Planting a mini woodland

[BooseysMom]

Hi,
I've ordered a woodland seed mix to create a mini woodland plant area in a shady corner. It's turfed on heavy clay. I'll prob have to remove the turf and try and break down the soil as much as poss.
Has anyone tried planting a meadow or woodland from seed? Would love to hear from you.
Thanks

Do you know what's in the mix? I've not done exactly what you describe, but I've got some woodland type plants in a shadier part of the garden. Red campion and herb Robert grew well ... far too well tbh! But I can never get foxgloves your grow from packet seed, IME it's best to buy a few plants (2 years running because they're biennials) and then let them self seed.

I do some conservation volunteering, we've added various plants to 'rough meadow' areas reclaimed from brambles - always as plugs or small plants not just seed p. I guess it's easier to get them established among the grass. These are plants such as mallow, knapweeds inc fox and cubs not the 'cornfield' type of thing.

Yeah, I agree with above poster regarding getting plats rather than seeds. I have planted a meadow mix which established quite well, but whenever I've tried to grow native woodland plants, or plants suitable for rockeries ( current project) from seed, nothing has germinated - I start on seed trays, so I'm sure of this. Plug plants have done massively better - they're tiny when they come but most have spread fantastically since. The ones I've bought haven't been that expensive, 60p each or a quid.

For a shady corner, you could also consider a couple of woodland ferns - maybe hart's tongue (quite small) or a buckler or male fern?

@ErrolTheDragon
@commanderprimate
Thank you for your advice. The seeds have just arrived in the post. They're bluebell woodland mix inc. ramsons, wood anemome..i'd have to look up the rest..They weren't cheap at £10 for 10g. They're from Sarah Raven. Maybe i should return before opening?
I've got a couple of ferns in one corner which are doing well.

Oh so some bulbs too! I don't think the bluebells or ransoms (wild garlic, white) will flower first year (they might if actual bulbs not seeds) but they are just lovely when they do. Bluebells can be invasive though!

Wild flowers can lie dormant for a while so won't do much now I think - but next year will be lovely. However ., how will you know what's a weed?? 😁

Still a tenner for a load of flowers could be good value! I've got the Sarah raven shady flowers mix and not planted it do will probably try snd do then somewhere I can control the weeds/know there aren't many. In fact thats one thing I can do now!

I've got a big planter with spare space!

Bluebells, ramsons, wood anemone will take 3-5 years to flowering. But you haven't actually got wood anemone, have you? Just wood avens and wood sage. It looks a nice mix, and includes grasses too - though tufted hair grass is a bit vigorous! It doesn't include the yellow flower (Lamium) that is shown in the picture.
www.sarahraven.com/flowers/seeds/seeds-to-order-now/bluebell-woodland-mix.htm

I suggest you obey the instructions to the letter, and makes sure you get rid of all grass and perennial roots. It would be worth stripping the existing turf/topsoil and removing it to reduce fertility - ah I see you're planning to do that.

On my clay soil I have everything except the hedge bedstraw, the bellflower and wood sage. About half of them arrived by themselves, the rest I introduced.

I'd probably sow half the seed on your well prepared soil, and nurture the other half in seeds trays to fill in any gaps.

www.thompson-morgan.com/p/wildflowers-woodland-shade-mix/tsp60882TM

We've had great success with a box of this mix in our shady part of the garden this summer. All we did was roughly remove the grass, and leave the area under a membrane for a few weeks to kill off the weeds. It was so easy and is full of different flowers now.

@Vodkacranberryplease...thanks for your post. Your shady mix sounds good for my corner too. I guess i'll have to wait a few years. I just hope the wet weather doesn't drown them as the problem is we've got clay soil and it's a bugger for holding all the water!

@MereDintofPandiculation... yes you're right, it's not wood anemome! We have clay like you and it's going to take some work to get it to a healthy prepared bed for seeds. The packet says plant before July 2022 so i have time!

@Panpig...that's good to hear! What size is the area?

You could consider planting some in seed trays and growing your own plug plants. If that works, you could do the rest that way, and give them a better chance once they're in the soil.

@MereDintofPandiculation.. just catching up with msgs after my phone broke. It's such a hassle getting a new one and setting everything up on it!
Well I've returned the seeds and got a very quick refund. Excellent customer service from Sarah Raven. I think your idea is a good one, that plugs are a better way forward for the patch of land. Thanks x

The things I've introduced successfully are red campion, stitchwort, bugle,woodruff, enchanter's nightshade. We already have, but I've encouraged, wood forgetmenot, ramsons (wild garlic), dog violets, and, needing no encouragement, jack-by-the-hedge, hedge woundwort. Don't forget primroses and wood anemones. Native bluebells are nice, but not sure how well they mix with other plants - their leaves are a bit smothering.

That seed mix looks decent, and Sarah Raven is reputable. I know you have returned it, OP, but there's probably a few of us wanting to order it now.:D There's a particular pride you feel in plants raised from seed that you just don't get from potted plants.

@MereDintofPandiculation.. that sounds tremendous! You have a great variety of plants. Did you have to massively change the soil structure to be successful? I have to say the heavy clay we have does put me off.
There was a little clump of Jack by the Hedge up the road and the next thing is it has been cut down..why?!
We have managed to introduce wild garlic in one shady corner, just two tiny plants. I hope they come back next year.
Yes I think I'll omit bluebells tbh.

