I have a coffee mug full of poppy seeds. (It looks like a cup full of
ground coffee powder.)

Poppies appear in our garden every year, and in every unlikely and
unwanted place. Last year I decided to take action by letting them
flower (the splashes of brilliant red are very pleasant) but to then
snip off the flower-heads before they had time to scatter their scores
of tiny seeds all over the place. So a year later I've shaken all the
seeds out of the heads and now have a coffee cup full of them - cornered
in a cup rather than scattered all over the garden.

It would be nice to have poppies in the grass verges of the lane that
runs past the house (and well away from the garden). The lane runs east
to west, so the verge on one side of it is south-facing and gets the
sun, while the verge on the other gets little because it sits in the
shadow of a hedge that runs along that side of the lane. But the
south-facing verge gets very dry, due to its exposure to the sun, and
its hedge "shields" the verge from any rain there might be.

So, which side would be best for poppies?

And what would be the best way of getting them to grow? Would just
scattering the seeds into the grass verge work? Or would I need to
expose patches of soil?

Of course, I'm taking it for granted that poppies could compete with all
the grasses and wild flowers that are currently in the verge.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Eddy.

"Eddy" wrote in message
...

I have a coffee mug full of poppy seeds. (It looks like a cup full of
ground coffee powder.)

Poppies appear in our garden every year, and in every unlikely and
unwanted place. Last year I decided to take action by letting them
flower (the splashes of brilliant red are very pleasant) but to then
snip off the flower-heads before they had time to scatter their scores
of tiny seeds all over the place. So a year later I've shaken all the
seeds out of the heads and now have a coffee cup full of them - cornered
in a cup rather than scattered all over the garden.

It would be nice to have poppies in the grass verges of the lane that
runs past the house (and well away from the garden). The lane runs east
to west, so the verge on one side of it is south-facing and gets the
sun, while the verge on the other gets little because it sits in the
shadow of a hedge that runs along that side of the lane. But the
south-facing verge gets very dry, due to its exposure to the sun, and
its hedge "shields" the verge from any rain there might be.

So, which side would be best for poppies?

And what would be the best way of getting them to grow? Would just
scattering the seeds into the grass verge work? Or would I need to
expose patches of soil?

Of course, I'm taking it for granted that poppies could compete with all
the grasses and wild flowers that are currently in the verge.

Poppies are wild flowers of disturbed ground and the seed needs
stratification (frosting over winter) in order to germinate. They will also
have difficulty in competing with established grasses. If it is your verge,
then spray areas in autumn with glyphosate, scarify the bare soil and sow
the seed then. If it is not your land, then wait for a friendly mole to come
along, rake the molehill flat and sow the seed in that.

Phil

On Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:55:43 +0100, Eddy
wrote:


I have a coffee mug full of poppy seeds. (It looks like a cup full of
ground coffee powder.)

Poppies appear in our garden every year, and in every unlikely and
unwanted place. Last year I decided to take action by letting them
flower (the splashes of brilliant red are very pleasant) but to then
snip off the flower-heads before they had time to scatter their scores
of tiny seeds all over the place. So a year later I've shaken all the
seeds out of the heads and now have a coffee cup full of them - cornered
in a cup rather than scattered all over the garden.

It would be nice to have poppies in the grass verges of the lane that
runs past the house (and well away from the garden). The lane runs east
to west, so the verge on one side of it is south-facing and gets the
sun, while the verge on the other gets little because it sits in the
shadow of a hedge that runs along that side of the lane. But the
south-facing verge gets very dry, due to its exposure to the sun, and
its hedge "shields" the verge from any rain there might be.

So, which side would be best for poppies?

And what would be the best way of getting them to grow? Would just
scattering the seeds into the grass verge work? Or would I need to
expose patches of soil?

Of course, I'm taking it for granted that poppies could compete with all
the grasses and wild flowers that are currently in the verge.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Eddy.

