I am sowing some wild flower seeds in a spare lawn - not exactly a wild-flower
meadow - but a small similar.

Some of the seeds say to be sown in situ - some in seed trays.

I was hoping to sow all the seeds in greenhouse and then transplant.

Would that work - or do some really have to be sown in situ? Is that because
they will be too delicate to grow in pots and then transplant?

Judith in England wrote:

I am sowing some wild flower seeds in a spare lawn - not exactly a wild-flower
meadow - but a small similar.

I'm guessing that it depends quite a lot on the variety.
I know from talks over here that a wildflower meadow is a highly localized
thing; the varieties and their proportions will vary over surprisingly
short distance.
The Seed Saver's Exchange headquarters farm in Iowa/North central U.S. is
restoring some wild meadow to spaces that flood too frequently to be used
for other plantings, and they spent a lot of time researching what to
plant. In the end, of course, Mother Nature will do the final sort.

--
Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic
Zone 5/4 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G

On 24/03/2015 16:08, Judith in England wrote:


I am sowing some wild flower seeds in a spare lawn - not exactly a wild-flower
meadow - but a small similar.

Some of the seeds say to be sown in situ - some in seed trays.

I was hoping to sow all the seeds in greenhouse and then transplant.

Would that work - or do some really have to be sown in situ? Is that because
they will be too delicate to grow in pots and then transplant?

Some of them resent root disturbance and so require sowing where they
will grow. Almost all of them will sulk if the soil is too rich (or
rather be outcompeted by the grass).

I expect you can get away sowing in small peat pots and plant the whole
lot into the ground but I have never tried it. Broadcasting seeds is a
lot easier and then they either grow or they don't.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

"Judith in England" wrote in message
...


I am sowing some wild flower seeds in a spare lawn - not exactly a wild-flower
meadow - but a small similar.

Some of the seeds say to be sown in situ - some in seed trays.

I was hoping to sow all the seeds in greenhouse and then transplant.

Would that work - or do some really have to be sown in situ? Is that because
they will be too delicate to grow in pots and then transplant?

When I was in charge of the Ashton Wold wildflower project, most of the
plants that we used to reclaim small areas of wildflower meadow were
grown in the greenhouses, even those sown in the autumn for stratification.
Larger areas were strip seeded,
Phil

On Tue, 24 Mar 2015 17:28:38 -0000, "philgurr"
wrote:

snip


When I was in charge of the Ashton Wold wildflower project, most of the
plants that we used to reclaim small areas of wildflower meadow were
grown in the greenhouses, even those sown in the autumn for stratification.
Larger areas were strip seeded,
Phil


Good stuff - thanks: just the sort of experience I was hoping for.

Interesting: can you share the process you used please? Sewing - peat pots? -
separation - potting on etc.

"Judith in England" wrote in message
...
When I was in charge of the Ashton Wold wildflower project, most of the
plants that we used to reclaim small areas of wildflower meadow were
grown in the greenhouses, even those sown in the autumn for stratification.
Larger areas were strip seeded,
Phil

Good stuff - thanks: just the sort of experience I was hoping for.

Interesting: can you share the process you used please? Sewing - peat pots? -
separation - potting on etc.

All British wildflower seed is designed to overwinter outside so any
protection given was for our benefit. Seed usually sown in November
in old wooden fruit trays (you can just as easily use seed trays) in a
John Innes type compost but without any fertiliser and placed into
cold frames. Brought into the greenhouse in early March and by the
end of April, seedlings pricked out in the usual way into 7cm. pots of
the same compost as in the seed trays. Some seed gave an almost
100% germination (selfheal) whilst others gave just 10-20% (meadow
buttercup). These low germination trays were usually kept for another
year. Cowslip is particularly responsive to planting into grass meadows
but you must have an alkaline soil. Molehills are particularly useful for
raking flat and sowing annual wildflower seed (corn marigold, corn
flower, poppy etc.) in the autumn - but this has to be done every
year.
HTH
Phil

On Wed, 25 Mar 2015 10:04:51 -0000, "philgurr"
wrote:


"Judith in England" wrote in message
.. .
When I was in charge of the Ashton Wold wildflower project, most of the
plants that we used to reclaim small areas of wildflower meadow were
grown in the greenhouses, even those sown in the autumn for stratification.
Larger areas were strip seeded,
Phil

Good stuff - thanks: just the sort of experience I was hoping for.

Interesting: can you share the process you used please? Sewing - peat pots? -
separation - potting on etc.

All British wildflower seed is designed to overwinter outside so any
protection given was for our benefit. Seed usually sown in November
in old wooden fruit trays (you can just as easily use seed trays) in a
John Innes type compost but without any fertiliser and placed into
cold frames. Brought into the greenhouse in early March and by the
end of April, seedlings pricked out in the usual way into 7cm. pots of
the same compost as in the seed trays. Some seed gave an almost
100% germination (selfheal) whilst others gave just 10-20% (meadow
buttercup). These low germination trays were usually kept for another
year. Cowslip is particularly responsive to planting into grass meadows
but you must have an alkaline soil. Molehills are particularly useful for
raking flat and sowing annual wildflower seed (corn marigold, corn
flower, poppy etc.) in the autumn - but this has to be done every
year.
HTH
Phil



Fantastic: just what I wanted to know.

Many thanks.

On 25/03/2015 13:01, Judith in England wrote:
On Wed, 25 Mar 2015 10:04:51 -0000, "philgurr"
wrote:


"Judith in England" wrote in message
...
When I was in charge of the Ashton Wold wildflower project, most of the
plants that we used to reclaim small areas of wildflower meadow were
grown in the greenhouses, even those sown in the autumn for stratification.
Larger areas were strip seeded,
Phil

Good stuff - thanks: just the sort of experience I was hoping for.

Interesting: can you share the process you used please? Sewing - peat pots? -
separation - potting on etc.

All British wildflower seed is designed to overwinter outside so any
protection given was for our benefit. Seed usually sown in November
in old wooden fruit trays (you can just as easily use seed trays) in a
John Innes type compost but without any fertiliser and placed into
cold frames. Brought into the greenhouse in early March and by the
end of April, seedlings pricked out in the usual way into 7cm. pots of
the same compost as in the seed trays. Some seed gave an almost
100% germination (selfheal) whilst others gave just 10-20% (meadow
buttercup). These low germination trays were usually kept for another
year. Cowslip is particularly responsive to planting into grass meadows
but you must have an alkaline soil. Molehills are particularly useful for
raking flat and sowing annual wildflower seed (corn marigold, corn
flower, poppy etc.) in the autumn - but this has to be done every
year.
HTH
Phil



Fantastic: just what I wanted to know.

Many thanks.

I'd certainly sow some of the seed in situ, then slow germinating seed
may not come up till the 2nd year, and the plants that grow will have
deeper root systems than pot/ cell grown plants.