Bare patch of soil - wildflowers?

[tootyfruitypickle]

I've been mulling over a bare patch of soil for a while... It's about 3x3m. It had a ton of slabs and was all sand underneath practically.

I was going to convert it to a veg patch, so tipped up some turf I removed from another patch, and mixed in with some compost.

I've just decided to get a dog, so this is not going to be realistic. I also seem to have a huge amount of slugs which I hate and so I think a veg patch may be a battle anyway (I grew lettuce this year which got covered in cabbage white caterpillars and that tramatised me!) I can;t afford to put in raised beds or fence off. I'm going to get a veg trough from harrod and put it on the deck with lettuce, beetroot, strawberries, (netted!) which will be fine, and grow tumbling tomatoes in hanging baskets.

Plan B was to turf it, as it's next to the lawn so would make sense. But I can't get excited about that. Especially when a dog will wee and run all over it (looking at a greyhound....)

So onto Plan C - bee friendly wildflowers? If I remove most of the soil I've added so we're back to mainly sandy soil, and cover it in black plastic, then sew bee friendly wildflower seeds in March - is this an idea? I know it could fail but I've worked out I only need a £10 packet of seed so this is by far the cheapest option. I've already sewn some poppies and cornflowers into the borders and have other seeds like oxeye daisy I was going to start as plugs in the spring for the borders, so can add some plugs in.

I'm a little confused about the weeding which seems to be the biggest maintenance issue, I;m not sure I will know what are weeds and what are wildflowers.....?

I know I have to cut it all back in the autumn and remove the cut material. Imagine then I would look at resewing another packet to help it get established and replace anything destroyed by dog....

Would welcome any advice!

Dog hunt could be a while, we've just lost our elderly cat, so need to mourn her , put in application to rescue, and wait for the right dog, so I imagine we're looking at quite a few months, and we're in no rush, as we want to get it right. So it's likely the seeds will remain undisturbed for a while (unless we get lucky and get matched quickly, in which case that £10 pack of seeds may get mullered!)

I'm a little confused about the weeding which seems to be the biggest maintenance issue, I;m not sure I will know what are weeds and what are wildflowers.....? That's not a valid question. Wildflowers are generally taken to mean flowers that have been growing in the UK countryside for hundreds of years without deliberate human intervention (although of course all the UK countryside is managed to a greater or lesser extent, and what grow is a result of that management). Weed is simply a colloquial term for a plant which you don't want in that location. Dandelions and nettles are wild flowers. Whether they are weeds is your decision entirely.

Poppies and cornflowers are annuals requiring bare ground for germination, so in the wild they are weeds of corn fields. If you sow a mix that is heavy on cornflowers, corn marigolds and poppies, you'll need to dig over the soil every year.

You can also get meadow mixes - a meadow is an area of grass which is grown for hay. If you keep the fertility low, and cut it in late July or August, you can keep it going from year to year with a rich selection of perennial wild flowers.

Be aware that many "wildflower" mixes contain garden varieties of cornflower in pinks and purples (the native one is blue), and non-native flowers like Phacelis and Cosmos. You need to decide whetehr you want wildflowers or whether you're more interested in an informal "wildflower" look or whether you're interested in bee-friendly - many of our wildflowers are bee-friendly, but bee-friendly mixes often contain non-natives.

I helped out at a local community garden fora while and we planted a wildflower border. The advice we got was to initially sow the seeds (like yours a mixed packet) in rows rather than scattering them. As they germinated it was easy to see which were the plants we wanted to encourage and which weren’t. Once the plants were established we could thin them out a bit, remove anything between the rows and let them got on with it. After the first season you couldn’t “see” the rows.

The important thing for continued growth is not to cut stuff back until seeds have had a chance to ripen and fall to the soil.

Thank you!

Having researched this a bit yesterday, I'm thinking of taking the approach of sewing both annuals and a perennial meadow mix. The annuals would act as a "nurse" to keep down the more aggressive weeds and grass, and allow the meadow to establish, while giving a bit of colour the first year. Then I need to cut back the annuals and remove late July, before they set seed.

I was thinking that I may then add in plugs of specific annuals in the following years, if the meadow takes hold.

The area is actually 6x2 that I would sew, but less that that if I mow a strip around the side for neatness and to access the borders.

Yesterday I weeded and removed any clumps of grass, and removed much of the topsoil (where I had annoyingly added compost!). Hard work so I'm going to have another go today.

I've ordered some weed black plastic membrane I will lay next weekend and leave down until late feb, when I will lift and then prepare the soil (in a dry spell), ready to sew the seed later in march/april.

Does this seem like it has some potential for success?!

The annual packet mix I'm looking at is as you say @MereDintofPandiculation, heavy on corn poppies, marigolds and cornflowers. The idea is that it would grow this summer, then be removed in late July to allow the meadow to take over. I may then continue with the seeds in seed trays and plant out plugs, to give the meadow a good chance.

The border behind the meadow area may work for corn/ beans and courgettes, it currently has poor sandy soil but in the spring I will dig in some garden compost and give it a go, so I am hoping having a wildflower meadow next to it will be helpful. I will also grow sweetpeas in this border. It's quite rooty with neighbour's trees but I thought I could give it a shot. Then grow lettuce/strawberries in a trough on the deck, with a net over, maybe with some herbs and calendula, garlic, even beetroot, depending on how much I can fit in! So not a traditional veg patch but I still get a go at growing veg.

Not sure how a meadow will hold up to a dog running all over it, but at least it's fairly low cost compared to raised veg beds or turf, and it will have a few months (at least ) to establish.

Will report back later in the summer!

The annuals would act as a "nurse" to keep down the more aggressive weeds and grass, and allow the meadow to establish, while giving a bit of colour the first year. Then I need to cut back the annuals and remove late July, before they set seed. The annuals wouldn't work very well in keeping down agressive plants - if they did, none of us would waste time weeding!

If your aim is a meadow, then I'd be looking at a meadow mix. Many of these have annuals included to give flowers the first year (so as not to have complaints from disappointed customers ). Some meadow mixes include suitable grasses.

No need to remove the annuals - they'll die out over the next2-3 years.

An established meadow should cope with a dog - they're usually grazed until May, shut up for the hay crop to grow, mown, and then animals let back in in the autumn to graze the "aftermath".

Annuals, apart from the semi-parasitic yellow rattle (and red bartsia) will struggle in a meadow, so I'd suggest plug planting only perennials. I've had good plants from Naturescape.

Thanks that’s really helpful , will look into that .