If you’re a regular reader, you’ll be aware that we’re joining forces with the RSPB ‘Give nature a home in your garden’ campaign. With 60% of the UK’s wildlife species seeing decline over the last fifty years, the campaign aims to encourage us all to take small, achievable steps to help nature in our own green spaces.
We’re going to be sharing our experiences as we try out lots of fun family activities to make a home for nature in our own garden. This month we’ve been sowing wildflower seeds to create a mini-meadow that will attract all manner of wildlife to our garden.
Wildflowers are fantastic for wildlife; they provide food for pollinating insects, wild birds and bats, as well as dense shelter for other small animals. They’re fast-growing, low-maintenance, help to control weeds, and look fabulous too – what’s not to love?!
You can sow wildflowers in a patch of ground, or a container. We’re quite limited on space in our garden, so we’ve gone for sowing seed in containers there, but we’ve also sown a wildflower patch at our allotment.
This is just one of the fun nature play projects in my book, ‘A Year of Nature Craft and Play’ (co-authored with Becky Goddard-Hill). There’s an activity for every week of the year and it includes fun crafts, gardening, games, art and science experiments – perfect for inspiring kids to get creative with nature.
We used the RSPB’s ‘sow a poppy patch’ guide to help us get it right. Here’s what we did to sow wildflowers in a patch of ground; if you’re sowing in containers your job will be easier in terms of preparation, but the sowing method is the same.
First of all we chose our patch of ground. A sunny spot works best, so we went for an exposed but neglected area next to the shed.
Once we’d picked our spot, we prepared the ground by getting rid of as many weeds as possible. As you can see from the picture above, it was full of nettles and weeds, and there were some old paving stones and bricks to move; quite a workout!
Removing weeds will not only give the seeds a better chance of germinating, it will also ensure that when they do start to grow, we don’t confuse them with weeds and pull them out. Because we had so many stinging nettles the grown-ups did the weeding, but kids could easily help out with this stage if the weeds are less prickly.
Once all the weeds were cleared, it was time to dig the area over, and then rake the surface to create a fine layer of soil. This provides the perfect environment for the seeds to germinate and is an easy job for the kids to get stuck in with.
Then it was the exciting bit: seed sowing time! We used a wildflower mix containing lots of native species including cornflower, oxeye daisy, red campion, corn marigold and poppy. You can buy mixed packets of wildflower seeds from garden centres; at this time of year you’ll probably be able to find them in other shops selling seeds too, such as supermarkets and DIY stores.
We popped the seeds onto a plastic saucer, to make it easier for Lily to hold while she scattered them finely over the surface of the soil. The aim is to sow the seed quite thinly, which can be tricky for little hands to manage. Lily did well, but I think next time we’ll mix the seed in with some sand, this creates a bulkier mix which is easier to scatter evenly.
You don’t need to rake the seeds in, just press them into the surface of the soil by walking across it; the aim is to get the seeds in contact with the soil. After we’d done this the whole patch just needed a drink and we were done!
While Lily has been busy sowing wildflowers at the allotment, Sam has been sowing them in containers for the garden. No weeding required here, so it’s a really easy way to plant up a mini wildflower garden.
Once the seeds are sown, there isn’t really any work required; if we have a particularly dry spell we’ll water them, but the general idea is to let nature do it’s thing. Hopefully by the time we get to early Summer we’ll have a lovely display of flowers that will also be a welcome habitat for all manner of insects, birds and small mammals. We can’t wait!
We’ve found sowing wildflowers a really fun, easy gardening activity. The whole family has been able to get involved, and it feels good to be making changes that will make our garden and allotment more nature-friendly. And the only cost was a packet of seeds!
I hope we’ve inspired you to create a welcoming wildflower patch in your own garden, if you’d like some more ideas for family activities there are lots on the RSPB website. You might also like my post on how to garden for wildlife, which has 50 simple ways to make your garden more wildlife-friendly.
If you’d like some more inspiration for fun things to do in the garden with the kids my post on 60 fun garden activities has lots of great ideas!
