Dat Garden Tho...

I'll soon update with all the info and in-progress photos...

Short version: the other half and I have moved in together and bought a house. To fit our budget we bought a place with a seriously overgrown garden.

The 2013 SWB Transit had more than 30 ton-bags of green waste, and a half-dozen full cargo loads of hedge. At this point we'd done maybe 50% of the garden. The Oleo Mac 14" chainsaw earned its place in the shed, felling more than a dozen trees and hedge-trees.

We had two very very large trees to come down in the back, one was overhanging a neighbour's shed and I feared damage. There was another very big established tree in the middle out front, that was undermining the driveway. These were felled by a local contractor who then chipped and disposed of the waste. It was a fair few tons.

We have the stumps still in the ground, and are considering a stump-grinder session from the contractor to get as much of it mulched as possible. The alternative is dig down enough to cut them far below the surface and then let them die a death over years to come.

I asked about wildflowers on the AQA thread, these are the responses:

https://www.lfgss.com/comments/17386833/

@hugo7

Idk if it's the answer you want. But personally I would tidy up, get some pots and then plan what you want it to look like.

Fucking around with wild flower gardens is generally a fools errand. Spend your time planting what you want to have.

@Belagerent

IMO wildflower gardens bang, I dunno when the best time to plant the seeds is though, most of them all germinate at different times so.

I buy mine from here:

https://wildflowerlawnsandmeadows.com/

For best results you'll want to kill your grass first though.

@CYOA

Obligatory get these, support bees*: https://www.pollenize.org.uk/shop-seeds

*other pollinators may also benefit.

@Belagerent

One thing to consider is that if you have a shady area that not even grass can thrive in you might want a specialist wild flower seed mix for shade, and even that might not play the hits.

@hugo7

Right but the aim is this sort of thing:

... and it's mid-May with at least a weekend's work tidying and clearing the rubbish. So seeds in the ground what, penultimate weekend of May/last weekend of May?

What about the in-ground stumpery on the left? I assume they're removing it, so how are the seeds going to feel about being stamped on while those are removed?

IMHO the max amount effort they should commit is grabbing one of those wild seed mix boxes from the supermarket and giving the ground a rake, sow and a water. All while keeping expectations low. Otherwise it'll be high effort, low reward vs buying living plants and getting stuff in the ground.

I'd be much more inclined to grow wild looking flowers in pots (cornflowers, etc.) then plant on in specific locations. That way you could be starting them now without being blocked by the other work. Then pair with a couple of cool grasses and some salvia. It'll be <£50, give interest with the right vibe guaranteed success.

Also it's dull, but you need to do the hard landscaping first.

Eg

https://www.jparkers.co.uk/border-collec­tion-2-2-x-26m

https://www.jparkers.co.uk/vigorous-and-­large-flowered-salvia-1020623c

https://www.jparkers.co.uk/verbena-hasta­ta-collection-1019231c

@Belagerent

I don't disagree with you, if they feel like the spend and the effort of putting plants in the ground then that will definitely yield instant results. I share your general distrust of "wildflower meadows", they're not the easy breezy solution the picture on the boxes would lead you to believe.

My "wildflower meadow" has taken years to get anywhere and it's still not that amazing compared to stuff like that picture, I've mostly just got leucanthemums. (The rest of my garden slays so it's not an issue)

You can also try and do both, buy some stuff like what you posted, and also dump a bunch of wildflower seed into the bare ground. Could be a waste of seed, might work, who knows.

@T_Unit

I got given a wild flower bomb thing at a wedding, chucked it out the window and have now been plagued by wild geraniums for ever. Best not to over think it, throw some seeds around, trust nature.

@Sumo

I bought a few packs of wildflower seeks, chucked them in the flower beds around the edge of the garden with little thought. Nothing's grown. Maybe I should burry them next time.

@gbj_tester

feedthebirds.meme

@JurekB

I (accidentally) bought 20 times (yes, 20) as much wildflower bombs are are required for my 5m x 5m garden.
Threw them onto the grass at the beginning of last year.
Last year not much happened.
This year there are some wild flowers, but I think I should've probably rid the garden of couch grass as I think that is stunting/preventing the growth of much.

So some very helpful advice.

The other half has a lot of potted plants that need planting...