Top wildflower planting mistakes and how to avoid them
Even with the best of intentions, sometimes, planting wildflowers and creating your own wildflower meadow can go wrong. Maybe the seeds did not grow, or they came through patchy, the area got choked up by invasive plants so the wildflowers did not get a chance to flourish, or lots of grass grew and nothing else. We have detailed a few common problems that people can have when planting wildflowers and the best ways to solve them.
Nothing grew, or only a few patches grew
Uh oh! There’s nothing more disappointing than taking the time to plant some wildflower seeds, and then seeing nothing grow after all your hard work. This could be due to several reasons:
- The seeds were of poor quality
There are plenty of wildflower seed mixes available, but they are often from old seed stock which has not been stored correctly and sadly, the seeds are no longer viable and will not germinate. Some unscrupulous sellers throw any old seeds into a packet and call it a ‘wildflower mix’ and it often contains old seeds and floor sweepings after packaging other seed mixes – choose a reputable seed seller for the best results. At My Square Metre, we only sell good quality native UK wildflower seeds.
- The seeds were sown too sparsely
This is common with all kinds of gardening. Wildflower seeds should be sown at about 1-2g of 100% Wildflowers and 2-4g per square metre for our 60-40 mix, this is the sowing rate we stick by and our meadow has grown successfully so far. You can mix the seeds with some sharp sand at a ratio of 4 parts sand to one part seed to make it easier to scatter over a large area and easily see where you have already sown them.
- Birds ate all the wildflower seeds
Birds and other wildlife love to eat nutrient-rich wildflower seeds! We can’t blame them, but we can prevent them from devouring most of your seeds by using netting for the first few weeks to give the seeds chance to grow. Some people have success in smaller areas by deterring the birds with a bird of prey kite, wind chimes or other methods. Just remember to remove them once the meadow starts to grow.
- The seeds were planted at the wrong time of year
The best times to plant wildflower seeds are in early spring or autumn around October, ready to grow in the following spring. Some wildflower seeds need to go through a winter frost to germinate effectively. Planting them too late in the summer or winter can result in the seeds being eaten by wildlife – a natural process, but not exactly helpful when growing a meadow.
Only grass and weeds grew
This can be a disappointing sight – where are all your wildflowers? All you see is grasses and weeds. There are a few reasons why this could have happened.
- The area was not properly prepared
It’s common to see people on social media merrily scattering wildflower seeds into full lawns, grass verges or other areas that have not been prepared at all. while you might get a few wildflowers coming up, the majority of them never actually touched the soil and were unable to germinate. To give every seed a chance to grow, the area should be prepared first. Remove any grass or other plants first by mowing it very short, tilling the soil and digging out invasive plants like thistles. Sow the seeds onto the bare soil and use a rake to fully incorporate them – walk over the area afterwards to press the seeds on the surface into the soil. Water them after planting, and don’t let the soil dry out too much for the first few weeks. For more on how to sow wildflower seeds, check out our guide here.
- The ‘weeds’ are actually wildflower plants
This is more of an aesthetic problem, or rather, one of inaccurate expectations. Many people want a vibrant field full of lush flowers and are disappointed to see the same old roadside weeds they see everywhere. But those weeds are native wildflowers, from yarrow and dandelion to clover and dead nettle. Much maligned as ‘weeds’, these plants play a vital role in biodiversity and provide essential food sources and habitat for our native wildlife.
- The soil is too rich
Wildflowers love poor-quality soil – the poorer the soil is, the more they thrive! Don’t use compost or fertilisers in your wildflower area – grasses will spring up very quickly and make it hard for the wildflowers to grow. This leads us to the next problem:
- There’s too much grass growing in the area
If you’ve ever left an area of grass to grow unchecked, you know how difficult it is to remove it. Grass grows quickly and in the case of Couch grass, sends out thick, ropey rhizomes, or roots, which are the bane of any home gardener or allotmenteer. Grass can easily smother slower-growing wildflower plants, making it almost impossible for them to grow. You can get rid of grass by physically removing it by digging it out or smothering it by laying down an opaque covering like a thick, dark-coloured tarpaulin for a few weeks before planting your wildflower seeds. We use a wildflower called Yellow Rattle in our wildflower mixes, which controls grasses by parasitising their root system, taking their nutrients and water.
Note: grass in a wildflower meadow isn’t necessarily bad – we include some grasses in our wildflower mixes that help support the wildflowers. They don’t grow as aggressively as other grass varieties, prevent invasive species from creeping in, and don’t compete with the wildflower plants. See our guide to our wildflower mixes here.
- The meadow is full of nettles and thistles
These are what we mean by invasive plants. While dock, nettles and thistles have an important place in the ecosystem and do their part for biodiversity, they spread incredibly fast and can outcompete slower-growing wildflowers for nutrients and space. It’s best to remove them if you want your wildflowers to thrive by physically removing them. Thistles can be controlled by removing the seed heads before they ripen, and nettles and dock can be chopped down or pulled out. Throw them into your compost heap to make nitrogen-rich compost. Check out our guide to making your own compost here.
The meadow didn’t grow back the next year
You had a wonderful first year of wildflowers in your meadow, but the next year, it was all just grass with few flowers to be seen, so what happened?
- The meadow was not cut at the end of summer
You might think that mowing a wildflower meadow is the antithesis of what we are trying to achieve, but cutting down the meadow at the end of summer actually helps it to thrive. Some meadows need cutting twice depending on the weather and growth rate. Cutting the meadow helps prevent grasses from taking over, and the wildflower seeds will have already scattered into the soil by the end of summer. Leave the clippings on the ground for no longer than a week for any loose seeds to fall into the soil. Any longer and the cuttings will start to decompose and make the meadow too fertile, which is not ideal for wildflowers. Use a scythe or strimmer to cut your wildflower meadow – lawnmowers will struggle to get through the thicker stems and can mow the meadow too short.
Remember, you can buy UK wildflower seeds directly from us – we have a variety of mixes and collections for different sizes and locations! Just select the size of the area you wish to plant and then choose a suitable seed mix. Go for the Shady Area mix for places that get less than 8 hours of sunlight per day or otherwise, go with the Long Season mix which will flower from May to October.
We hope this solves any problems with your wildflower meadow and helps it to flourish – if you have any more questions about growing wildflowers, please get in touch with us at hello@mysquaremetre.co.uk/
