless to try and scatter seed in overgrown grass. If you want to scatter these seeds, you will have to clear the grass, prepare the soil and then scatter them.

Prince Charles discovered this at Highgrove, where he tried growing wild flowers along the drive.

Well, thanks for that rather abrupt post, you certainly know how to welcome the new folk.

Sorry you feel it was abrupt. It was not meant to be.

You had already suggested that the ground be cleared before the seeds were sown. The answer is yes, you need to remove all the grass, cultivate the ground but without in any way manuring or feeding it, and then broadcast sowing your seeds, preferably mixing them into a mixture of fine soil and sand. Water lghtly after broadcasting and watch for seedlings coming through. Do not do anything until the first leaves are through or you may weed out the very plants that you want.

On 13/5/08 02:21, in article , "Flash"
wrote:

beccabunga;791185 Wrote:
It is absolutely pointless to try and scatter seed in overgrown grass.
If you want to scatter these seeds, you will have to clear the grass,
prepare the soil and then scatter them.

Prince Charles discovered this at Highgrove, where he tried growing
wild flowers along the drive.

Well, thanks for that rather abrupt post, you certainly know how to
welcome the new folk.


Two replies almost instantly giving you the information you need is very
welcoming, I'd say.
But if you want still more help, I'd suggest you make enquiries locally for
companies that sell turf pre-seeded with wild flowers. If there are none
locally, you may find some advertising in gardening magazines.
For the future you'd probably find even more gardening information if you
tried using a newsreader to read and contribute to uk.rec.gardening instead
of going through garden banter which merely reprints all our posts without
permission but for commercial purposes. There is a long archive for urg and
a wealth of information available from its members, all free. So if we
don't crack open the champagne and roll out the red carpet, please forgive
us - time is a bit pressing for most of us and unlike garden banter, none of
us make any money out of helping people here with gardening questions. The
idea of uk.rec.gardening is that we all help each other for love of the
subject, not for gain. Enjoy your garden........


--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

On May 13, 2:21 am, Flash wrote:
beccabunga;791185 Wrote:

It is absolutely pointless to try and scatter seed in overgrown grass.
If you want to scatter these seeds, you will have to clear the grass,
prepare the soil and then scatter them.

Prince Charles discovered this at Highgrove, where he tried growing
wild flowers along the drive.

Well, thanks for that rather abrupt post, you certainly know how to
welcome the new folk.

--
Flash

The advice given was good Flash. About 10 years ago, I bought so many
wild flower seeds, that if they had all come up it would have been
outstanding. I threw them onto the long grass on the land in
question, some land we own but don't use. I have yet to see any wild
flowers of the type I threw there. Now I have a container full of
"Shake and Scatter" Heirloom Flowers for the Cottage Garden! On the
back, there is a diagram showing exactly what has been advised here,
clearing a bit of the grass. Good gardening and come back and let us
know how successful you were.

I am off to clear a bit of grass now and hopefully I will be able to
post a pic when they bloom. Welcome to urg. BTW it's a nice group
full of people who really know what they are talking about, however,
you can omit me, I am still the bumbling amateur I always was but
enjoying it.

Judith

On 13 May, 11:17, Judith in France
wrote:
On May 13, 2:21 am, Flash wrote:

beccabunga;791185 Wrote:

It is absolutely pointless to try and scatter seed in overgrown grass.
If you want to scatter these seeds, you will have to clear the grass,
prepare the soil and then scatter them.

Prince Charles discovered this at Highgrove, where he tried growing
wild flowers along the drive.

Well, thanks for that rather abrupt post, you certainly know how to
welcome the new folk.

--
Flash

The advice given was good Flash. About 10 years ago, I bought so many
wild flower seeds, that if they had all come up it would have been
outstanding. I threw them onto the long grass on the land in
question, some land we own but don't use. I have yet to see any wild
flowers of the type I threw there. Now I have a container full of
"Shake and Scatter" Heirloom Flowers for the Cottage Garden! On the
back, there is a diagram showing exactly what has been advised here,
clearing a bit of the grass. Good gardening and come back and let us
know how successful you were.

I am off to clear a bit of grass now and hopefully I will be able to
post a pic when they bloom. Welcome to urg. BTW it's a nice group
full of people who really know what they are talking about, however,
you can omit me, I am still the bumbling amateur I always was but
enjoying it.

Judith

It is also beneficial to cut and remove the grass once the flowers
have set seed, probably late July. The aim of this is to ipoverish the
soil to reduce the strength of the grass and give the flowers a
chance.