@DDemelza..that's good i've promoted their seed mixes! They do have some good ones.
That's true about the feeling you get from raising plants from seed. I've managed to grow some flowers from seeds which were about 7 years old ..Aldi ones no less!

That's fantastic.

Well I have to confess to having done a tiny bit of 'wild harvesting' ftom time to time.. I've got dog violets, and done various cuttings. Plus of course there's always seed heads from plants that look nice.

Though a quick google got red campion took me here www.naturescape.co.uk/product/red-campion-plugs/

£1 per plug! Don't mind if I do! And £1 for cowslip! Gosh think I'll bookmark this site

Some of the seeds which i have succeeded with were hollyhocks which I had to really battle to save from slugs. They are still only about 20cm tall so we'll have to see if they grow to full height. The tiny seeds failed when planted straight out except for Lobelia Cascade which has done really well in pots. I've attached the packet. It was a present I found and i was surprised the seeds germinated after so long!

@Vodkacranberryplease.. thanks for the link. I'll have a look. I love Red Campion. £1 for Cowslip is a bargain! That might work without having to remove the turf.
I admit to wild harvesting a few ferns down by the stream where we live..there were hundreds though so didn't feel too guilty! They have survived so far in a shaded north corner

Did you have to massively change the soil structure to be successful? I have to say the heavy clay we have does put me off. I'm on clay - the area next door was called on the Tithe Map the "Clay Fields". It's a local frost pocket, and the bottom is under several inches of water after heavy rain. I planted a swamp cypress

I do make compost and spread it, with priority on flower and vegetable/fruit areas, so the wilder bits only get mulch perhaps once every 10 years. The "woodland" at the far end obviously has leaves falling on it, and we put all less easily compostable trimmings down there to rot. It's too dark for much to grow under the canopy - basically ramsons and one of the speedwells, and the dog violets and forget-me-nots, all of which are in spring before the tree canopy has closed.

But it's still basically unimproved in the wilder bits, especially the bits that used to be lawn (which is where a lot of the wildflowers are). All the plants are chosen for that sort of habitat, which is one reason why I've never gone for a standard "meadow" mix. The things doing well in my rather shady "meadow" are greater burnet, meadow cranesbill and betony - so rather taller than most people imagine for a wild flower meadow.

Jack-by-the-hedge was out saviour in March when delivery slots were so difficult - a lot of our lunchtime salads had that to bulk out the bittercress, lambs lettuce, marjoram and chives.

So in summary, don't worry about your soil, just choose plants accordingly and you'll do well.

www.naturescape.co.uk/product/red-campion-plugs/ I bought from naturescape last year, both to supplement my garden, and for the nature park that I help manage. I was very impressed with the quality of their stuff. The plugs were small - they came in containers less than in inch (about 2cm) wide. I potted them into 3 inch pots on arrival in Spring, and by early summer they were sturdy plants that I was confident to let loose - they grew away astonishingly well. By the time I was able to get up to the nature park for planting, the red campion were outgrowing 6 inch pots.

hollyhocks They're biennials/short lived perennials so you don't expect a flower in the first year.

I no longer plant seeds direct in the ground. I think it works in a well-tilled vegetable bed on light soil, but it doesn't on clay - clay is just too rich in nutrient (so competition from other plants) and slugs.

wild harvesting Remember it's illegal to uproot a plant from the wild without permission of the landowner. You are allowed to collect seed.

Mere thanks so much for the info. A Swamp Cypress..that's impressive! I can just imagine that in the corner of our garden which becomes a bog with all the rain we had over the winter.

I must try Jack-by-the-Hedge in salads. Sounds delicious.

We make our own compost too. It's been very successful. Full of worms which must love all the tea and coffee grinds!

Noted re. wild harvesting. We have refrained from harvesting further ferns. We have 4 and no more.

On another topic, we bought a Cotoneaster naoujanenais Berried Treasure tree from the garden centre yesterday and think it would look best as a centrepiece. We have a new garden which was just laid with turf. It's a small garden but it's nice and wide and everything is planted round the sides leaving the turf in the middle bare and boring. It needs something. I'd like to build a path and pond and dig borders extending out to the middle. We really need a garden designer but have to be careful with cost. Might apply to go on Charlie Dimmock's prog!

We have refrained from harvesting further ferns. We have 4 and no more. If you get really enthusiastic, you can grow them from spores. The first stage is green plates like liverworts - this is the gametophyte generation, the sexual stage - it produces male and female sperm which unite and produce the fern as we know it - the sporophyte generation, which produces asexual spores which produce the gametophyte, and so on. It's called alternation of generations. Flowering plants do it too, except the whole gametophyte generation happens within the flower after pollination, which is why we don't notice it.

You'll need patience to do it with ferns. Or you could just create the right conditions and wait for ferns to arrive - the spores are wind-blown and very light, so they can travel a long way. You need damp bare soil, and don't disturb them.

Mere Thanks for this interesting info about how to grow ferns from spores I'd def like to give it a go.

Use sterilised soil (you can sterilise it yourself in oven or microwave - needs to be damp if in microwave). Get the soil uniformly damp, scatter the spores on top, put a lid over to preserve the moist atmosphere. Maintain the damp levels. In due course you'll get green platelets covering the soil. Hopefully these are fern gametophytes ("prothalli"). Keep going. In due course they'll do their sexual bit, and you'll start to get sporophytes, ie fern fronds, tiny at first. Allow a couple of years from spores to something large enough to plant out.

They don't take much space, and it's great fun.