Wild flowers

LynfromSea

Does anybody know what type of flowers these are and why the farmer would be growing them. The blue one is fragrant but it’s not prickly.  I had the pleasure of walking through this field this morning and it looked stunning!

 

GardenerSuze

I think the first could be Phacelia. Second a cardamine?

Ladybird4

Phacelia is grown as a green manure and the farmer will plough it back into the soil to enrich it. This can be done on a smaller scale in ordinary gardens. Another plus point for phacelia is that bees absolutely love it.

Silver surfer

1. Phacelia...see pics below.
2 Something in the cabbage/brassica family...near me they are growing fields of radish...(Raphanus raphanistrum subsp. sativus)
Not for human food...maybe green manure or  for local biodigester.

LynfromSea

Ladybird4 said:

Phacelia is grown as a green manure and the farmer will plough it back into the soil to enrich it. This can be done on a smaller scale in ordinary gardens. Another plus point for phacelia is that bees absolutely love it.

Thank you so much for your suggestion. I’m sure that’s what it is. 

LynfromSea

Phacelia it is then! Thank you all so much for detecting it. This forum has a wealth of knowledge which you are so willing to share. I think I will grow some in my garden as it so pretty and as you say, so good for the bees 

punkdoc

I have a little patch in a border, it self seeds every year and I edit as necessary. Adored by the bees and loved by me, although it doesn't die well.

Dovefromabove

Phacelia is usually grown nowadays, in this area at least, to provide nectar for pollinators.  If it’s grown as a green manure it’s usually ploughed in before it flowers. 

The second pic looks like a field of Winter Wild Bird Seed Mix.  I can see several types of plants there including Fodder radish. 

Farmers are encouraged to grow Fodder radish and many other plants to provide seeds for birds in the winter … see here

https://www.gov.uk/countryside-stewardship-grants/winter-bird-food-ab9  

Also check out this place on Fbook
https://www.highashfarm.com/

Dovefromabove

Farmers buy the seeds in these types of various mixes depending on the scheme they’re taking part in 
https://www.farmseeds.co.uk/products/environmental/stewardship-mixtures/wild-bird-seed-mixtures/

LynfromSea

Dovefromabove said:

Phacelia is usually grown nowadays, in this area at least, to provide nectar for pollinators.  If it’s grown as a green manure it’s usually ploughed in before it flowers. 

The second pic looks like a field of Winter Wild Bird Seed Mix.  I can see several types of plants there including Fodder radish. 

Farmers are encouraged to grow Fodder radish and many other plants to provide seeds for birds in the winter … see here

https://www.gov.uk/countryside-stewardship-grants/winter-bird-food-ab9  

Also check out this place on Fbook
https://www.highashfarm.com/

I like the idea that it is grown for bird seed but I was wondering whether the farmers were now growing their own fertiliser as their supply, I believe, has been cut due to the war in Ukraine.