Wildflower Sowings - Start Planning for Autumn
Start planning now for Autumn sowings of wildflowers!
Now is the time to start making preparations for Autumn sowings of wildflowers. Decisions can be made as to what type of mixture you are looking for, whether it be a short term or long term solution, over-seeding into existing grassy areas or sowing into bare ground.
We have three types of wildflower mixtures available; firstly our Cornfield Annuals, a short term mixture usually planted into bare ground. This mixture will provide you with a colourful display between June and August. Secondly we have our grass and wildflower mixtures for both environmental schemes and for meadow planting. These are perennial mixtures which need a little more maintenance in the first year to provide you with ongoing colour from the second year onwards. Finally we have our wildflower over-seeding mixture which can be sown into existing pastures. There are a number of important steps to ensure the best results with this type of over-seeding mix - see our Sowing & Growing Guides (links below) for more details.
In order to give yourself the best chance of establishing your wildflower mixture to give you either a flush of colour for a season (using our Cornfield Annuals) or year-on-year colour by using a perennial wildflower mixture, preparation is key! Below are a few tips to get the best out of your wildflower mixtures.
When sowing wildflowers it is very important to remember that they need to be sown into a clean weed free seedbed. The cleaner the seedbed the better chance the flowers will have to establish. If they are having to compete with established perennial weeds such as docks and thistles you will quickly see them drown out the wildflowers. You can deal with weeds in one of two ways:
- Herbicide spray, usually a systemic herbicide like glyphosate (Roundup), which will kill any green material on the area 7 - 10 days after applying the spray.
- Stale seedbed technique - prepare the seedbed as usual then wait a few weeks for weeds to germinate, then cultivate again to destroy any weed seedlings.
Each method may have to be repeated 2-3 times to encourage as much germination of weed seed as you can. Once the weeds have been dealt with and you approach the Autumn season the ground preparation can begin for wildflower mixtures.
For more information, please see our Sowing & Growing guidance notes below:
https://www.cotswoldseeds.com/articles/780/sowing-and-growing-establishing-a-wildflower-meadow
https://www.cotswoldseeds.com/articles/668/sowing-and-growing-establishing-cornfield-annuals
Date Posted: 12th June 2023
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