How to Plant Wildflower Seeds
Wildflower meadows are a quick and easy way to brighten up our gardens, whether it’s a feature in your outside space, or you’re making use of some spare ground – wildflower meadows look amazing, and create a healthy environment for local bees and butterflies.
Tools You’ll need to Grow Wildflowers
First things first, to grow wildflowers, you’re going to need tools. If you’re an avid gardener, you’ll probably have some of this equipment laying around in your garden shed.
Wildflower Seeds
Rake and Forks
Watering Can
Dry Sand
Optional; bamboo sticks
The Right Wildflower Seeds for You
Since the Second World War, the UK has lost almost 97% of our meadows, so to use UK native seeds in our gardens is so important. Not only is it better for local wildlife, it’s also better for you as it requires less maintenance (every gardener’s dream!).
Choosing seeds can be hard, but that’s where our wildflower seed mixes come in. All of our flowers are grown in the Kent countryside, so every seed we sell is supporting a huge range of native wildflower populations. All of our wildflower seed mixes are tailored to a range of soil types and applications, so you can be sure that they will thrive in your space.
From woodland wildflowers to wildflowers for window boxes and containers, there are so many seed mixes that will help you in creating your meadow.
There are two types of wildflowers to choose from; perennial flowers come back year after year and support a huge range of wildlife, whilst annual wildflowers bloom in the first year and need reseeding.
Annual Wildflowers
For a quick burst of colour, annual wildflowers are perfect. They germinate, bloom and set seed in the same year. For filling gaps in your garden and creating wildflower displays, these are perfect.
Popular UK annuals include Cornflower, Common Poppy, Corn Marigold, and Corncockle, which are particularly attractive to bees and butterflies.
Because annuals don’t return after flowering, they need to be reseeded each year or mixed with perennials for a continuous display.
Perennial Wildflowers
Perennial wildflowers are long term, returning year after year with very little maintenance. They often establish slower, and can take up to a full season to bloom.
Popular Perennials in the UK are Oxeye Daisy, Red Campion, Meadow Cranesbill and Cowslip. Perennial wildflowers are ideal for creating wildflower meadows, and pollinator friendly spaces
Where to Grow Wildflowers
Wildflowers are quite simple when it comes to where they like to be planted: the area needs to be open and sunny with low quality soil! If you are looking to plant in an area that’s shaded, shade tolerant seed mixes tend to work well.
It feels strange not putting down a bag of compost to help plants grow, but wildflowers prefer poor soil that doesn’t have very many nutrients. If your soil is rich, remove a few inches from the top layer before you sow seeds.
Whether you pick raised beds, window boxes, green spaces, playing fields or bare soil wildflowers are versatile, and with the right conditions, will grow and add a pop of colour to your garden.
What if you Live in a flat?
Living in a flat can mean not having the space to grow a lot of plants, but not wildflowers! Wildflowers grow in pots and window boxes to create a mini wildflower meadow, attracting pollinating insects, even with a small space.
You could also sign up for an allotment and use that as a space to grow native wildflower species.
How to Sow Wildflower Seeds
The best time to sow wildflower seeds is in the Spring (March to April).
Preparing the Soil
The first step is to fork over the soil – the goal is to loosen it up ready for sowing. You’ll find stones, weeds and other vegetation within the soil, so remove these whilst you are there.
Once all the bad stuff is removed and you have a completely clean (an unfertilised) bed of soil, rake it over to keep it level.
If you have time, leave the soil to settle for a few weeks, allowing any remaining weeds to germinate and sprout. Remove these new weeds before sowing.
Scatter Your Seeds
Mix your seeds with a small handful of dry sand. This makes it easier to scatter, and you can see where you’ve already sown.
The general rule is to use 1-2 grams of seed per square metre. If you want to, you can use bamboo sticks to evenly divide up your patch.
For the fun part; it’s time to sow seeds…scatter the seed mix, aiming for even coverage across where you want your meadow to be.
Compress the Wildflower Seeds
Once all of the seeds are down, take the back of the rake and lightly press the seeds into the soil, ensuring good germination. Just be careful not to bury them too deep in the soil.
If the next few days are set to be dry, gently water the seeds with a fine spray. Remember, don’t over water, but during hot and dry spells, keep the wildflowers seeds and soil moist.
Growing & Looking After your Meadow
Wildflowers in your garden need a little bit of love to thrive. If the weather is dry, water your wildflowers once a week with a fine spray hose, or a upside down rose on a watering can, this way, you won’t disturb the seeds and disrupt any signs of life.
Weeding throughout their growth is up to you. Some weeds are wildflowers, and you may be happy with them in the mixture, if you’re not, you can weed them. We would advise pulling up fast growing weeds as these may outcompete your desired wildflowers seeds.
If growing wildflowers at home is going to become a yearly routine, allow wildflowers at the end of their bloom to drop seeds.
What are the Biodiversity Benefits of Growing Wildflowers?
Wildflower meadows are quite simply an incredible habitat, and they create a safe haven for Spring wildlife.
A single healthy meadow can be home to over 100 species of wildlife! For example, bird’s foot trefoil (lotus corniculatus fabaceae) is a food plant for 160 species of insects. So by having these plants in your garden, you’re helping wildlife who help grow our food stay fed and healthy.
It’s also known that established meadows have a complex root system, and this system makes soil more stable, this helps in floods and they hold on to more of the nutrients and rain water.
Wildflower meadows aren’t just pretty, they are crucial for the health and biodiversity of our environments.
