Indoor Seed-Starting

 I got back to planting seeds inside.  Last post, I had cleaned up the spill from "somecat" jumping on the stack of soil-filled trays and knocking half of them over.  What a MESS!

So I took the filled ones and planted 2 trays of seeds.  "Just 2" you ask?  Yeah...

It was all the stuff I had to do before planting them.  Well, if you go to a fast-food place, they don't start preparing for the assembly-line when the store opens.  They have to have everything ready to use for the first customer, right?

I started by sorting out my plant labels (I don't make new ones every year).  First, veggies vs flowers.  Then various types of each.  Flower labels are easy.  Annuals vs perennials.  Then common ones (Marigolds and Zinnias, etc) vs "fancy" (the ones you don't find on Walmart racks).  I bundled the categories with rubber bands.

Then I had to soak some of the filled trays with water.  The dry potting soil I mix myself takes a while to get wet (really).  

Then I had to check my list of starting dates.  I am behind a couple of weeks (as usual).  So I needed to plant seeds that should have been started earliest first.  It is 4 weeks til "last frost date", so I planted the -8 weeks to -6 weeks last night.  And I planted the common ones, just to get back into practice again.

Later today, I will catch up to -4 weeks and be current again.  

After that, I will tackle the more "exotic" flowers.  Those are trickier.  Those seeds can have some real odd requirements.  Some need to be planted deeply, some need to just be sprinkled on the surface.  Some need to be planted in soaked soil and then be left dry for a week.  Some need constant water.  Some need strong light, others want none at first.  Some need cool temps to germinate, others need Summer warmth.

There is a reason those flowers are not "common", LOL!  I move trays around the house a lot.  Some get set above warm floor vents, some get set in the colder garage.  Some get direct light on the planting stand, some have a towel other them for initial darkness.  It takes some time, but it is a hobby and obsessive attention to a hobby is self-justified.  😎

There is a reward though.  The "fancy" ones are fairly cheap as seeds but expensive to buy as seedlings.  And the ones I am trying to grow are ones that support beneficial or lovely insects (butterflies, bees, ladybugs, etc) for food or egg-laying.  And many support hummers and other interesting birds (some migratory).

So tomorrow, more seed-starting.  And some are nearly impossible to grow (for an amateur like me).  I have an order of 38 pollinator and meadow flower plants due to arrive in late April.  Sometimes, you just have to buy what you can't grow.

Catching Up With The Yard, Part 2

I mentioned that grasses were taking over some areas of the yard.  And those were flowerbeds.   Well, I "got behind" this year.  I wasn't healed from the ladder fall until about June (and will never be fully, but let's say I might be about 80%).  I can do most things OK.

But I have catching up to do.  I slacked last year a bit and then couldn't do much until June this year (and I have done a LOT of cutting-to-ground-level and digging this year.  So I'm doing basic stuff this late Summer and Fall.

Two losses were the meadow bed and the pollinator bed.  The meadow bed wasn't all THAT bad.  Lot's of Queen Anne's Lace, some Black-Eyed Susans and a few surviving wildflowers.  But both failed, so it is time to start again.

I cut all the tall plants near ground level with a hedge-trimmer (worked great) and then used the mower at the lowest level.  There is probably enough fallen plant material to smother the grasses.  Or maybe not.  But as they decay, it will sure be good for the soil.

But I have a plan.  The Meadow Bed will become a mix of native and adapted flowers that do well here.  Mostly Black-Eyed Susans, Purple Coneflowers, Queen Anne's Lace, 

And some various self-sowing flowers (Tithonia, Calendula, and Butterfly Weed) that seem to attract pollinators.  

The pollinator garden will become more of a source of beneficial insect growth area.  A plastic tub will serve to host milkweed for monarch butterflies and others will help other beneficial insects.  I'll be deciding next month about what to plant for them.  There are lists on the net.

But the first thing to do is try to smother the more wild grasses that invaded the beds in the first place.  I've collected enough permeab;e black weed-smothering fabric to cover everything.  I tried solid black plactic over the Spring Bulb bed, but THAT did was create pools of rainwater for the mosquitoes.  Some pereamble it must be.  It WILL smother the grasses eventually.

I made a mistake trying to plant the specialty beds several years ago.  I SHOULD have covered them first for a year to kill the grasses that survived the rototillering.  But I was impatient.

Had I done that then, I would have 3 year old mature meadow and pollinator beds now.  You live and learn.  And such beds were new to me.

