Sowing wild flowers

[Henwoman]

This year I have decided not to have my usual large potato patch - I have a small free bag of potatoes to come from my local garden shop, but shan't grow any others. I'm giving up on potatoes as I have decided to grow wild flowers in their space. I've bought a premixed bag from another garden centre containing, Gypsophila, Linseed, Nigella, Marguerites, Lavatera and some others I can't translate easily from French. I shall add my own collected poppy and marigold seed too. Hopefully the additional pollinating insects I attract will help my veggies grow.

I see that Sarah Raven is doing a programme on wild flowers at the moment. Is anyone else growing wild flowers deliberately?

[Millymollymandy]

Well yes, sort of. In that I let the wild flowers that were here before me continue, because they are of so much benefit to bees and flutterbies and moths. There is a thread about the Sarah Raven programmes in the wildflower section.

[Millymollymandy]

Sorry, that's not where it is. It was in the TV section!

http://www.selfsufficientish.com/forum/ ... 13&t=25473

I'd throw in Verbena bonariensis and borage into your mix of seeds and the bees and butterflies will love you for it. I'm growing some Phacelia this year in the veg patch as an experiment which bees love too apparently.

[trinder]

I am not confident but I think Lavatera grows as big as a tree although it's classified as a shrub? I had one and it was lovely and very hardy and massive.

[Millymollymandy]

I have a couple like that which I have been given and it is a beautiful perennial, but there are also annuals and also the perennial wild ones which I have all through my chicken run - it's a picture in summer. Not so great for the insects though as they get chased by the chooks!