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Planting wildflower seeds over smothered area

13 years ago

I put down black plastic over a 500 square foot section of my lawn this spring to smother the grass and dandelions. I bought a native seed mix of wildflowers and grasses appropriate for the area from Prairie Moon Nursery. Their suggestion is to spread the seed in very very late fall. I am wondering if

1. I should just spread the seed on the dead grass

2. lay down newspapers, then fresh dirt, then spread the seed, then cover with straw (a suggestion from a local nursery).

3. till up the soil before spreading the seed, but possibly exposing dormant weed seeds.

Any suggestions?

Thanks very much!

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Comments (5)

theresa2
13 years ago
#1 won't work because the seed needs to make direct contact with bare soil. Dead sod will be too much of a barrier.

#2 may work. I do not have first hand experience with this method so I can't comment. Maybe others can chime in.

#3 will be disappointing, because as you stated, too many weed seeds will be exposed.

You may have to pull back the plastic for a period to expose seed that may have lay dormant due to lack of sunshine and water.

Personally, I've found much success by winter sowing the forbs and growing grasses under lights in the house. I find the advantages are: easier weed management (ability to hand-pull in-between transplants); nice aesthetics (able place the plants where I want them); and faster results (grasses filled the voids faster and many of the forbs bloomed their first season), all this for little expense albeit a little more work and planning.
theresa2
13 years ago
Oh, I forgot to mention that I dug small holes into the dead sod to plant my home-grown transplants. The dead sod acted as a mulch until it finally broke down in two to three years.
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dandy_line (Z3b N Cent Mn)
13 years ago
I doubt your method will work. I tried to start wildflowers like that 10 years ago and all I got was a giant patch of Reed Canary Grass. My wildflowers were run over by the weeds, and the weeds always win.
Starting a wildflower area is a lot of work but worth the effort in the end. Maybe you might try finding a farmer in your area to help you out.
Michelle Worthgold
13 years ago
I thought that it was supposed to be covered for a full year before you can plant the seeds that way. I rushed mine and boy I have never grown such nice grass in that spot before. I am now trying to excersise some patience on a new garden. I am dying to hear how your garden will be coming.
theresa2
13 years ago
jennyinmn if you have any questions please post. We all want to help you have satisfactory results with your prairie planting.

You might want to investigate the following ideas:

If you keep smothering your vegetation over winter you can pull off the cover come early spring and allow whatever weeds are still active to present, then you can follow up with an application of roundup which is often a necessary evil to speed up the prep stage. Wait about a week after applying the herbacide to see if it needs an additional treatment, then treat again. Then, if you Winter-Sowed your transplants (lots of info about Winter-Sowing on this forum), you'll be ready for planting and watching your prairie emerge. There will be lots of weeding the first year, but having killed off the vegetation for a full year prior, will have gone a long way to keeping your planting relatively weed free.

If you still want to direct sow your seed, it might be better to keep smothering until fall 2011 (this will give more time for killing off weeds and the sod will have broken down more), then pull off the plastic and again check for weed growth same as above. Treat with herbicide if needed. Then you can throw your seed down late fall/winter 2011 to emerge the following spring 2012. In the meantime, keep your seeds fresh in the fridge.

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