I’m looking to add wildflowers to my milkweed garden. Do I have to..
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T
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I have an are where over the last 3 years I’ve established some common and swamp milkweed varieties. Had I known what I was doing I would have also added wild flowers then.
I would really rather not go through the labor to till up this area although that is what is recommended in planting wildflower seeds. Can I still be successful without turning the soil?
Can I cut the grass way low and then lay out seed as drected? Is it safe to assume that if any wildflowers take hold they will spred and eventually choke out most of the grass?
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It’s more likely your grass will choke out your flowers unless you at least try to pull out the grass in a circle or squar area around where your going to put your seeds in like a12”x12” area with your seed close to the middle as you can get it! Otherwise, it’s a crap shoot whether theflowers will get a chance to really grow or not? The grass and the flowers will also be competing for the minerals in the dirt too! So they may not grow as well? I learned this with my apple trees having grass around my trees. My apple trees produce a lot better once I removed all the grass around my trees!
I'd start the seed someplace where it will have a better chance of growing. Seed starting mix is good, just like you would start tomatoes and peppers. Then you can move the plants outside after they have at least the second set of leaves and after danger of frost.
Best luck I've had with plants reseeding is beside my driveway. There is little competition for the four o'clocks to get started, which they do every year. The seeds are relatively heavy and they sink down to the bare soil through the leaf pack. Leaf pack keeps the weeds away during the colder months. They do choke out much of what tries together but there are always weeds that get through.
Best you can hope for if you don't want to pull weeds and grass is peaceful coexistence. In nature all of the plants find a place. If you see one of those Better Homes and Gardens flower patches with no weeds, it is always the result of massive human intervention. A true wildflower garden will not look manicured and makes that splash of color peeking through all the more special.
no the seeds will never germinate like that.
Thank you everyone! I appreciate the sober truth. Best to do it right than twice