I have all THOSE above flowers growing now around the yard and in a nursery bed.  I'll be collecting the seedheads as they mature and dry to spread around in the 2 beds.  I think I will spread all the various seeds around about equally.  Some may grow better than others, and I would rather see a general spread of flowers adapted to my area all over than have barespots.  I can always diversify in a future year.

Strange Flower

I have planted a lot of flowers over the years.  I usually recognize them when I see them.  I appreciate some (like Brown-Eyed Susans) that self-sow in places they like better than where I originally planted a few a decade ago.  I have a lot of those now in clumps scaterred around a corner of the yard.

I've been planting other self-sowers in other spots (seems efficient).  If they survive like the Susans and spread around, it will be interesting.  When I plant annuals, I tend to be very geometric, but these I will let wander where they may.  In fact, I'll snip the flower heads, rub the seedheads in my hand into a bowl to separate the seeds and just scatter them everywhere I don't mow. 

If it works, great - Flowers Everywhere.  If not, no loss...

I know it works in general, because last Fall, I collected seedheads from the Pollinator Bed and scatterred them back in and added a thin layer of leaf compost to cover lightly.  I got mostly just one kind though.  I don't know what it is, but orange flowers are nice and the bees love them.

But the strange flower is this...

I've never seen that in the yard, and I've sure never planted anything like that.  It's 16" tall.  The flower lasted 2 days and I don't see another bloom coming.

I may take a walk around the neighborhood to see if someone is growing those to ask what it is.  Of course, if anyone here recognizes it, that would be good...

Garden and Yard Plantings

I mentioned the tree saplings yesterday.  But there are also veggie and flower seedlings to start inside each week (for the past month).  I started the tomatoes and peppers and cole crops weeks ago in individually set-up flats of plastic cels.  But 4 weeks ago, knowing I needed numerous flats at 7 and 4 weeks before last frost date, I set up 8.

That meant filling the cels with my self-mixed potting soil mix in flats set into sturdy plastic holders (those planting flats are thin and bendy), adding rainwater I saved in jugs (seed-starters can get obsessive) to soak the potting soil, and stacking them up on my basement potting bench. 

Hey, when it gets to actual planting day, that can save a LOT of time.  And in spite of giving individual attention to planting, assembly-line procedures make it go faster.  But there is ALWAYS something that has to be done you don't expect.

The first surprise of growing plants indoors is lack of good light.  Well, I set up a light rack years ago.  But of course, some bulbs burn out and for some reason that escapes me, they do it over Winter when they aren't even turned on!  At the end of the indoor growing season, they all worked; at the beginning of the new one, about 25% are dead.  Which is why I buy tube bulbs by the case (somewhere between 5000-6500 Kelvin and 2900+ lumens.  They last about 2 years (on 16 hours per day for a couple months) and gradually get weaker over time. 

I'll be buying LED tubes in the future.  They are 2x the cost (but coming down), last 4-5x as long, and stay at full lumens until they suddenly stop.  So, anyway, I had to replace several of the old bulbs and it can get awkward.  I seem to be a bit inept and changing them.  I suppose I need to just use more force turning them into the connections, but I'm always afraid they will break.

So I had 3 requirements (not counting changing the tubes).  First, I replanted cels where the seeds didn't germinate.  If I think I need 12 marigolds and only get 8, I replant quickly.  Seed companies are weird.  If I order celery seeds, I get 1,000.  and what do I need with 1,000 celery plants?  Yet if I order zinnias for a mass planting of 60, they put 25 seeds in a package and I need to order several.  LOL!

Second, I had to move flats around on the light stand AND 6-pack cels from flat to flat.  Some plants grow faster than others.  You want the seedlings close to the lights, so taller ones have to be together.  I keep a label in every 6-pack cel for that reason.  A flat of all the same plants only needs one thankfully.  But mostly I have mixed seedlings in a flat so they need to be moved around.

Third, I built wooden stands of various heights the size of the flats.  That allows a lot of easy height adjustment to keep the seedling near the lights.  And for other adjustment, I cut a few 2"x4" boards the width of the stands so I can raise them 2" or 4" easily.

So I had a choice (this was Monday) to plant some seeds outside or plant a lot more inside.  It was chilly and windy out; guess which I chose to do?  Yes, inside.  I'm planting a LOT of self-sowing annuals for either "just" flower or butterfly/bee/hummingbirds.  I tried scattering butterfly/bee/hummingbird (BBH) flower seeds and covering them lightly per package directions 2 years and they didn't grow much.  This year, I am starting a lot inside and will transplant them into the BBH bed in hopes of better growth.