I'm not sure which poppies you have the seeds from. The wild native
poppies or the cultivated sort. I have let papaver somniferum seed
themselves about on my allotment for some years but have to weed
selectively.
Outside my house is a bank of shrubs, grass and weeds, badly
maintained by so-called housing-estate gardeners. 2 years ago I
scattered some of my poppy seed on a patch of bare soil on this bank.
They flowered beautifully and there is now a carpet of seedlings
coming on. The only comments from neighbours has been admiration and
"how did they get there?"
I would not scatter those in any wild situation.

Pam in Bristol

Phil Gurr wrote:

Poppies are wild flowers of disturbed ground and the seed needs
stratification (frosting over winter) in order to germinate. They will also
have difficulty in competing with established grasses. If it is your verge,
then spray areas in autumn with glyphosate, scarify the bare soil and sow
the seed then. If it is not your land, then wait for a friendly mole to come
along, rake the molehill flat and sow the seed in that.

Thanks, Phil. Well, your advice leaves me wondering how to lure down
the moles in the field just above the sunny side of the lane! There are
dozens of mole hills there, just 10 feet or so from the verge in
question but I've never noticed that a mole has burrowed underneath the
old hawthorn hedge and up into the verge. I've tried to plant a few
wild flower plants along that verge several times over the past few
years, using a pickaxe to get at some earth. It's tough work because
the verge is dense with roots, stones, and grasses. And the plants
haven't survived.

From what you, and Pam, have said it sounds like I need bare earth,
created by moles or me. I could go scattering a few seeds into all the
molehills in the fields around this house and poppies may grow.
However, I suspect the sheep would nibble them away pretty quickly?

Eddy.

Phil Gurr wrote:
Poppies are wild flowers of disturbed ground and the seed needs
stratification (frosting over winter) in order to germinate. They will also
have difficulty in competing with established grasses. If it is your verge,
then spray areas in autumn with glyphosate, scarify the bare soil and sow
the seed then. If it is not your land, then wait for a friendly mole to come
along, rake the molehill flat and sow the seed in that.

(Strange, I just sent off a fairly lengthy response to the list, Phil,
and it hasn't appeared. So here I go again, but in brief!)

Seems like the seeds need free tilled earth. The only option really is
to scatter the seeds in the hundreds of molehills in the farmers' fields
around this property, but (a) that would be trespassing, and (b) the
sheep would probably nibble the poppies away!

Eddy.

On 04/10/2012 03:20 PM, Eddy wrote:
(Strange, I just sent off a fairly lengthy response to the list, Phil,
and it hasn't appeared. So here I go again, but in brief!)

It sometimes takes news servers a while to propagate a message.

On subject, like you I can't get poppies to go where I want; but they do
go everywhere else. As with feverfew, I find them worth the trouble. I
have found that they love to grow on a small gravel bank next to some
planters. Foxgloves like it there too, so I round up elsewhere on the
gravel but not in that spot, and they come back year after year.

-E

"Phil Gurr" wrote in message
...

"Eddy" wrote in message
...

I have a coffee mug full of poppy seeds. (It looks like a cup full of
ground coffee powder.)

Poppies appear in our garden every year, and in every unlikely and
unwanted place. Last year I decided to take action by letting them
flower (the splashes of brilliant red are very pleasant) but to then
snip off the flower-heads before they had time to scatter their scores
of tiny seeds all over the place. So a year later I've shaken all the
seeds out of the heads and now have a coffee cup full of them - cornered
in a cup rather than scattered all over the garden.

It would be nice to have poppies in the grass verges of the lane that
runs past the house (and well away from the garden). The lane runs east
to west, so the verge on one side of it is south-facing and gets the
sun, while the verge on the other gets little because it sits in the
shadow of a hedge that runs along that side of the lane. But the
south-facing verge gets very dry, due to its exposure to the sun, and
its hedge "shields" the verge from any rain there might be.

So, which side would be best for poppies?

And what would be the best way of getting them to grow? Would just
scattering the seeds into the grass verge work? Or would I need to
expose patches of soil?

