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Sow Seeds for Nature this Autumn by Morwenna Alldis

Turning a small corner of your garden, or even a large plant pot or window box, into a mini poppy field will provide food for the birds and the bees, as well as shelter and cover for other garden creatures. You could even scatter a few barley, oat or wheat seeds amongst the poppies too, to create that true country field aesthetic!

(Photo 1 by Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)

  • Pick Your Weed-Free Poppy Plot First job is to pick the perfect poppy spot! They need somewhere sunny and if possible, at least one square meter in size (although a large pot will work too).
  • If you’re sewing your annual seeds directly into your garden, it’s really important that you prep the ground first, to ensure that it’s free of all weeds. And now is the perfect time to start this ground work.
  • We recommend that people use environmentally friendly methods of controlling weeds, so ditch the chemical weed killer and dig out an old piece of carpet or some black plastic sheeting/ bin liners – use these to cover the area of soil that you intend to transform into a haven for wildlife and leave for a couple of weeks. This method will prevent any weeds from germinating.
  • Once your soon-to-be poppy patch is weed free, lightly dig the soil surface over and rake it to create a 'seedbed' (you want the surface to be fine granules, not big clods!)
  • Sow Your Seeds! Plant your seeds evenly across the seedbed surface. If you’re including barley, oats or wheat seeds, sow them first in drills at a depth of 2cm before surface sowing the flower seeds. Simply press the seeds into the surface of the soil using your hand if using a pot, or walk across the surface if you've sown them in a bed. This ensures that the seeds are in contact with the surface. Water, and give them the odd bit of extra water in dry spells. And that's it; job done!

Watch Your Garden Grow and the Wildlife Move In Flowers should start to bloom from June to September. But if you start sowing in the autumn, even more poppies will burst into colour. At the end of the flowering season, let the plants set seed and die. Dig over the ground next autumn to ensure weeds don't get a hold. Then simply repeat the process again.

Before long you’ll notice that your poppy patch has become a veritable hive of buzzing, flapping activity: bumblebees hang heavily on the poppies and cornflowers; other smaller pollinating insects such as hoverflies also join in the feast; whilst beetles and birds forage among the stems – it really is so very easy to give a variety of wildlife a home in your own home.

(Photo 2: Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)