I'm not depending on the transplants except for first year growth (and hopefully "self-sowing").  But I HAVE to have enough to attract them and get them used to coming here.  The meadow flower bed did reasonably well the first year and "OK" the next.  But I think it needs more help getting started, too.  So about half the seeds I started are for there.  Its not like BBH don't like meadow flowers too, just that they aren't as dedicated to producing what BBH need.  Though I suspect some will be good plants for caterpillars to eat. 

Still, the meadow bed is mostly for ME to enjoy looking at.  And partially, the meadow bed is so that I have something to enjoy looking at while I renovate my 25 year old perennial bed along the fence.  It has slowly lost ground (literally, LOL) to invading fosythia, poison ivy, some vine I don't recognize, old age. and changes in sunlight.

Parts of it are undisturbed and thriving (hurray for Stoke's Aster and Autumn Joy Sedum and some individual plants like Brunerra Jack Frost), but it mostly need to be ripped up and started over.  Ans this time as a cottage garden, I think.  Tall flowers (that self-sow) so thickly-growing that they shade out the weeds.

I've change my flowerbed habits several times over the years.  It's always a decision with ups abd downs.  Annual flowers need transplanting every year, but they bloom all year.  Perennials last years (for most) and decades (for some) but flower briefly.  Self-sowing annuals might be an interesting combination.  The pictures I've seen of self-sowing cottage gardens suggest that they might flower like annuals bur last for years.  I know that in a house I rented for 4 years. Four O' Clocks (annuals) reliably filled the space all the time I was there.

I may be an interesting growing season...

A Day In The Life

I wake up and the mews are all around me.  Marley is under the covers, Iza is at a corner of the bed, Ayla is on the other side pushing ito the crook of my knees.  I can't move.

So I pet them all sitting up to let them know I an GETTING up and breakfast is on the way.

The cats are fed, so I do MY morning stuff.  Get dressed, brush teeth, etc.

I walk out on the deck to see what the day is like.  If it looks bad, I go in and check The Weather Channel on the computer.  Stay on the computer for an hour...  I check Statcounter and it isn't working.  All zeroes.  It wants me to reload "code".  I look at the instructions and decide to do it later.

Turn on the TV to see what Trump has tweeted overnight.  Usual nonsense.  Heat water for my green tea.  Make a half sandwich for lunch (with celery/carrot/cucumber strips) and read the newspaper.  I'm 3 weeks behind.  Which is cool because it means I can skip the sports section, read the bad predictions in the editorials, and get straight to the comics. 

Lunch done, go out to see if the bird feeders need refilling, drop a few goldfish flakes in the small pond, stare at the 10th acre of wild blackberries that need to be cut down (someday), pull all the weeds in one framed garden bed.  Pick beans and tomatoes.

Hear a truck in the driveway.  Oh good, my electric mower arrived.  I got tired of fighting to start the gas powered one.  It for trim work.  I still have the riding mower for the bulk of the lawn. 

Drag the electric mower box into the basement.  The instructions are wretched.  Drawings are way too small.  But I'm not new at this.  I figure everything out, except there are special-fit bolts missing.  I call the company.  They want my purchase number, serial number, and model number.  I understand why the last one matters, but why the serial number?  Do they think I would spend 20 minutes on the phone to get 2 free bolts? 

Well, maybe they can track the serial number to the poor sap who boxed my mower so they can execute him and dishonor his entire family (its from China).  But the nice person says they will send my the missing bolts in 5-7 business days.  I could get them from Home Depot for $2 but it is the principle of the thing.  I will will stupidly deny myself the use of this interesting new toy until the bolts arrive.

So I go outside again.  The pollinating flower garden is a coplete failure this year.  Massive weeds.  I decide to pull them out.  After the 3rd mosquito bite in 2 minutes, I go inside and spritz my arms and neck with Deet.  The weeds are 3' feet tall, but pull out of the dry soil easily.  After those, I focus on another variety and pull those.  Last, I get the crabgrass and mock strawberry out.

There is almost nothing left.  A few Purple Coneflowers.  I'll have to start again.  This time, I will cover the bed with black plastic to smother all the weeds and hope that leaves me a new bed for next Spring.

The Meadow Bed has problems too, but at least there are flowers growing.  I'll try to pull weeds tomorrow.

