Forum home› Wildlife gardening

Advice on wildflower planting

SeashellSeashell Posts: 7
in Wildlife gardening

Hi. Am a gardening beginner. Moved in to a new house two years ago. Garden was completely overgrown. Have cleared most of it and now trying to make a family friendly, wildlife friendly garden.  We have one patch as yet untouched. It's just over 2ft square and currently a mix of grass, weeds and an old climber. I would really like to turn it into a mini wildflower meadow but I've read that planting wildflower seeds requires well draining soil in full sun and this area has heavy wet soil and is a mostly shaded area, even in summer. I definitely don't want to put shrubs in there but whatever I plant needs to be low maintenance, wildlife and child friendly.  Any suggestions please?

Posts

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Derbyshire but with a Nottinghamshire postcode. Posts: 16,462

    2ft square is not very big. A couple of foxgloves and some forgetmenots should do it. Once you have forget me nots, you shake the plants when they finish flowering  and they will seed around for the following year.

    Also a Pulmonaria or two would give early nectar for bees.

     All of them are ok in shade.

  • SeashellSeashell Posts: 7

    Thank you ?

  • TopbirdTopbird Mid SuffolkPosts: 7,579

    Fidget's suggestions are good and I would add a couple of the native primroses (primula vulgaris) into the mix as they like your conditions. A couple of small plants now will be ready for lifting and dividing into many smaller plants in a couple of years which you can either place elsewhere in your garden or give away or donate to a charity sale.

    Fidget is, however, also correct that 2' square is a very small area. What's immediately around this patch?

    If it's grass you will need to constantly stop the grass from encroaching into your patch. On the other hand you might find that you keep taking out more and more of the grass and making the patch bigger - 'cos that what gardeners tend to do. image

    Last edited: 02 March 2017 10:27:39

    Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
  • Kitty 2Kitty 2 ManchesterPosts: 5,150

    Damp and shady, for children and wildlife?  

    How about creating a small "fairy garden" using ferns, mosses etc. You could include snowdrops and miniature narciccsi for spring colour.

    I've added a link to what I think is an american website which has some info and photos. There's loads more images out there, this was just to give a general idea.

    https://www.greenviewfertilizer.com/articles/how-to-create-fairy-garden

  • SeashellSeashell Posts: 7

    That looks great! Thank you ?

  • Kitty 2Kitty 2 ManchesterPosts: 5,150

    If you have a few hours to spare (unlikely with little 'un's image) you could get lost in the "time suck" that is Pinterest, looking at some amazing creations for inspiration image.

  • SeashellSeashell Posts: 7

    I will check it out. Thank you!

  • SeashellSeashell Posts: 7

    Thanks for your suggestions Topbird. It's a bit of a lonely area next to a fence. We have made a seating area on one side under a tree and so ground to the left is covered in bark chipping. It does have grass in front of it though so will need to think about that. Appreciate the feedback ?

  • bookmonsterbookmonster Posts: 399

    we have a clay lawn that's often soggy - I mowed the turf short and planted bird's foot trefoil and clover plugs, both like that sort of environment.

  • SeashellSeashell Posts: 7

    Thanks bookmonster

Sign In or Register to comment.