Native
British Wild Flowers
maple farm, coach gap lane, langar, notts
maple farm, coach gap lane, langar, notts
|
Native
British Wild Flowers
maple farm, coach gap lane, langar, notts |
|
|
|
||
|
| Seed sowing guide - part 1 - cornfield & other annuals | ||||||
|
Nothing can match the breathtaking display of colour and interest that can be obtained by sowing a cornfield annual mixture. The showy cornfield annuals are now a relative rarity in the wild due to 'advances' in crop weed control. We recommend preparing a settled seedbed preferably on a poor soil and always in full sun some time before sowing of cornfield annuals which will allow for a flush of annual weeds, which should then be destroyed by shallow cultivation or spraying prior to sowing - ideally from mid August to mid October. Sowing of cornfield annuals in spring from early March means that the resulting plants will be smaller and flower later than from an autumn sowing, but will be no less colourful. Seed rate of Naturescape cornfield mix 5g per square meter. Scatter the seeds onto prepared level ground, lightly rake in and firm the soil if loose by treading. |
||||||
 |
These and other annual species are the only ones we would recommend sowing in their final flowering positions. They are extremely easy to grow. In theory, with cornfield annuals, if the ground is cultivated again after seed is shed the seed will grow again for the next year and the process can be repeated indefinitely. In practice however, other annual weed seeds tend to build up and/or the cornfield mix becomes unbalanced, often dominated by the early germinating and strong growing corncockle. To perpetuate a cornfield annual mix on the same site we believe it is best to collect seed from the various species and dig or plough over the site prior to re-sowing a prepared mixture. | |||||
| A foolproof technique which we can thoroughly recommend where only small areas are concerned is to light a good bonfire on the site allocated for the cornfield annuals. Sowing after the soil has cooled produces excellent results since the soil is sterile and free of other annual weeds. | ||||||
| An alternative to sowing direct into flowering position is to sow the cornfield annuals into clean compost in small pots or trays with separate cells. Fine seeds such as poppy should be sown on the surface of the compost and given only a trace of soil cover. This method avoids the root disturbance which cornfield species resent when they are transplanted out into the garden 15-22 cm apart. This should be done in autumn or spring as soon as the plants have a reasonable root-ball. This method also gives one more control over the colour content achieved. |  |
|||||
|
Plants of Bearded Wheat and Barley can be included with the cornfield annuals to reproduce an authentic wild cornfield feature. These crop plants add interest and serve an important role in actually supporting the flowering plants. go to next page (perennials & biennials) |
||||||
|
|
|
|
Designed
for 800x600 (minimum) screen resolution, at high colour for ie5 or better
|
©
Naturescape British Wild Flowers - Click here to read the disclaimer
|
|
MS
website design email
here for information
|
|
|
|
|