wildflower seed packets & wildlife area

angeldaisy

Hi just looking for a bit of advice;
I'm thinking of leaving a small corner of my garden grow wild, its at the front of the house and borders a field and a hedge, so i'm hoping it will encourage wildlife. thing is if I just leave it uncut, the only things in the grass are dandelions, clover, daisies and buttercup. i was thinking about adding some wildflowers; would they grow if i just sprinkle the seeds over the area. most of the packets say to sow in finely raked soil - seems a bit silly to me:D We were also thinking of adding a small wildlife pond, as seen on Springwatch last week.
Would this work and any other ideas or suggestions?

Newtown Warrior

angeldaisy wrote: »

Hi just looking for a bit of advice;
I'm thinking of leaving a small corner of my garden grow wild, its at the front of the house and borders a field and a hedge, so i'm hoping it will encourage wildlife. thing is if I just leave it uncut, the only things in the grass are dandelions, clover, daisies and buttercup. i was thinking about adding some wildflowers; would they grow if i just sprinkle the seeds over the area. most of the packets say to sow in finely raked soil - seems a bit silly to me:D We were also thinking of adding a small wildlife pond, as seen on Springwatch last week.
Would this work and any other ideas or suggestions?

I just finished planting my 2nd wildflower area (c.100m2) in my garden after the success (colour/low maintenance- two cut per year!!:D) of last year’s one.

First I used weed killer on the area 1st (4 weeks gallup- similar to roundup) to kill the grass/weeds. Following this I turned and broke up the remaining sod. I let the rain/sun break it up for another week. I gave it a rough rake (not too fine) and planted the seed. I got the 1kg wildflower seed in an agri shop (unichem- the Ward, Co. Dublin) for €15.

I would say (I’m no professional) if you added wildflowers to an existing lawn with grass are dandelions, clover, daisies and buttercup that the wildflowers would not grow/flourish due to competition. If you have verges or raised areas in your garden which cannot be readily cut with a lawnmower I would recommend plant these with wildflowers.

magicbastarder

wildflowers tend to do better in poorer soil, afaik - they're too easily outcompeted by weeds otherwise.
you can reduce the fertility of the soil by repeated cutting and lifting the cuttings and moving them elsewhere, and not fertilising the ground; obviously, this is a gradual process...

angeldaisy

the area I was planning to leave wild is quite poor soil, very boggy in winter and bone dry in summer, its also quite stony. I might just gravel it and put a bench and a small pond instead as its only about 6ft sq.
thanks for the advice....