I collected rainwater for a few days in large trays.  So, before the mosquitos find the water, I transfer it to smaller containers.  Those 12# kitty litter containers are good for that.  And I found a few large funnels on Amazon once that make it easy to fill them.  The funnel is the size of a  helmet.

The saved rainwater is for my 6 Venus Fly Traps.  They need pure water; tap water is poison to them.  So I have about 12 gallons of rainwater now, capped and stored in the basement.

Back in the basement, I find a large envelope on the floor.  Not addressed to me.  Huh?  Don't even recognize the address.  Must have been stuck to the lawn mower box.  Great!  Now I am obligated to return it to UPS.  I saw the truck go down my street, and went to get it to hand it over.

But OF COURSE, I had left the car outside on the driveway for the first time in several years so I could clean the garage a bit.  So I had to go back upstairs to grab the car keys and get the envelope out.  Missed him by "THIS MUCH" (shades of Maxwell Smart).    5 seconds...  And I had stood inside for 10 seconds debating whether I could flag the guy down...  He who hesitates...

So I went back inside.  A few things to do there.  I wanted to rearrange some stuff hanging on the bedroom walls and add some.  So I needed my small container of picture hanger hooks.  Which were nowhere to be found. 

They were supposed to be in the kitchen junk drawer where things like tape, batteries, flashlight bulbs, birthday candles, bag clips, etc are kept.  Not there.  So I had a mental picture of them in a small drawer of one of those storage boxes you get from hardware stores.  Checked them all.  No hangers.  I KNOW I have a lot of pictures hangers "somewhere.

I ended up reorganizing my shelves of odd nails and screws while searching for the picture hangers.  Did a good job too!  Old bags of nails are now in small boxes and labeled.  All the different toggle bolts are together in a plastic bag.  Weird stuff like old deadbolt locks (with keys) are in plastic bags.

But no picture hangers.  So I had a list of stuff that was cheaper to buy at Walmart (butter, milk, ginger ale, etc).  So off to Walmart I went.

Found almost everything on my list (they didn't have a small slotted spoon for scooping out olives from a jar).  Walmart just recently reorganized the local store.  Couldn't figure out where most stuff was.  A clerk showed me the picture hangers.  I found a nice little set of 200 pieces of various sizes.  But they were goldish-colored and I thought that might be weak aluminum.

So I went to the kitchen aisle and found a magnetic refrigerator clip.  Brought that to the picture frame hangers and learned they were steel!  So I returned the magnet clip to the proper spot, and bought the hangers.

Getting home, I decided where to put the day clock and the remote minimum/maximum thermometer display.  Picture frame hangers can be a pain.  The nail has to go in at an angle.  I measured the spot carefully and went to tap it in with a small hammer.  The nail and hanger went flying!

So I had to get down and search the carpet.  While I was there, I was looking at a doggie bed I bought for the good old days when Ayla and Iza napped together thinking "room for two" would be good.  Of course not, but the thing has sat in the bedroom ever since.

So when I removed it looking for the nail and hanger, I saw that there was a lot of cat fur bewhind the u8nused bed.  I carefully brushed it away (didn't want to suddenly stick the loose nail into my hand).  I ended up with a football-sized fluff of cat fur... 

And no nail or hanger.  Oh wait, there is the nail!  Half solved.  So I went and got a magnet and moved it around the carpet.  CLICK!  Hanger found!

THIS TIME, I tapped the nail in slightly on it's own.  THEN put the nail in the hanger and tapped it.  Worked great.

Added the min/max display below that.  Now I have a whole bedroom wall to add other stuff to.  And that is a project for another day.

Because it was time for dinner.  Mine.  Don't worry, the Mews got 3 meals during this whole day, and 2 or 3 more coming.  Since I was pretty worn out from the day, I kept it simple.  Thawed out a BBQ chicken thigh, made a quick tossed salad, heated up some thawed cooked red beets, and tossed an ear of corn in the M/W for 3 minutes.  Dessert was mixed chopped fresh fruit.

A typical day...



In the pouring rain...  Yes I had an umbrella. 
But I had left the 

Random Thoughts

Someome who emails monthly hasn't for 3 months.  I checked the obituary pages.  Not there.

My sister will be visiting in a few months, lots of work to do.  I have plaster over spots where electrical work was done 2 years ago.  I better get at that.  And some painting to do.

It really messed me up having the old Mac Mini computer filled up last month AND Verizon shifting my email to AOL at the same time.  Bought a 4x good new Mac.  Took 40 hours in March not getting it working with the Mac Mail.  And then suddenly, one of their techs DID.  Hurray, and I deserved it.

