I've decided to help the bees and make a wildflower garden.

Action taken so far is to identify an area of back lawn for the project and
this has been culled using glycosphate but needs redoing to get the bits I
missed.

I've got a few packets of wildflower seeds courtesy of Coppella at the
Hampton Ct. Flower Show. I've also collected a few seeds myself: poppy, ox
eye daisy etc., and am on the look out for other suitable seed heads. The
plan is to sprinkle these about in September.

Never done this before so would appreciate any dos and don'ts etc.

mark

"mark" wrote in message
o.uk...


I've decided to help the bees and make a wildflower garden.

Action taken so far is to identify an area of back lawn for the project
and this has been culled using glycosphate but needs redoing to get the
bits I missed.

I've got a few packets of wildflower seeds courtesy of Coppella at the
Hampton Ct. Flower Show. I've also collected a few seeds myself: poppy,
ox eye daisy etc., and am on the look out for other suitable seed heads.
The plan is to sprinkle these about in September.

Never done this before so would appreciate any dos and don'ts etc.

First and foremost - try to reduce the fertility of your soil as much as
possible and NEVER add fertiliser. Wild flowers do best in a poor soil.
Some of the seeds that you mention are annual wildflowers and will only
flower next year. You will only see them again if you disturb the soil every
year and this will 'upset' the perennial wild flowers such as the oxeye
daisy. Remember that grasses are also wild flowers and should form part of
the mixture. You can try to disturb small patches of the area if you want to
see poppies, cornflower and corn marigold ever year - if you have moles,
they will do a good job of this for you!
Be patient, a wild flower meadow takes at least 10 years to establish and
cut the area in the autumn and remove the cuttings to reduce the fertility
even further.
These are just the basics, wild flower growing is a very complex subject.

HTH

Phil

Phil Gurr wrote:
"mark" wrote in message
o.uk...


I've decided to help the bees and make a wildflower garden.

Action taken so far is to identify an area of back lawn for the
project and this has been culled using glycosphate but needs redoing
to get the bits I missed.

I've got a few packets of wildflower seeds courtesy of Coppella at
the Hampton Ct. Flower Show. I've also collected a few seeds
myself: poppy, ox eye daisy etc., and am on the look out for other
suitable seed heads. The plan is to sprinkle these about in
September. Never done this before so would appreciate any dos and
don'ts etc.

First and foremost - try to reduce the fertility of your soil as much
as possible and NEVER add fertiliser. Wild flowers do best in a poor
soil. Some of the seeds that you mention are annual wildflowers and
will only flower next year. You will only see them again if you
disturb the soil every year and this will 'upset' the perennial wild
flowers such as the oxeye daisy. Remember that grasses are also wild
flowers and should form part of the mixture. You can try to disturb
small patches of the area if you want to see poppies, cornflower and
corn marigold ever year - if you have moles, they will do a good job
of this for you! Be patient, a wild flower meadow takes at least 10
years to establish
and cut the area in the autumn and remove the cuttings to reduce the
fertility even further.
These are just the basics, wild flower growing is a very complex
subject.
Don't be put off: you can have a very nice display in a year or two. It
will never be a real meadow, of course, but who cares? The best start is
not really glyphosate, but stripping the turf quite thickly, which will
sharply reduce the fertility (stack it in a corner to rot into loam). I
grew one from scratch on part of what had been a parking area with about
six inches of crushed stone and very little soil at all, but even that
was past its flowery best after about ten years as grasses got a
foothold. Most grasses do this by the simple expedient of being
close-growing, perennial, and having a long growing period limited
mainly by temperature; but, as Phil says, that's part of the natural
population. Nothing wrong with judicious "weeding", of course...

--
Mike.

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...

(snip)
but even that was past its flowery best after about ten years as grasses
got a foothold. Most grasses do this by the simple expedient of being
close-growing, perennial, and having a long growing period limited mainly
by temperature; but, as Phil says, that's part of the natural population.
Nothing wrong with judicious "weeding", of course...

The grasses will only overwhelm the other flowers if an important
constituent of the wild flower flora is missing. This is yellow rattle which
is parasitic on grass roots and keeps the grasses in balance.

Phil

On 29 July, 17:58, "mark" wrote:
I've decided to help the bees and make a wildflower garden.

Action taken so far is to identify an area of back lawn for the project and
this has been culled using glycosphate but needs redoing to get the bits I
missed.

I've got a few packets of wildflower seeds courtesy of Coppella at the
Hampton Ct. Flower Show. *I've also collected a few seeds myself: *poppy, ox
eye daisy etc., and am on the look out for other suitable seed heads. The
plan is to sprinkle these about in September.

