The reason why I love cottage wildflowers is because they’re easy to grow and require next to no time to look after. Which is perfect for me and most people because I want a big reward for little effort. This guide runs through how to grow a cottage wildflower garden.
Let’s kick things off with some pretty pictures of popular cottage wildflowers.
Some popular cottage wildflowers
Getting ready to sow
The flowers in our cottage wildflower mix prefer to have full sun so you’re going to want to pick a spot where they’ll get at least 6 hours per day.
The cottage wildflower mix prefers to have well drained soil. I’m not going to lie, I have thrown them on rocks around a tree and put dirt on it and still got them to grow. But let’s keep it focused on what you should do. You can use almost any potting mix or garden bed mix. If you’re not sure if you have well draining soil, try watering it for a bit with a hose in shower mode and if the soil puddles quickly, it’s not well draining.
If you’re strapped for space, cottage wildflowers can be grown in pots, planters or trays. Just avoid over-seeding and when the seeds hit around 15cm tall, it’s a good idea to remove a few to avoid overcrowding. For reference, you generally want 1-2 grams of seeds per large pot.
How to sow cottage wildflower seeds
You can sow the cottage wildflower mix however you want, as long as ‘whatever you want’ is direct or raising seedlings.
Some things you’ll need before you start:
- Seeds (obviously)
- Gloves (if you want. I don’t)
- Little spade
- Watering head with mist or a spray bottle
Direct Sowing
- The first thing to do is prepare your soil but we already touched on that above.
- Lightly sprinkle the required amount of seeds over the area. Remember you need 2-3 grams per square metre. A help trick is to mix your seeds with sand before for a more even spread.
- Add a thin layer, 1 to 2 cm, of soil on top of the seeds.
- Then using a spray bottle or mister, water the seeds but stop before the water starts to puddle.
Raising seedlings
- Fill the cells up with seed raising soil and then remove the excess by scraping something flat across the top. You want to leave 1 cm of space at the top to account for water.
- Poke a shallow hole in each cell. Generally, you only want the hole to be double the height of the seed.
- Put a seed in each of the holes and then cover with soil.
- Water gently with a mister. Stopping before the water puddles on the soil.
How to care for cottage wildflowers
A cottage wildflower garden is low maintenance and almost looks after itself.
When the flowers are young they will need you to water them. Generally the rule is when the soil looks dry it’s time to water. This is super important for the first six months. You’ll also need to regularly water during the summer months.
You’ll also need to watch for overcrowding. When you’re sowing your seeds, you’re adding anywhere between 400 - 600 seeds per gram. So like heaps. As they start to grow, you’ll need to remove a few.
One other thing to do is deadheading and pruning. Deadheading is when you remove old flowers to encourage new ones.
