A field of wildflowers can bring natural beauty to your landscaping with minimal time and attention. A wildflower garden is optimal for those with a large amount of ground to cover, and those that prefer to opt out of a high maintenance, expensive garden scheme. However, a wildflower garden design requires a bit more attention and planning at the beginning of the process in order to have maintenance-free blooms to enjoy for years.
Soil Preparation
The first step in planning your design is to determine where your garden will be. Many wildflowers do best in the sun so make sure your garden will be in a sunlit area. When first establishing flowers and plants, they will need additional watering. Make sure the area you establish for your garden is free of weeds before you begin planting. Clear the area of weeds by hand weeding, solarization, or spraying an herbicide on the area. Solarization involves covering the area with clear plastic sheeting and leaving for a few weeks so the sun will bake the weed growth away.
Planting Seeds
Once the area is weed-free, begin by tilling the soil to a depth of approximately three inches. If you remove lots of weeds, spray an herbicide to ensure any weed seeds exposed through the tilling process are destroyed. Rake over the area to prepare it for the seed spreading. Leaving the grooves from the rake in the ground will create natural areas for seeds to settle. As a gauge for seeding, keep in mind that four pounds of seed will cover about an acre of ground. Try mixing the seed with sand for more even spreading. Once seeded, rake the area once more and keep the ground moist until the seedlings are a few inches in height.
Complete your landscaping with a beautiful design. Prepare the soil and plant your seeds properly so you can enjoy your wildflower garden for years.