Never done this before so would appreciate any dos and don'ts etc.

mark
I suggest you research the best plants that will grow in your soil/
shade/sun conditions before you go out buying expensive wild flower
seed.

It's not a universal constituent of wild flower rich assemblages in the wild, nor is it totally necessary (think of the ease with which wild flowers can invade a lawn). But it does help a lot when you're trying to establish wild flowers on the relatively rich and fertile soil of a garden, and which you are not going to mow regularly. It's an annual, but once established it will seed itself each year. But it doesn't like shade.

3 sorts of wildflower grassland, roughly.

1) continuously grazed short grass - ie a lawn. If you don't fertilise, you will gradually get daisies, white clover, purple self-heal, blue veronica etc. Mow it slightly long, and leave un-mown for 3-4weeks in about July to get bloom and seeds.

2) pasture - grows in spring, grazed for rest of year. Plant with early things - wild daffs, primroses, cowslips, start cutting when leaves of bulbs have died down, and keep it about 3-4inches long fr the rest of the year.

3) meadow - graze ((mow) in early spring,, then leave to grow all summer, finally cut (for hay ;-) )when everything has flowered and produced seed. My shady clay meadow has yellow vetchling and birds foot trefoil, blue and purple vetches, red clover, red greater burnet, purple knapweed, blue field geranium,, and, just for fun, tall red melancholy thistles (which,, although a thistle, do not have prickles).

There's nothing at all to say you shouldn't grow a mixture of wildflowers in a flower bed. Showy ones include red and white campion, foxglove, field and wood geraniums, oxe-eye daisies,, corn cockle, scabious, yarrow, poppy. Some of these are perennial, some annual.

Wild flowers (indeed any flowers) tend to look a bit unkempt when you're letting them go to seed. If you keep any edges tidy - weed paths, keep adjacent grass well mown - the overall effect is still of a cared-for garden rather than a piece of wasteland.

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...
Phil Gurr wrote:
"mark" wrote in message
o.uk...


I've decided to help the bees and make a wildflower garden.

Action taken so far is to identify an area of back lawn for the
project and this has been culled using glycosphate but needs redoing
to get the bits I missed.

I've got a few packets of wildflower seeds courtesy of Coppella at
the Hampton Ct. Flower Show. I've also collected a few seeds
myself: poppy, ox eye daisy etc., and am on the look out for other
suitable seed heads. The plan is to sprinkle these about in
September. Never done this before so would appreciate any dos and don'ts
etc.

First and foremost - try to reduce the fertility of your soil as much
as possible and NEVER add fertiliser. Wild flowers do best in a poor
soil. Some of the seeds that you mention are annual wildflowers and
will only flower next year. You will only see them again if you
disturb the soil every year and this will 'upset' the perennial wild
flowers such as the oxeye daisy. Remember that grasses are also wild
flowers and should form part of the mixture. You can try to disturb
small patches of the area if you want to see poppies, cornflower and
corn marigold ever year - if you have moles, they will do a good job
of this for you! Be patient, a wild flower meadow takes at least 10 years
to establish
and cut the area in the autumn and remove the cuttings to reduce the
fertility even further.
These are just the basics, wild flower growing is a very complex
subject.
Don't be put off: you can have a very nice display in a year or two. It
will never be a real meadow, of course, but who cares? The best start is
not really glyphosate, but stripping the turf quite thickly, which will
sharply reduce the fertility (stack it in a corner to rot into loam). I
grew one from scratch on part of what had been a parking area with about
six inches of crushed stone and very little soil at all, but even that was
past its flowery best after about ten years as grasses got a foothold.
Most grasses do this by the simple expedient of being close-growing,
perennial, and having a long growing period limited mainly by temperature;
but, as Phil says, that's part of the natural population. Nothing wrong
with judicious "weeding", of course...



I had a shingle drive once and that seemed to suited self seeded cornflowers
etc.
I would have stripped the turf but at the moment it would need drilling and
dynamite. Maybe if we have a week of rain I can strip the turf.

"Phil Gurr" wrote in message
o.uk...

"mark" wrote in message
o.uk...


I've decided to help the bees and make a wildflower garden.

Action taken so far is to identify an area of back lawn for the project
and this has been culled using glycosphate but needs redoing to get the
bits I missed.

I've got a few packets of wildflower seeds courtesy of Coppella at the
Hampton Ct. Flower Show. I've also collected a few seeds myself: poppy,
ox eye daisy etc., and am on the look out for other suitable seed heads.
The plan is to sprinkle these about in September.

