Self Sowing Garden Preparation

It won’t be long before the warm weather approaches (or at least I keep telling myself this) and gardening begins for the 2009 season in earnest.  One of the projects I have planned this season is the self sowing garden.  A self sowing garden is pretty self explanatory, it has plants that seed themselves year after year without much attention from the gardener.  It can be any combination of annuals, biennials and perennials as long as they seed readily. Annuals tend to grow faster and may be more suitable for the instant color but if you’re willing to wait one season for the perennials to bloom then by all means go ahead and plant them!  This is a great technique for the cottage garden style as many cottage garden type plants self sow.

I’ve been actively perusing the seed catalogs that I’ve already received this year and I’ve seen many interesting possibilities for this garden but before I can plant anything I need to prepare the garden bed.  The first step to prepare my self sowing garden was to figure out where I wanted it and why.  This garden will serve as both something fun to look at and will also serve as a small informal privacy screen.  Some of the plants I am planning could reach 5-6 feet tall which will create the height necessary to screen off a small area on the eastern side of our house.  The garden will frame the entry to a grassy pathway that will eventually sport an  arbor.  The garden will be located next to a small (and young) grove of deciduous trees.  Behind the self sowing garden I planted a crape myrtle, a crab apple, a witch hazel (a deer took a good munch out of it), a redbud, a viburnum and two azaleas last year.  It’s a hodgepodge of trees but they are young and can be easily transplanted should I need to in the future.  Behind those trees is a row of four hemlocks I planted for privacy screening reasons.  They aren’t doing the job yet but I’m hoping this next growing season will spur on some growth. 

After deciding on the garden’s placement I needed to prepare the soil.  On a warm day last week I turned over the grass and soil over to the depth of a shovel. Turning the soil exposes the roots of the grass which will hopefully kill it off and allow the organic material to enrich the soil. I need to continue this process for another 2-3 ft by 10-12 ft. area and I expect to have to go over the whole area again before planting to remove any weeds.  After that I’ll amend the soil a little with some compost.  In the picture above I labeled the self-seeding area and the next area to turn under.  I had one issue with the planting in this area, there is a gas line.  I knew where the line was so I placed the edge of the bed next to it and continued away from our house.  The gas line should be buried underneath the frost line and the garden shouldn’t interfere with it in any way.  The gas line was also one reason I’m planting a self seeding garden.  If we should ever have to dig the area up for a gas line repair it won’t be difficult or expensive to repair the garden.  The roots of the annuals and perennials in this garden won’t reach the gas line like a tree or a shrub would. 

In this picture you can see the green grassy pathway on the right that the garden will help to define.  The small grove of trees to the left will eventually create a shady passage while the self sowing garden will informally screen the passage to the backyard.  I’m leaning toward natural stepping stones set into the grass for the pathway.  If I could find some re-claimed bricks or other suitable building material for a pathway I would be tempted to give them a try.  The next step is to figure out what to plant and how!

10 thoughts on “Self Sowing Garden Preparation”

  1. Hi Dave, this is very exciting! I suggest larkspur, which can be sown early February, along with nigella, sow at the same time. How about sweet peas with an informal trellis or tripod type thing for vertical interest. Zinnias, marigolds, poppies and verbena bonariensis are things that self sow well here. It does take some work from the gardener though. Save the seed heads in the fall and sow them at the right time the next year. Some of those need bare earth to grow well. Oops, don’t forget salvia coccinea for the hummers! Good luck!
    Frances

  2. Gail,

    Zinnias and black-eyed Susans are on the list!

    Tina,

    Thanks! I had all the lines painted last year and remembered generally where they were. It’s also helpful that they bury a little yellow flag in the ground above the line. It kind of warns you where the line is. I don’t know if they do that everywhere but it’s a good idea!

    Darla,

    Coneflowers will definitely be seeded! I should have plenty of coneflower seeds available for planting.

    Frances,

    I think you were reading my mind. 😉 Larkspur is cool since it looks similar to a foxglove but performs in the first season. The verbena is on my list as well as the sweet peas. A few sunflowers for and sweat peas for height. Maybe some bamboo stakes to make a trellis. A lot of good ideas. I’ll save a few thoughts for a future post!

  3. Dave,

    This will be a great bed! I have already sown larkspur and poppies for the first time, in hope of starting reseeding in certain areas of the garden.

    I also have nicotiana, zinnia, cleome seeds to sow this spring. My stick verbena reseeds and it’s such an airy plant (perennial here, it’s still green in my garden).

    I figure that mine will either look like chaos or beautiful! 🙂

    Cameron

  4. Cameron,

    Those are some great suggestions too. Your idea to plant them in certain areas is a good one. Sometimes chaos and beautiful are not mutually exclusive!

    Chandramouli,

    I hope you enjoy what you see. I hope I enjoy what I see too! Coneflowers and zinnias are almost 100% assured to be in the garden. I’m not sure a garden is complete without them, at least in North America!

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