Sometimes, the area is too large to think in terms of perennials and, for those occasions, I have several sacks of flower seeds to use. I didn't buy any of them. They are the seeds I save each year from my annuals. I choose those that are easiest to grow and most readily reseed. I especially like the cottage garden type flowers like cosmos, cleome, upright verbenas, species marigolds, sunflowers, and salvias. As I cut off the seed heads in late summer, I drop them into paper bags labelled "pastel annuals" and "hot colored annuals". When I have projects that need seeds to cover a lot of ground, I use these. After they are well dried, roll the seed heads between your palms to release the seeds into the bag and drop the remains back in. Fold the top shut and shake it hard. Then open it, remove the spent flower heads and the remaining seeds can be stored in an airtight container. Now when you have a vacant lot or other large area that is going to be neglected for the summer, spread your annual seeds around there. If I need to make what I have go farther than I think it will, I mix the seeds with clean sand and spread the whole thing. You aren't going to prevent the weeds in this case, but the flowering annuals will at least brighten the area for that season. If they do well, they will add their increase to the soil seed bank and then the weeds will have company each year. If you are truly dedicated, you can take a few minutes each week, from midsummer on, to stop by your Guerilla Garden and snip seed heads off the weeds to prevent them from adding to the bank. If you walk a dog, your buddy will enjoy sniffing around while you snip. Dogs usually have to keep to the sidewalk and miss a lot of good sniffing.
There is a house in my neighborhood that lets the area that borders the alley and consists of more than 100 square feet of bare earth go completely. It has, this year grown up mostly in thistles. Unfortunately, this area is directly across the alley from me. When thistledown (lovely word for a big problem) begins to fly about, my garden gets a big dose of the seed. Another neighbor and I spent a scratchy, but cheerful half hour cutting the buds and immature seed pods off the crop a couple of weeks ago. This area is marked in my field book for a guerilla campaign next spring.
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Mary Henry's Northern Gardening topic, please visit the Discussions page.