Three Steps To… Preparing a Wildflower Area

Here’s a quick and easy method for making a wildflower area in your garden – all you need is a packet of wildflowers seeds, and a garden rake or fork. If you’re like us and putting your seeds in a grassy area, you’ll also need a mower or shears.

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Step One

Choose your area and rake it over. Try to break the soil up a little bit but don’t worry if it does not break up into a fine tilth.

OR if, like us, you’ve chosen a grassy spot, cut the grass as low as possible and rake out any dead grass or moss. Try to bare as much soil as you can but don’t worry too much if there’s still a fair bit of grass left.

Cut grass and rake t out
Late March – soil prepared and seeds about to be sown.

Step two

Use a large or small fork to make small holes in the ground. Try to push the fork in about 10-12cm (1/2 inch)

It’s a bit of an effort to make the holes but work quickly and you’ll soon cover the whole area. These holes will be helpful to get your seeds in the ground and hidden from birds.

Fork to make holes

Step three

Use about 1/2 a teaspoon (2-3g) of seeds for each square metre of soil.

Sprinkle the seeds thinly and evenly over the whole area.

Use your rake to help cover the seeds – it’s not good idea to cover them with compost as this will encourage grass, rather than flowers to grow.

If there’s a dry spell, use a little water to keep the area damp until the seeds have germinated.

Sprinkle seeds