Never done this before so would appreciate any dos and don'ts etc.

First and foremost - try to reduce the fertility of your soil as much as
possible and NEVER add fertiliser. Wild flowers do best in a poor soil.
Some of the seeds that you mention are annual wildflowers and will only
flower next year. You will only see them again if you disturb the soil
every year and this will 'upset' the perennial wild flowers such as the
oxeye daisy. Remember that grasses are also wild flowers and should form
part of the mixture. You can try to disturb small patches of the area if
you want to see poppies, cornflower and corn marigold ever year - if you
have moles, they will do a good job of this for you!
Be patient, a wild flower meadow takes at least 10 years to establish and
cut the area in the autumn and remove the cuttings to reduce the fertility
even further.
These are just the basics, wild flower growing is a very complex subject.


Thanks Phil. No fertiliser, scythe and remove cuttings in autumn.

mark

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...
Phil Gurr wrote:
"mark" wrote in message
o.uk...


I've decided to help the bees and make a wildflower garden.

Action taken so far is to identify an area of back lawn for the
project and this has been culled using glycosphate but needs redoing
to get the bits I missed.

I've got a few packets of wildflower seeds courtesy of Coppella at
the Hampton Ct. Flower Show. I've also collected a few seeds
myself: poppy, ox eye daisy etc., and am on the look out for other
suitable seed heads. The plan is to sprinkle these about in
September. Never done this before so would appreciate any dos and don'ts
etc.

First and foremost - try to reduce the fertility of your soil as much
as possible and NEVER add fertiliser. Wild flowers do best in a poor
soil. Some of the seeds that you mention are annual wildflowers and
will only flower next year. You will only see them again if you
disturb the soil every year and this will 'upset' the perennial wild
flowers such as the oxeye daisy. Remember that grasses are also wild
flowers and should form part of the mixture. You can try to disturb
small patches of the area if you want to see poppies, cornflower and
corn marigold ever year - if you have moles, they will do a good job
of this for you! Be patient, a wild flower meadow takes at least 10 years
to establish
and cut the area in the autumn and remove the cuttings to reduce the
fertility even further.
These are just the basics, wild flower growing is a very complex
subject.
Don't be put off: you can have a very nice display in a year or two. It
will never be a real meadow, of course, but who cares? The best start is
not really glyphosate, but stripping the turf quite thickly, which will
sharply reduce the fertility (stack it in a corner to rot into loam). I
grew one from scratch on part of what had been a parking area with about
six inches of crushed stone and very little soil at all, but even that was
past its flowery best after about ten years as grasses got a foothold.
Most grasses do this by the simple expedient of being close-growing,
perennial, and having a long growing period limited mainly by temperature;
but, as Phil says, that's part of the natural population. Nothing wrong
with judicious "weeding", of course...



I did think that grass ought to play its part but not just any old grass,
clumping ones maybe?

mark

"Phil Gurr" wrote in message
o.uk...

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...

(snip)
but even that was past its flowery best after about ten years as grasses
got a foothold. Most grasses do this by the simple expedient of being
close-growing, perennial, and having a long growing period limited mainly
by temperature; but, as Phil says, that's part of the natural population.
Nothing wrong with judicious "weeding", of course...

The grasses will only overwhelm the other flowers if an important
constituent of the wild flower flora is missing. This is yellow rattle
which is parasitic on grass roots and keeps the grasses in balance.


I'll have to look into getting some of that. Done that! Seems readily
available. http://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk/shop...product_id=440
I shall keep an eye out for it growing wild and get my own seed if I can.

mark

"harry" wrote in message
...
On 29 July, 17:58, "mark" wrote:
I've decided to help the bees and make a wildflower garden.

Action taken so far is to identify an area of back lawn for the project
and
this has been culled using glycosphate but needs redoing to get the bits I
missed.

I've got a few packets of wildflower seeds courtesy of Coppella at the
Hampton Ct. Flower Show. I've also collected a few seeds myself: poppy, ox
eye daisy etc., and am on the look out for other suitable seed heads. The
plan is to sprinkle these about in September.

Never done this before so would appreciate any dos and don'ts etc.

mark
I suggest you research the best plants that will grow in your soil/
shade/sun conditions before you go out buying expensive wild flower
seed.

"mark" wrote in message
o.uk...

I did think that grass ought to play its part but not just any old grass,
clumping ones maybe?

You would do best to look at Emorsgate Seeds http://wildseed.co.uk They
are a very reputable supplier of wildflower mixtures, long established.

Phil