A shipment of canned cat food arrived half destroyed so badly I took pictures and complained.  The shipper sent a new full shipment.  The replacement shipment came surrounded by bubble-wrap.  Smart people.  There were still a few dented cans, but not actually damaged.  Good.  They keep my business.

My old M/W finally died.  The replacement arced twice.  Burned a black hole right through a sweet potato.  No way I would tolerate THAT.  They accepted a return and I bought a lower-powered one.   Well, I M/W small amounts sometimes.  So it is slower but safer.

I planted 25 Astilbe flower roots in the front yard.  They are supposed to be deer-resistant.  The first night, some deer came by and pulled 2 up.  Deer don't chew, they grab leaves and pull.  So I replanted the 2.  They didn't actually eat them.  I may sit out hidden by my my front steps with my crossbow.  A few deer running around with a bolt in their flanks should discourage them from feeding here.  And if one dies on the front lawn, I know how to butcher one.

But there are sprays that activate when something approaches.  I might try that too.  Disassembling a deer takes some time and I don't need the meat.

Speaking of deer, there are actually some plants they don't like.  I'm collecting some for the front yard.   There are so many deer here, they are worse than rabbits and groundhogs combined.  A solution would be wolves, but who wants to face a wolf when you take out the trash at night?  I prefer to deal with herbivores.

My daffodils are at their peak.

I have some of 2 types planted last year and some of those planted new last Fall.  They didn't all bloom at the same time this year.  Next year they will.  And I'll add more this coming Fall.  The tulips and hyacinths didn't work out even protected in cages (from voles).  I think I will just cover the yard in daffodils.  They are immune to voles (toxic to rodents).

I played one of my best online chess games the other night.  The other player had beat me 2 times.  He is better.  But that game had such a great ending.  He even complimented me on it.  When you have it, you have it.  One grandmaster once said "Sometimes, I forget the opponent has good ideas too".   I won the next 3 games.

I have a windowsill planter full of baby bok choy.  I harvest leaves at a time.  None of those grocery store rust-infested junk.  And I have 6 celery plants I harvest leaves from too.  Only way to go.

I'm thrilled baseball season has started again.  I visit my cat friends more often then.  Football and basketball are too busy.  Baseball gives me time.

I planted wildflower seeds in a bed yesterday.  I spread compost out a 1/2" deep, scattered the large seeds on tip, then spread 1/8" compost around and scatterred small seeds over that.  That wasn't exactly the instructions, but it matched what  I read about the plants online.  I hope for serious wildflower growth.  And some perennial wildflowers I planted last year seem to be coming up.  I know my regular yard weeds and these aren't those.

Spring!

I am glad to say that Spring seems to finally be here for real.  Today was in the 70s and the long range forecast suggests that even the low temps will be in the 40s.  So I can safely get on with planting.

The earliest daffodils are all flower-down from stem freeze, but the new wave of flowers are opening.  There should be some good pictures soon.  The hyacinths that were completely absent last year (planted Fall 2015) are showing small flowers this year.  I am relieved they are alive at all.  I'll hope for a better show next year.  The tulips are emerging but not blooming yet.

I planted 25 astilbes in a re-dug bed last month.  I assume the cold isn't a problem for them since they a perennials.  I have another 25 for an island I created around a tree and 3' rock on the front yard.  Astilbes will appreciate the half shade AND they are listed as being deer-resistant, which matters in the front.  The deer ate most of my hostas last year so I am moving the survivors to the fenced-in back yard.  There are 2 kinds on large crinkly-leaved hostas the deer never touched so I will divide them into 1/4s and fill in the empty spots.  I have been tending toward more of the same plants in large masses, so that works too.

For too many years, I have planted "6 of this" "6 of those" etc.  Which is nice from 5' away, but looks rather jumbled from further away sort of like a pile of mixed tiles on a table.  I'm going for at least 25 sq ft of  the same plants for most of the beds.

EXCEPT I'm also going "cottage garden" along the 75'x 8' bed along the fence.  That should become a riot of self-sowing color of various height I hope!  And if I'm lucky, they should grow tall and thick enough to shade out the runner grass that showed up about 5 years ago and seems impossible to eliminate by digging them out.

Along with the new astilbe bed and the fence bed, I have 3 edged areas in the middle of the back yard.  One is a wildflower bed, one is for an invasive lychamistra, and one is for mostly spring bulbs where I am also planting dwarf butterfly bushes, dwarf roses, yuccas, and annuals that don't need much water (spring bulbs like dry summers).