Of course, I'm taking it for granted that poppies could compete with all
the grasses and wild flowers that are currently in the verge.

Poppies are wild flowers of disturbed ground and the seed needs
stratification (frosting over winter) in order to germinate. They will
also have difficulty in competing with established grasses. If it is your
verge, then spray areas in autumn with glyphosate, scarify the bare soil
and sow the seed then. If it is not your land, then wait for a friendly
mole to come along, rake the molehill flat and sow the seed in that.

Phil
On a local proposed industrial development siste, the topsoil was removed.
The site was dormant for a few years, and eventually it was covered in
poppies. Very beautiful, but a reminder of how poppies like to live.

Bill

"Eddy" wrote


I have a coffee mug full of poppy seeds. (It looks like a cup full of
ground coffee powder.)

Poppies appear in our garden every year, and in every unlikely and
unwanted place. Last year I decided to take action by letting them
flower (the splashes of brilliant red are very pleasant) but to then
snip off the flower-heads before they had time to scatter their scores
of tiny seeds all over the place. So a year later I've shaken all the
seeds out of the heads and now have a coffee cup full of them - cornered
in a cup rather than scattered all over the garden.

It would be nice to have poppies in the grass verges of the lane that
runs past the house (and well away from the garden). The lane runs east
to west, so the verge on one side of it is south-facing and gets the
sun, while the verge on the other gets little because it sits in the
shadow of a hedge that runs along that side of the lane. But the
south-facing verge gets very dry, due to its exposure to the sun, and
its hedge "shields" the verge from any rain there might be.

So, which side would be best for poppies?

And what would be the best way of getting them to grow? Would just
scattering the seeds into the grass verge work? Or would I need to
expose patches of soil?

Of course, I'm taking it for granted that poppies could compete with all
the grasses and wild flowers that are currently in the verge.

Thanks for your thoughts.


Find where they are digging up the verge, when they have nearly finished
just broadcast the seed on the soil and await the outcome. Someone (who will
remain nameless) did that on the verge of the M3 some years ago with Opium
Poppies and there was a superb display until some idiot demanded they be
weedkillered, total waste of money.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

On Apr 10, 5:20*pm, "Bob Hobden" wrote:
"Eddy" *wrote





I have a coffee mug full of poppy seeds. *(It looks like a cup full of
ground coffee powder.)

Poppies appear in our garden every year, and in every unlikely and
unwanted place. *Last year I decided to take action by letting them
flower (the splashes of brilliant red are very pleasant) but to then
snip off the flower-heads before they had time to scatter their scores
of tiny seeds all over the place. *So a year later I've shaken all the
seeds out of the heads and now have a coffee cup full of them - cornered
in a cup rather than scattered all over the garden.

It would be nice to have poppies in the grass verges of the lane that
runs past the house (and well away from the garden). *The lane runs east
to west, so the verge on one side of it is south-facing and gets the
sun, while the verge on the other gets little because it sits in the
shadow of a hedge that runs along that side of the lane. *But the
south-facing verge gets very dry, due to its exposure to the sun, and
its hedge "shields" the verge from any rain there might be.

So, which side would be best for poppies?

And what would be the best way of getting them to grow? *Would just
scattering the seeds into the grass verge work? *Or would I need to
expose patches of soil?

Of course, I'm taking it for granted that poppies could compete with all
the grasses and wild flowers that are currently in the verge.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Find where they are digging up the verge, when they have nearly finished
just broadcast the seed on the soil and await the outcome. Someone (who will
remain nameless) did that on the verge of the M3 some years ago with Opium
Poppies and there was a superb display until some idiot demanded they be
weedkillered, total waste of money.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


Why worry, there are over 3000 poppy seeds per gram so you can do what
you like, throw some arround in the wind, scratch somr soil for more,
find some dug soil or molehills for more, even use some in you cake
making, and you will probablt still have enoug left to do it all again
next year.
David @ the wet end of Swansea Bay.

