Gardening advice

[wellinghall]

So one for rustica, bunn, helflaed, and anyone else who wants to chuck their twopenn'orth in.

Our garden is bordered by a shared driveway, with a low wall and fence in between. The drive is tarmac (although fairly old and broken tarmac), and the usual stuff (dandelions, grass, nettles, more dandelions) grows along the edges.

It struck me today that maybe I could get something more attractive to grow there. I'm not prepared to put in very much work to achieve this, and I certainly wouldn't be looking for a high success rate; but can anyone suggest any seeds that might work?

Thanks

Comments

[helflaed.livejournal.com]

Aaaaaargh- what are you asking a disaster area like me for??

About the only thing I can think of offhand is candytuft.

[didiusjulianus.livejournal.com]

You can buy mixed wild flower seeds, would this do?

[wellinghill.livejournal.com]

I'd go for a selection of bulbs with different flowering dates, so that you can pretty much fit and forget, then enjoy colour almost all year round.

There's always plane trees, of course.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Ok, take a seat and get some tea while I witter on and on...

If it already has dandelions and nettles in it, you will be lucky to get anything else to grow without digging it all out and removing the roots. (OK, you could use a weedkiller, but I wouldn't.)

If you want seeds and it's sunny, I'd try alyssum, forgetmenot, virginia stock, nightscented stock (and candytuft!) but don't expect to be able to sow them direct into grass and leave them: they do need some soil, even if it's only cracks between paving slabs.

Don't even bother with corn poppies: the seed goes off really quickly and the packeted stuff rarely germinates. the big 'opium' poppies might do well though, they're tough and look great, and you get poppyseeds for your bread...

If it's not quite so sunny and you like them, nasturtians are always worth a go, are a nice Tolkien reference, and will grow *almost* anywhere. Also the flowers are edible... They are big seeds though so you do need to bury them, not just sprinkle, and they will love you if you can remember to water them a few times this spring.

If you can be bothered, you would greatly up your success rate by planting your seeds into a tray of compost and then planting out once the young plants have 6-8 leaves, but it's not essential.

More likely to work are bulbs - it is just early enough that you could get some 'in the green' bluebells and they would look fab next year, and probably beat even your nettles into submission. You do need some shade for bluebells though. http://home-garden.listings.ebay.co.uk/Bulbs-Corms-Rhizomes_Bluebells_W0QQfsooZ2QQfsopZ2QQsacatZ122894QQsocmdZListingItemList

Also, what about some daffs? It's mostly too late to plant now, though if you have a look in a local not-too-brilliant garden center you may well find some half-finished pots being flogged off cheap, they are well worth getting for next year as long as they aren't paperwhites (not hardy and smell weird). Oru buy a bag this autumn: it's hard to go wrong with daffs...

But beyond that, I beg you, do not scorn the dandelion. If dandelions were hard to grow, everyone would want them and people would pay absurd sums for their golden loveliness. I was walking through a field studded thickly with dandelions today, and honestly, no buttercup or primrose could be more beautiful: I think they are fabulous plants.

[rustica.livejournal.com]

In all honesty, I probably would use weedkiller - but go sparingly with it or you may find that you have problems growing seeds in the soil for a while after. Use Round-up on stuff with deep roots. Spray it onto the leaves.

Having nettles is a good sign - it means you have nitrogen-rich soil. In layman's terms, this means things will grow well.

I would go for poppies... not so sure about the opium ones, particularly. (They can't be illegal, no matter what some people say, because you can buy the seeds from the Kew Gardens seed catalogue!) The only person I've known who grew opium poppies said they were nice for 1 day and then all the petals fell off! I would go for standard poppies in reds, oranges or pinks. Fancy striped ones and blue poppies will be harder to grow. In fact, blue poppies are very difficult indeed, so I would say "don't bother".

Bluebells are possible, but if you plant them you will never get rid of them, but on the plus side, they are hardy!

Wild mixed seed is a good idea.

I would also advocate cowslips, just because I am a big fan of them, and because they are very pretty and are endangered. They don't like growing in soil that has been treated, so your border sounds good for that :) but it would mean that you would have to be very sparing with the Roundup.

Some herbs can be very hardy, mint, oregano, etc. Could be useful...?

You are still in the right time of year for a lot of seeds, but you will run out of time within the next few weeks, particularly if you want to see results this year. So grab a few packets of some things that look pretty and throw them down and see what happens. Plus, most seed packets say on them how difficult the seeds will be to grow. Good luck!

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Hello - mind if I friend you?

[helflaed.livejournal.com]

You can pickle the nasturtium seeds and use them as a substitute for capers.

[chainmailmaiden]

Lavender is nice along borders, though I'd use plant plugs rather than seeds, that way someone else has done most of the hard work. Thompson & Morgan have some good offers on at the moment.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I am told that opium poppies are unable to make opium in the Uk because it's too dark/rainy, so there are no legality problems : I've grown them for years. Also only the white ones are of the true 'opium' strain: red and pink ones don't make as much of the vital goo...

I find the art of getting a good display is to plant a bucketload of them: the flowers don't last long individually, but that way you can get a few weeks out of them. And I quite like the look of the pepperpots afterwards...

I am with you on blue meconopsis poppies: they are real gits. Lovely to look at, but my god, the hassle!