Broadcasting seed

Each year I buy different wildflower seed in bulk and broadcast them in my garden. Some come up easily, others never. I use a lot of seed

I have had good success (this year) with
Yellow prairie coneflower
globe gilla
larkspur
lavatera
bachelor's buttons
cosmos
annual asters
sunflowers

limited success (only 1 or two plants after scattering a lot of seed)
annual baby's breath
five spot
baby blue eyes
perennial blue flax
zinnia

no luck with (not one plant)
chinese for get me nots
morning glory ( I soaked them overnight)
poppies (don't ask me why)
mexican hat
nasturtiums (aren't these suppose to be EASY to grow)

Anyone else broadcast seed among your beds to add interest each year?

Yes I do. I don't have an actual 'wildflower garden' but I do sow a lot of seeds in different garden beds, especially my rock garden. I have been successful with zinnias, wine cup, shasta daisies, morning glories, and linaria purpurea. I have recently pitched some bellflower seeds, more zinnias, and nicotiana in some pots. I hope they germinate. I also always sow moss rose seeds too.

Lin

I think nasturtium, sunflower and zinnia could be counted on to grow if you dug them in a little. I have never had much success with broadcasting seed, but a lot of success with self sowing - letting the seeds lie where grow. (My lack of success might have something to do with weeding them up before they germinate..
Nasturtium and zinnia do not self sow for me from year to year, but sunflowers do. What I am doing this year to make it easier on myself, is to grow patches of things that self sow easily from year to year - like lettuce, kale, arugula, coriander, morning glories, malva, chervil, heirloom poppies, etc. so that I will know where to look for seedlings to transplant in the spring. I am sure there are other flowers that will easily self sow also... I think the problem for me with broadcasting over a large area is when you need to do some weed control.
Sharon

This message was edited Jun 14, 2006 11:04 AM

Weed control is also a problem for me - morning glories come from the same family as bindweed, so I don't know until they bloom which is which! I was weeding and decided at the last minute to leave some alone - I am glad I did, I almost dug up some baby's breath.

I'm trying cleome (plants) this year, hoping they will self sow next year.

Occasionally, I will have plants pop up that I seeded three years ago ( I guess they just needed the extra time).

I've had good luck with cleome self seeding.

Mobi I've had asters and cosmos to pop up unexpectedly. And those seeds were planted a long time ago. In fact I had forgotten I even planted them so they were a pleasant surprise for me. ;)

Lin

Hi Mobi:

This is a fun topic because I thought I was the only crazy one to randomly throw down seeds with no preparation. LOL. Two years in a row all of the seeds I started indoors failed to make it to planting time. I was so disgusted last year that I took all of the leftover seed packets and threw them out into the garden. The only smart thing I did was mark out the various sections with plastic silverware so I would know if anything survived.

Amazingly, because my garden is relatively new and not much else flowered last year, my little seed sections were the best part of my garden. This year they look even better. I left the silverware in the ground so I would know not to weed these sections just in case things came up again. Yes, it looks a little odd in the middle of winter with about 50 plastic forks sticking up but, what they hey, it looks good now.

The only things I actually recognize so far (of course I didn't save the packets) are coneflower and coreopsis. I also have good luck with zinnias but when I plant those I take a bucket of dirt with me and scatter it on top of the seeds after I throw them down. "Nothing fancy" seems to work for me. LOL.

Jennifer

Don't you just love "nothing fancy" gardening?

I'm a Johnny Appleseed of flowers. I mix all my home grown seeds in a large baggie and sow them down the railroad tracks, and the area around the church up the street. I haven't have any luck even tho I hit every bare patch of dirt I see. Maybe someday the seeds will find the right conditions to grow and I'll be pleasantly suprised. I did have the transplants grow that I put down the tracks.

Arachide, I had a lot of left over seed too! So I did the same thing! I was so surprised the first year that all these plants came up! Have you tried winter sowing? It has really worked for me - having 80% germination rate and everyone of those made it to planting time and it is SO easy to boot.

http://www.wintersown.org/

Defoecat: Yes, I love it when simple things work because I always overcomplicate everything. LOL. My indoor seed experiments involved lots of steps and equipment trying to get it right. As soon as I did the cheapest and quickest thing, it worked. Doesn't happen often in life.

Mobi: I love winter sowing, too! This was my first year and I got about 80% also. Amazing how simple it was. Next year I'm going to try annuals along with more perennials. I had so many plants I had to take them to work and share. I set them out in February and didn't even look at them until April when I noticed all of the containers had green sprouts. Mother Nature does know best. LOL.

billyporter: Keep trying! You just need to hit upon that seed that likes the natural conditions of those areas. My garden soil has been heavily amended and I make sure to keep it well watered so the seeds have a better than average chance. Although, I admit to feeling like a "real" gardener now that I can grow plants from seeds.

The railroad has less than desireable dirt and the seeds were getting a little old, but it was worth a try!

The only problem I had with winter sowing is remembering to buy the big bags of potting soil during the summer because they are impossible to find during the winter. All you need is something to grow it in (I used milk jugs), potting soil and seeds, just plant seeds in wet potting soil after Dec 21 and set outside. Start to water when it gets warm outside (in my area was around May). That was it and I had more plants than I knew what to do with!

I am definately going to try this this year! I will need to make sure I have the seeds to plant, right? there won't be seeds around in the stores that time of year. Lucky to find them now. I have scads of old seeds, but the ones I have been planting haven't sprouted. Guess they are too old.