Wildflower mats

Lovely, lovely garden WF. Anyone here a member of the Cottage Garden Society?

 

wildflower: Do you let dandelions fly about and self seed then, or do you try and pick them before they get to that stage? I always panic if I see them flying around!

 

HORNBEAM..i wasnt aware of the cottage garden society will go and look in a minute..and i must confess i have copied one of your poems to read at my funeral instead of a bible reading..The Widow..i took a great liking to it...Dag...their are five fields at the rear of me with dandelions blowing around!!and i was really good and picked all the ones in my front garden in case they seeded the neighbours tidy plots!!anyway you can allways make some dandelion tea with the leaves ...Poppy if you see this you should start some foxgloves off now to plant out early october and you can scatter your wild flower seed at the same time then you will get earlyier flowers..dont think mine is perfect as its not it needs some more reds and oranges to lift it..i do have some marigolds but they are allways late..i am sure the birds have eaten a lot of poppy seed i scattered and also some sensory plants seeds..as they are missing...i still have poppys to come though they are their just late..its the perfect garden to grow once you have planted you can sit back and let it take over till the autumn no fussing and excess weeding..then in the autumn just clear it all away ready to start again..seeds will drop everywhere and you can just add to them as you like..its the lazy mans garden i think its better to sit with a book and let it do its own gardening!!

 

wildflower

Do you just scatter the seeds onto the bare earth or into pots?

And when do you do this?

thanks
Stingo

 

stingo...I scatter my wildflower seeds on the bare earth then just cover with a bit of potting compost so the birds done eat all the seed as you can imagine they like wild flower seed..some people make small ridges then fold the earth over its just the same really except i am too lazy to get on my knees making ridges..so i scatter mine..you can either do it in late september early october or march..i suppose the autumn sowing is the best as your plants will come quicker next year..some of the plants you can see in my garden such as the fox gloves lupins mullein angelica i start it this year in pots to plant out in late september then it flowers next year..i buy collections of wild flower seeds ..hedge row ..cornfield..bees mixture ..bird mixture..butterfly mixture...the first year you get the flowers some of them wont appear till the following year..but dont despair as you will have plenty to look at..all the wild flowers will self seed so by the second year you will be over flowing..I also grow hops as climbers up a corner they smell lovely..on my front garden i have a border by a fence that is fit to burst and my favourite valerian is out their you can smell it walking up the path..besides scattering wild flower seeds you can start some plants off now to mix in with them things that will go well such as lavender... sage ..bergamot..echinacea..they will all mix in well with your planting..

 

Thanks wildflower

 

Stingo ..just as an afterthought the picture i put on here for you is the first year in this plot..its my old veg plot and i didnt start planting it till october last year..it needs improving so i will just work at it..but for year one i think its looking good..you could also start loads of chives off they make great edging plants i dont eat mine i let them flower..suffolk herbs still have seeds and they give you a lovely catalogue or you can look online..