I've recently overturned sod in my yard and I'm looking to sow native/wild collected seed for a prairie section in my yard. I'm wondering if anyone had advice on when to plant the seed for over-wintering (stratification), and a good method for covering the seed?
I have access to plenty of natural wood chips and composted leaf humus. Thank you!
by AdemmZap
8 Comments
i highly recommend doing this:
[How to Winter Sow Seeds – A Complete Tutorial Guide](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKXY6dl-5Tk&t=170s)
Just throw them down during a good snow that you anticipate will stick through the year instead of melting off in a day or two.
I have a mini meadow in my backyard. We prepared the soil, then I basically just tossed a native meadow mix on it in the fall once it was nice and damp. Year one we got one set of flowers, year two we got others. Who knows what year three will bring?
Sounds like a fun experiment! Nature has its own way of surprising us. Can’t wait to hear your updates.
Site looks a little sheltered for healthy prairie plants. They like fun sun.
Throw some garden soil down with the seed, otherwise you may not have great germination rates
Thank you for this post lol I have been wondering lots of the same. Have collected a lot of seed telling myself I’ll plant them at the end of the year, so now I gotta. All y’all’s tips are super useful ❤️
Typically you’ll have bad results without better prep. If you “overturned” the sod, that’s just going to be sod next year. If you just removed the sod, it’s going to be weeds with maybe a native seedling or 2. You’ve really got to either smother it and mulch, and plant plugs, or solarize it to kill most the seed bank (along with beneficial fungi).