The wildflower bed was initially planted last year.  I tilled the soil loosely and gaily scatterred seeds from a "wildflower" packet around.  I didn't get much.  So this year I bought specific wildflowers suited to partial shade and poor soil.  Some I planted inside in flats so that I know I have something growing to transplant randomly.  The rest I'll scatter and hope that Nature lets them grow.

And I'm cheating a bit.  I also bought a packet each for Bees, Hummingbirds, and Butterflys.  It might be a very odd-looking bed (about 30' x 15').

The lychimastra (I simply CANNOT ever remember how to spell that) bed is only 10' diameter.  But it is easy to mow around so they can't spread.  Indeed, I thought I killed them 2 years ago, but they keep coming back ("invasive" right, have to remember that).  I admire the purple foliage and the gold flowers are nice.  I just need to remember to shear off the dying flowers before the seeds spread.  Hedge trimmers are good for that.

The spring bulb edged bed is my real hope.  IF they ever grow.  Last year, the hyacinths never came up at all but have (weakly) this year.  This year 1/2 the daffodil flowers froze.  The tulips are looking promising.  And it is the closest bed to the deck.  I have the sunflower seed feeder in the center and there is always lots of activity there.  The birds go through enough seeds that the shells are pretty good mulch.  I might change the pole the feeder is on from an in-ground pole to a free-standing one I can move around to mulch other spots.

This is last year in April.  It will look like this soon, but I have 3x the daffodils and the tulips have multiplied a bit and I have gotten rid up most of the weeds...

I need to mark the spots where the existing tulips are (with cardboard pinned down with tent stakes) after the leaves are dying back so I know where to plant more between them this coming Fall. 

The finches are starting to color up.  I see slightly more gold on the males each day.  Boy can those guys EAT!  I have 2 tube feeders of Nyger seed and I have to refill them every day (about a qt/liter of seeds).  I buy the stuff in 50# bags and fill up qt bottles I've saved and store them in the basement freezer.  I order it from a local home project store, but sometimes it is available from Amazon too.  The 50# cost $75 which is $1.50 per pound; a lot better than the $2 to $2.50 per pound the small bags cost in local stores.

This is from April last year.  They aren't this gold yet, but will be soon.  I can't wait to see them like this again.  And it is good to know I'm helping them get there.  I have no doubt that I have the healthiest, brightest goldfinches in my area!

It is hard to count them, as they flutter around and fuss over perches, but I probably have at least 2 dozen.  I have about a dozen resident cardinals, a vague number of purple finches, a few woodpeckers, some doves, some titmice, some sparrows and and a few random other visitors at the black oil sunflower feeder.  The goldfinches eat more weight in seed than all the birds eating the sunflower seeds.

I watch them using a target range spotter-scope on a tripod.  That's a lot easier trying to hold binoculars in my trembley hands (DDT exposure as a teen, I suspect).  I should buy a serious camera for taking pictures of the birds too.

Another Nice Day Outside

I can't believe the mild weather we are having here.  It reached 70F here and in generally forecast to stay in the upper 50s to low 70s for about 10 days, never dropping below freezing.  This is weird.  It's MID- FEBRUARY!  There should be snow on the ground and daffodils huddled just below the surface waitibg fir decent weather so they can emerge in March.

Well, I'll take advantage of the nice weather!  Today, I spread compost over the wildflower bed.  Wildflowers are new to me, and as they are generally self-sowing (hence "wildflower").  Apparently all, the seeds want is want is some soft soil to land on so they can get sunlight to germinate and grow. 

I spread compost thinly today.  It went so well, I think I will spread more tomorrow.  I have had this neat gadget for that for 25 years and seldom used it.  It is a wire mesh barrel on a handle.  You fill it with compost and pull it around.  It distributes the compost evenly and thinly.

I could have dumped compost on the new wildflower bed and raked it around, I could have dumped compost on the new wildflower bed and raked it around,


I could have dumped compost on the new wildflower bed and raked it around,  but there are some wildflowers from last years seeds and I didn't want to injure them.  The thin layer of of compost spread by this just rolls over them.  I can add more, I think.

Then I'll spread the seeds with a handheld spreader.

You mix up the small amount of seeds with sand or vermiculite of bulk to help with even distribution. 

I'm cheating a bit.  I also bought separate seed mixes for bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.  Those won't last many years but will get things started faster and shade out the grassy weeds.