Nature & Environment

Free wild flower seeds – How to sow your wildflower seeds

If you’ve picked up your free packet of wildflower seeds and are looking for more information on how to sow them then you are in the right place! Your seeds are best sown in Spring – March and April are good months.

Scatter wildflower seeds thinly over bare patches of watered soil or in rows in a seedbed to transplant later as small clumps. Barely cover seeds when sown in rows. Or, sow tiny pinches of seed directly into small modules of seed compost and plant as ‘plugs’.

Follow these steps to sow in your garden;

• Try and choose a spot that gets plenty of sun.
• Choose a fine Spring day when the soil is neither too wet nor too dry.
• Dig over a 1 metre by 1 metre patch of soil with a fork or spade and break up or put aside large clumps. Remove weeds so the wildflowers don’t have any competition, and any large stones.
• Rake the soil so it’s fine and crumbly – lumpy soil may bury seeds; if it’s too hard, roots will be unable to penetrate the ground.
• Ideally, leave your prepared soil for about two weeks so any dormant weeds or grasses that come to life can be removed before you sow your seeds.
• Scatter your wildflower seeds over the soil by hand – a little at a time for an even spread.
  Top tip: to make spreading easier, mix seeds with a small amount of dry play sand or flour so you can see where you’ve sown them.
• Rake the soil again – gently – to just cover the seeds with a very thin layer (1mm) of fine crumbly soil.
  Seeds need sunlight, so be careful not to bury them or they won’t grow.
• Very gently, water the whole area using a watering can, taking care not to wash your seeds away.
• Label the area with a plant marker (you could make your own!) and don’t forget to include the sowing date.

To sow in a pot or tray

• Add some compost to your tray, and level it off.
• Scatter the wildflower seed over the surface – its meant to cover 1 metre x 1 metre!
• Cover with a very thin layer of compost.
• Gently water the seeds, taking care not to wash them away.
• Keep in a sunny area – it doesn’t need to be too warm, but if you have space on a windowsill, greenhouse or warm bright porch, then this will help to speed up germination.

The seed mix came from Naturescape https://www.naturescape.co.uk/ and contains;