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Preparation
Wildflowers
can be used for weed control, and with a great
deal of success. But you have to give the
wildflowers a head start, or the weeds will keep
the area "Wildflower Free". Weeds and
wildflowers are both sun worshipers, so who ever
reaches the top first wins. Neither will grow well
without adequate sunlight. If you use this to your
advantage you can have a beautiful bed of
wildflowers that requires little maintenance.
The
secret is proper bed preparation. You must create
a bed that is as weed free as possible. You can do
this by removing all the vegetation from the area
you intend to plant in, and then prepare the soil
for planting by tilling or raking to a depth of
just one inch or less. Do not disturb the soil any
deeper than that, or you will just disturb dormant
weed seeds that are just waiting to be brought
back to the surface so they can grow.
Most
weed seeds germinate rather quickly, so when you
bring them to the surface through your cultivation
efforts, you are giving them a chance to
germinate. But then when you work the soil again
in six days, you will actually interrupt the
germination process and the seed will be spent.
The longer you continue the process, the fewer
viable weed seeds you will have to contend with.
Of course additional seeds are blowing in all the
time, so it's unrealistic to think that you can
create a planting bed that is free of weed seed.
The
most important aspect of this process is to have
your bed as ready as possible, at the ideal time
for planting wildflower seeds. The secret of
success is to plant the wildflower seeds at the
ideal time so they take off growing immediately,
and beat the weeds at their own game.
The
ideal time? Depends on where you live. In the UK,
you should plant in spring or late summer to
autumn.
Wildflower
seeds like warm soil. They will germinate best
with a soil temperature of 68 to 70 degrees F. So
if you live in a cooler region, you should wait
until later in the spring to plant. There's no
point planting when the soil temperature is 45
degrees and have the seeds just lay there while
some of the weeds seeds germinate. You'd be much
better off to continue working the soil as
described above until the soil temperature is up
to 68 degrees.
Now for planting
the wildflower seeds.
The best way to plant
your wildflower seeds is to distribute them with a small hand held
broadcast spreader, or to apply them in a manor that mimics that
technique. In order to get the best coverage you should thoroughly mix
the seeds with dry sand, vermiculite, or potting soil to increase the
volume before you spread them. It's a lot easier to evenly distribute
five pounds of granular material over an area than it is 8 ounces.
As you spread the
seeds walk in straight lines from one end of the bed to the other. Then
do the same thing from the side of the bed in a cris-cross pattern to
the first set of footsteps you made. This will give you thorough and
even distribution. This is why you should mix the seeds with some sort
of filler material before you start, so you have plenty of volume to
work with, and will be able to cover the area completely and evenly.
If you were to sow
only seeds with a 28 day germination period the weeds would get a jump
on the wildflowers, and you would likely end up with a weed garden. When
you mix seeds with different germination periods, the faster germinating
seeds will come up very quick, and act as a nurse crop for the seeds
that need more time, keeping the weeds and birds at bay until all the
seeds can germinate.
Good luck with your
wildflower garden! Have fun, and enjoy.
Michael
J. McGroarty is the author of this article. Visit his most interesting
website,
http://www.freeplants.com and sign up for his excellent
gardening newsletter, and grab a FREE copy of his E-book,
"Easy Plant Propagation"
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