[LivvyW]

If you grow a patch of something that you want to self seed, how do you not weed it out at this stage in the season.

I have a flower bed that looks a real mess, i want to weed and how and mulch, but i have a couple of things that i was hoping would self seed.

Do i just leave the bed looking grotty until the seedlings are big enough to recognise them?

What do you do?

[JayG]

I have a triangular border with the bird-bath in the middle which I designated as the summer annual flower border, just for things like marigolds, poppies, cornflowers and the other usual suspects.

Two things happened; it was a bit of a mess for a lot of the time just as you describe, and eventually the very dominant echiums took over, so I now hoe everything off that grows outside 3 oval mini-beds where I grow the flowers that I want to grow there!

Nothing to stop you saving the seeds you want to grow and doing something similar, although obviously you have to be around to collect the seeds (beats trying to recognise which ones are which and weeding/thinning them out though!) 

[Hey Jude]

Hi Livvy, I work on the theory that if I've got quite a few seedings that look the same in close proximity then they'll be self seeders, but I am refering to annuals in my 'cutting patch'. I suppose the only other way is to let them grow on for a few more weeks, but I do understand your frustration at looking at a messy bed! Jude.

[mumofstig]

I try to be in the collect seed and sow it where I want it brigade, then I can label it.
When I forget I just have to leave it till I can see what's what.........that'll be this year then    
I have loads of Aquilegia, too much cornflower(!) some foxglove seedlings that I can identify......but hope there is some verbena hidden among the rest ...we'll see

[LivvyW]

Thanks you guys, all good food for thought.

I don't think i'll be organised enough to save the seed and sow. I like the idea of letting nature sort of take its course. Verbena seems to come up so late MOS, you have to be patient.

Hoeing around 'mini beds' sounds like a good compromise.

Jude, I did find one little 2" patch with some tiny seedlings that i think may turn into something wanted.

Thanks again.

[RichardA]

I am not tidy enough to let self seeding work so I collect targetted seeds (like lupin) and propogate in the greenhouse etc. Sometimes when weeding I spot a selfseeded something or something that has layered itself or a runner and then so I dont lose it I just pot it up. Got a couple of gooseberry layers yesterday for example that will go to my son's house in due course and I have a  few of them big fancy thistles to lift from where they self seeded into a patch of gravel this weekend.
R

[Trillium]

Straight lines with a marker at each end. Anything on either side gets pulled. Simples 

[tallulah]

Good question!  Last year I was faced with this, and decided to do 2 things:

1) Plantlets I suspected were plants I wanted but wasn't sure, I dug up carefully and put in pots.  As they grew I could see what they were, and then replanted them.

2) Very difficult to identify foliage I tended to just hoik up, but left a couple of them in place to identify later.  Turned out they were self seeders, so now I know for this year.

This year, I can recognise more easily.  I'm going to be moving quite a few though as border style will be changing! 

[Thrift]

Hi Livvy, I'm between the Knockmealdown and Comeragh mountains and at the moment I'm pretty sure that the only things showing are weeds. Certainly for me, I think it's too early for my self seeders to germinate. As others have said you normally see a number of identical seedlings together and if you're lucky they're not weeds! 

[LivvyW]

Hi Thrift,

Beautiful part of the country you live in. My parents used to take us to Dungarvan on holidays when we were small. I'm quite excited that the state of the nation will 'force' us to take holidays closer to home this next couple of years. Now my daughter can enjoy more beautiful Irish countryside, just like her mam did.

Irish 'mountains' ROCK! (Thats why we live where we live!)

[Thrift]

Hi Livvy, It certainly is a beautiful country and I too look forward to seeing more of it. It beats the whole airport experience anyway which invariably spoils foreign hols ( as well as all those taxes now )    I'm about 14 miles from Dungarvan ..... did you go to Clonea ?

I expect your mountains hold back the gardening by a few weeks but it's worth it isn't it? 

[sion01]

I could see the wicklow mountains from my home in north wales when I was a kid.We could only get irish telly and radio when the weather was fine.I kept asking my mum if we were irish.She'd say no were welsh.Same difference

[andtiggertoo]

I would wait until weeds are identifyable and then pull them asap but always before flowers turn to seed. Leave anything that might be your self seeders until they look like weeds. Eventually the weeds will become less and the self seeders more.

The main things I like to let self sow are allium seeds, nigella, hellebores, verbascum and rocket. Most of these are reasonably easy to recognise. I'm currently growing some icelandic poppies that I hope will self seed.

After many years I now find it easy to identify the particular weeds that grow in my garden ( going on for a dozen of them and at least 3 of which I originally planted  being alchemilla mollis, aqueligia and a wild violet). The aqueligia are a nuisance, the roots are very tough !!