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What a wonderful idea, I think my toddler would love to do this. We have a fairly small garden so I think I’m going to have to give the container idea a go 🙂 #whatevertheweather x
A container is a great option if you’re tight on space, it will also be easy for your toddler to really get involved with. Have fun!
Awe, how awesome to have a bit of green space to plant things. We live in an apartment with no plantable area and very little indoor light. I’m sure the weeding was no fun but hopefully you’ll be rewarded for your labor with some lovely flowers! #Whatevertheweather
I’m always longing for a bigger garden but you’re right, we’re very lucky to have some green space and the kids really do make the most of it. We’re all crossing our fingers for our mini-meadow, I love the fact that sowing a mixed pack of seeds means we’ll be able to have fun identifying them all!
What a lovely tie up with the RSPB and well done the kids for getting involved, it kooks like a lovely patch you have chosen and I bet it was harder work preparing it than it looks here. I hope you have a lovely crop of wild flowers to show for all your efforts in time for the summer wildlife. Thank you for sharing with me on #CountryKids
It was hard work, but a good way to ease us into digging-over our allotment! Lots of fun too.
What a lovely idea!!! So much fun to do together as well. I can’t wait to see how your wildflowers progress and to see the post of them in full bloom. You’ve reminded me that we must nip to the garden centre to start our planting for the season. Thank you so much for sharing with #whatevertheweather xx
We’re rather excited about what our mini meadow might end up looking like – the kids are checking the containers every day! Have fun in the garden centre, this is such a fab time of year for plant browsing 🙂
I’m going to have to find a small patch in our garden and do the same with my twins. It’s perfect for wildlife but also they’ll be keen to watch their patch come to life.
Yes it’s a great option for kids isn’t it – not too precise and a mixed variety of flowers to surprise them at the end. Hope you find the perfect spot!
What a wonderful idea and also a great activty to invove the kids too. Would love to see the follow up of this post when all the flowers are in full bloom. Well done! Good job! 🙂
#whatevertheweather
Thanks – I’ll definitely be updating on our progress, fingers crossed it’s good!
This is such a lovely project to do with kids! I wish that I have a garden! I only potted plants but ill try to plant some wildflowers when I start gardening again =) #countrykids
Wildflowers are happy in pots too, the sunnier the spot the better – hope you manage to squeeze some in.
I love wildflower gardens, we had an area in our old house that has wild flowers, they are so lovely to look at and I love watching all the insects that they attract. I wonder if we’re allowed them at our allotment, will have to check the paperwork, we have some space there for one! Thanks so much for linking up to #Whatevertheweather 🙂 xx
We’ve had lots of garden plants that attract pollinators in the past, but never a wildflower patch before – I’m really looking forward to a little hive of activity just outside the back door. Hope you’re allowed them on your plot!
We have a couple of spots in the garden that I want to turn into wildflower patches, but we’ve got a fair bit of clearing to do first… on a very long list! Lovely to get the kids involved x
Oh that sounds like the kind of list we have! Good luck 🙂
I think I will have another go at flowers in a container. The sunniest part of my garden has either no depth of soil at all or quite heavy soil with roots from lots of pernicious weeds – so the wild flowers never seem to get a hold. Every year I am disappointed when nothing grows.
I am motivated to have another go.
We’ve had mixed results with wildflower seeds in the past too, they definitely need a sunny spot don’t they. I’m very interested to see how well the ones we’ve sown in pots compare to the ones we’ve sown in the ground, so far the pots are growing much more quickly. Hope you have lots of success with your seeds this time 🙂
Is it possible to plant wild seeds in pots that already have other stuff in? I have a jasmine and clematis in a bit pot ready for them to climb up my balcony wall – but theres loads of soil not being used – same for my pot with camelia – would they be good for that? Do you have the photos of the end result for us to see?
Yes you can plant the seeds in pots that are already in use. Wildflowers are happy growing in poor soil so they will cope well with a pot that has other plants in it. I don’t have any ‘after’ pictures unfortunately but it’s on my list for this year!