Rewilding My Lot

For economy and to cover ground quickly next spring, I dispersed a lot of native flower seeds in the fall. Most of them are in the back yard, but there are also some in the front. I have no idea which of those seeds will germinate most readily and successfully, so what the garden does in spring will surprise me as much as everyone else!

When the ground is soft enough to weed gently, I am pulling out grass from the flower areas and non-grasses from the grass areas. Apart from that, I am pretty much letting everything else grow for now — even weeds are holding the soil down and I want to minimize disruption of seeds that are quietly germinating.

Once I can positively identify plants, which in many cases might have to wait until they flower, then I can decide whether they stay or go. Some of the “volunteer plants” will be welcome, some will not.

In the back yard, I made two different seed mixes for two distinct areas separated by height — one shorter, one taller. I think that I can see a difference in what is growing in the two areas, which suggests that at least some seeds are germinating already.