Emery Davis wrote:

It sometimes takes news servers a while to propagate a message.

Thanks. I shall be more patient!

On subject, like you I can't get poppies to go where I want; but they do
go everywhere else. As with feverfew, I find them worth the trouble. I
have found that they love to grow on a small gravel bank next to some
planters. Foxgloves like it there too, so I round up elsewhere on the
gravel but not in that spot, and they come back year after year.

Indeed. These errant poppies and as many foxgloves seem to love our
south-facing garden which was once a lawn but has been completely
bark-chipped and planted with alpines. Like your gravel area our garden
is somewhat banked too.

As I said the brilliant red-poppy flowers do add splashes of colour, but
the trouble is for most of the time these tall grey-green and rather
tall plants are flowerless AND they shoot up in all the most unexpected
places, rather ruining the design of the garden. They're like
anarchists in an orderly crowd!

Eddy.

Bob Hobden wrote:

Find where they are digging up the verge, when they have nearly finished
just broadcast the seed on the soil and await the outcome. Someone (who will
remain nameless) did that on the verge of the M3 some years ago with Opium
Poppies and there was a superb display until some idiot demanded they be
weedkillered, total waste of money.

Interesting report, Bob. I'll think more "out of the box" and consider
where there might be some tilth going on where animals will not graze
and the council will not spray! It's going to be challenging! :-)

Dave Hill wrote:
Why worry, there are over 3000 poppy seeds per gram so you can do what
you like, throw some arround in the wind, scratch somr soil for more,
find some dug soil or molehills for more, even use some in you cake
making, and you will probablt still have enoug left to do it all again
next year.

David @ the wet end of Swansea Bay.

Thanks, David, for that statistic. I can believe it.

I like a return for my efforts so I don't think I'll throw any seeds to
the wind, but if I get a mo then pickaxing into the south-facing
verge-bank along the lane and drop a few seeds in could be worthwhile.

The other possibility is in the kitchen, as you suggest. But I seem to
remember that poppy tea has its attractions! Must read up on it!

Eddy.

Bill Grey wrote:
On a local proposed industrial development siste, the topsoil was removed.
The site was dormant for a few years, and eventually it was covered in
poppies. Very beautiful, but a reminder of how poppies like to live.

Yes. They have something of a will of their own!

The Shropshire hills, where we are, is largely all sheep and cows. A
few fields are ploughed for basic crops. And I have to say I haven't
seen any poppies growing wild anywhere other than in our south-facing
barked garden. This may be the only environment round here that they
approve of.

Perhaps I should just given in and carefully distribute my cupful of
seeds over the entire garden!

At least the give the impression of a Greek island or the south of
France to these generally wet hills!

Eddy.

Eddy wrote:

The other possibility is in the kitchen, as you suggest. But I seem to
remember that poppy tea has its attractions! Must read up on it!

Oh, dear! Poppy Seed Tea, or even Poppy Seed CHEWING, is to be avoided
at all costs.

See this very interesting website, particularly the letters page.

http://www.poppyseedtea.com

My poppy seeds are leaving the kitchen!

In article ,
Eddy wrote:
Eddy wrote:

The other possibility is in the kitchen, as you suggest. But I seem to
remember that poppy tea has its attractions! Must read up on it!

Oh, dear! Poppy Seed Tea, or even Poppy Seed CHEWING, is to be avoided
at all costs.

See this very interesting website, particularly the letters page.

http://www.poppyseedtea.com

My poppy seeds are leaving the kitchen!

Oh, God, someone who probably believes the Daily Wail :-(

Did you see the quantity? 3.5 pounds - that's a HUGE amount, even
for a gallon of tea. Secondly, the opiates are as bitter as hell,
and there is no way that a person with normal taste will not
realise that they are taking a lot. Paracetamol and (worse) panadol
are actually FAR more dangerous.

Using the usual small quantities in cooking isn't a health issue
and never has been.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.