Lindum Turf

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pepsi100

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Lindum Turf
« on: September 24, 2022, 13:13 »
I bought some wild flower turf from Lindum Turf (I saw them at the Chelsea Flower show)

When it arrived, it looked in a sorry state, all piled on a pallet, dried out and fallling apart

Anyway I watered it before putting the turf down

It never looked any better though, so we watered it each day

It did recover and now its been growing well

(Its on a patch of ground where my hens used to be)

Now I want to cut it back and leave it to over winter, in the hope it returns next year (when all these flowers die back)

I'll be using my strimmer to cut it back and everything will go into the composter (Hot Bin or the Dalek)

So any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated

This is what it looks like today

I dont know if anyone else has used them or even heard of them, but here is a link to their website

https://turf.co.uk/wildflower
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It's all about the journey, not the destination

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jezza

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Re: Lindum Turf
« Reply #1 on: September 27, 2022, 18:27 »
Hello I've heard of them,they are about 6 miles from me,I have used their ordinary turf its good stuff apartvfrombit being in metric sizes 1 square meter ,company I use to use cut square yards7foot 1p inches ×16 inches  which I was set up for ,cant get on with metric turf  I cut curves to 16 inches wide it takes a few minutes longer to lay them but worth it as I can press them down with the 16 inch wide tampe,if you have to get more ask a turf supplier to get it for you at trade prices    jezza

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pepsi100

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Re: Lindum Turf
« Reply #2 on: September 27, 2022, 23:00 »
I contacted them, I just wanted to know what to do with it after all the flowers have died back and how to cut it back (I was just going to use my strimmer)

I dont own garden shears

I have cut and pasted their reply, here it is 

"When you decide to cut it back, you need to make sure all the seed heads have dropped into the beds if some are still there just use something like a stick to gently tap the wildflower so ensure all seed heads have fallen so they will regenerate again come spring time.

You need to cut it back to about 4 inches. Make sure that all debris is removed after cutting so it doesn’t affect the wildflower growing again"


Now I am not sure about hitting everything with a stick, I did cast poppy seeds, they never showed up this year, they never mentioned using my strimmer though, so I guess that is going to be fine

Everything will be going into the Hot Bin or the Dalek, depends on which has the most room

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jezza

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Re: Lindum Turf
« Reply #3 on: October 19, 2022, 11:49 »
Hello I've mown flower seed areas with a strimmer fitted with a shedder bar that hits the seed heads before the stems are cut back,the seeds are dispersed this way ,leave the cut material a few days after mowing before removing the cut stuff to let the seeds shed if you cant find a shedder bar    jezza

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pepsi100

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Re: Lindum Turf
« Reply #4 on: October 19, 2022, 12:12 »
I cut all mine back yesterday, letting it lay a couple of days, but stirring it up every couple of hours a day or even every day
I scattered some poppy seeds, in the hope they come up next year

It will all end up in the hot bin or the Dalek bin (there is a lot of it)

I am hoping the hot bin will kill off any remaining seeds

I am actually amazed at how the Hot bin rots things down and how little comes out of it, especially the shredded cardboard and paper

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pepsi100

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Re: Lindum Turf
« Reply #5 on: May 26, 2023, 00:38 »
My Lindum Turf has really gone mad this year, its got really high, but I threw wild flower seeds and lots of poppy seeds on there, but none of them have sprouted , cant see any flowers
Can you scatter any other seeds among this turf ?
I've tried contacting Lindum, but they never reply to emails
So this is the next best place to ask

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New shoot

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Re: Lindum Turf
« Reply #6 on: May 27, 2023, 08:38 »
Poppies are more a farm field wild flower, like corn flowers.  They need a bare patch of earth to get going and were a common sight as an arable weed, but now only really seen on fields managed for them.  The National Trust and Woodland Trust have sites for this.  As far as I know they basically farm without lots of fertilisers, no pesticides or weedicides and sow into a ploughed field with a seed mix including the wild flowers.   The resultant crop is cut and the field cleared so it is barren over winter.

Grassland wildflowers are a different set of stuff.  They are managed by low level grazing to keep the lush grass down and allow the smaller species a chance to get a hold.  Some of these are lovely, like cowslips and wild orchids, but there are also things like red clover and smaller flowering grasses.  I have helped to hand pull weeds on a site like this as a volunteer, in the days when I was a Mon-Fri office worker and had every weekend free.  Now I invariably miss the dates when it goes on. We were pulling ragwort to avoid it taking over and the sheep and cattle on the grassland eating them.  The meadow was beautiful every year with orchids and it was a grand day out, but never saw a poppy there.



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pepsi100

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Re: Lindum Turf
« Reply #7 on: May 28, 2023, 18:13 »
I never knew any of that, I thought poppies just grew everywhere,

They are on all the verges round my way, even the roundabouts

They just get cut back every year, the same as I do with my turf, I've never put any fertilizer on it, just gets watered from the hose or watering can

I cut it all back, leave a couple of day, let any seed heads drop off then all the cuttings go it to my hot bin

Then any poppy seeds I have gathered up scatter them as well (for what its worth)

So the chance of me seeing any poppies there are slim to non existant ?

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New shoot

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Re: Lindum Turf
« Reply #8 on: May 28, 2023, 19:56 »
If the existing plants grew really tall I think they probably shaded out any seedlings that did make it.  Poppy seedlings are tiny and would be easily overpowered.

The pictures you posted from 2022 do show a really lush bed of plants.  I am not a wildflower expert by any means, but the general advice for wildflower seeds is start with bare and fairly poor soil in an open sunny position. 

The ones growing wild locally to you will be scattering countless millions of seeds into the verges. The soil underneath will have been there for decades, never being fertilised, watered or cared for.  Enough obviously find a little space to get going and that is why you are seeing them there.

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pepsi100

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Re: Lindum Turf
« Reply #9 on: May 29, 2023, 00:31 »
Okay, so it dont look like I'm going to get poppies growing in this turf, any suggestions where I could scatter some seeds ?
I dont have a very big garden

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New shoot

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Re: Lindum Turf
« Reply #10 on: May 29, 2023, 16:44 »
I find poppies hard to get going sometime as I have a bit of a wild cottage garden and they get swamped by other stuff.  My successes have been in funny little bits of soil where I can keep an eye on them e.g. a small patch of soil next to a path.

You could try them in a pot, but use a soil based compost like John Innes.  They want well drained, sunny conditions and just sprinkle the seeds on the soil surface.  They need light to germinate. 



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