Jonathan

On May 13, 11:27 am, Martin wrote:
On Tue, 13 May 2008 03:17:09 -0700 (PDT), Judith in France



wrote:
On May 13, 2:21 am, Flash wrote:
beccabunga;791185 Wrote:

It is absolutely pointless to try and scatter seed in overgrown grass.
If you want to scatter these seeds, you will have to clear the grass,
prepare the soil and then scatter them.

Prince Charles discovered this at Highgrove, where he tried growing
wild flowers along the drive.

Well, thanks for that rather abrupt post, you certainly know how to
welcome the new folk.

--
Flash

The advice given was good Flash. About 10 years ago, I bought so many
wild flower seeds, that if they had all come up it would have been
outstanding. I threw them onto the long grass on the land in
question, some land we own but don't use. I have yet to see any wild
flowers of the type I threw there. Now I have a container full of
"Shake and Scatter" Heirloom Flowers for the Cottage Garden! On the
back, there is a diagram showing exactly what has been advised here,
clearing a bit of the grass. Good gardening and come back and let us
know how successful you were.

I am off to clear a bit of grass now and hopefully I will be able to
post a pic when they bloom. Welcome to urg. BTW it's a nice group
full of people who really know what they are talking about, however,
you can omit me, I am still the bumbling amateur I always was but
enjoying it.

Judith is the one with the gold hobnailed boots for stamping on horses tails.
--

Martin

I'll stamp all over you if you tell all my secretas lol

Judith

On May 13, 11:21 am, Jonathan wrote:
On 13 May, 11:17, Judith in France
wrote:



On May 13, 2:21 am, Flash wrote:

beccabunga;791185 Wrote:

It is absolutely pointless to try and scatter seed in overgrown grass.
If you want to scatter these seeds, you will have to clear the grass,
prepare the soil and then scatter them.

Prince Charles discovered this at Highgrove, where he tried growing
wild flowers along the drive.

Well, thanks for that rather abrupt post, you certainly know how to
welcome the new folk.

--
Flash

The advice given was good Flash. About 10 years ago, I bought so many
wild flower seeds, that if they had all come up it would have been
outstanding. I threw them onto the long grass on the land in
question, some land we own but don't use. I have yet to see any wild
flowers of the type I threw there. Now I have a container full of
"Shake and Scatter" Heirloom Flowers for the Cottage Garden! On the
back, there is a diagram showing exactly what has been advised here,
clearing a bit of the grass. Good gardening and come back and let us
know how successful you were.

I am off to clear a bit of grass now and hopefully I will be able to
post a pic when they bloom. Welcome to urg. BTW it's a nice group
full of people who really know what they are talking about, however,
you can omit me, I am still the bumbling amateur I always was but
enjoying it.

Judith

It is also beneficial to cut and remove the grass once the flowers
have set seed, probably late July. The aim of this is to ipoverish the
soil to reduce the strength of the grass and give the flowers a
chance.

Jonathan

I'm afraid I won't be doing that Jonathan as the land is totally wild
and I am hoping that the flowers, given a good start, will compete
with the grass once established. I'll clear small areas at random and
then sow the seed, keep your fingers crossed.

Judith

Judith

On May 13, 12:37 pm, Martin wrote:
On Tue, 13 May 2008 03:35:24 -0700 (PDT), Judith in France



wrote:
On May 13, 11:27 am, Martin wrote:
On Tue, 13 May 2008 03:17:09 -0700 (PDT), Judith in France

wrote:
On May 13, 2:21 am, Flash wrote:
beccabunga;791185 Wrote:

It is absolutely pointless to try and scatter seed in overgrown grass.
If you want to scatter these seeds, you will have to clear the grass,
prepare the soil and then scatter them.

Prince Charles discovered this at Highgrove, where he tried growing
wild flowers along the drive.

Well, thanks for that rather abrupt post, you certainly know how to
welcome the new folk.

--
Flash

The advice given was good Flash. About 10 years ago, I bought so many
wild flower seeds, that if they had all come up it would have been
outstanding. I threw them onto the long grass on the land in
question, some land we own but don't use. I have yet to see any wild
flowers of the type I threw there. Now I have a container full of
"Shake and Scatter" Heirloom Flowers for the Cottage Garden! On the
back, there is a diagram showing exactly what has been advised here,
clearing a bit of the grass. Good gardening and come back and let us
know how successful you were.

I am off to clear a bit of grass now and hopefully I will be able to
post a pic when they bloom. Welcome to urg. BTW it's a nice group
full of people who really know what they are talking about, however,
you can omit me, I am still the bumbling amateur I always was but
enjoying it.

Judith is the one with the gold hobnailed boots for stamping on horses tails.
--

Martin

I'll stamp all over you if you tell all my secretas lol

The spider is the one with the hairy legs.

Mike is the one who let his seeds fall on the barren land.
--

Martin

Who? Are you speaking in riddles!

Judith