How to create a Pollinator Patch
Your garden or any part of your domestic curtilage can be transformed into a fabulous colourful Pollinator Patch with colour, flowers and it will be visited by butterflies, bees and other pollinators. You don’t need much space – because seeds can be sown in pots and containers, as well as in open soil. You’ll see plenty of examples on social media of people that have used containers such as an old bath, a sink, a wheelbarrow or an old boat to bring colour and wildlife to even the most urban of environments.
You will need 2-3g of seed for each square meter, so bear this in mind when choosing where to sow your seeds.
Remember that most flowers do best in sunshine, so try to avoid deeply shaded areas. If that’s all you’ve got send us a message, we will be able to help.
Be thoughtful: Always have the landowners permission before you sow your flower seeds. Even an unloved, messy old plot will be owned by someone so it’s best not to risk putting in time and effort until you’ve got permission.
When to sow: Anytime from April to August.
If your chosen space is grass or lawn: you will need to remove the grass with a spade and rake the soil where your seeds can be sown. You could even create a special shape to sow – we like a circle or curved ellipse.
Our How to Guide
- Remove weeds so the flowers don’t have any competition, and remove any large stones.
- Rake the soil so it’s as fine and crumbly as you can get
- Ideally, leave your prepared soil for about two weeks so any dormant weeds or grasses that come to life can be removed before you sow your seeds.
- Mix your seeds with some dry soil, sand or flour in a dry container and then scatter the mixture over the soil by hand – a little at a time for an even spread.
- Rake the soil again – gently – to just cover the seeds with a very thin layer (1mm) of fine crumbly soil. Seeds need sunlight, so be careful not to bury them too deep or they won’t grow.
- Then either walk over the surface or tamp the soil down with the back of a spade or rake, this will stop the birds eating the seeds.
- Water very gently using a watering can, taking care not to wash your seeds away.
- Label the area with your plant markers and don’t forget to include the sowing date.
After sowing your seeds
Your seeds should germinate within a couple of weeks of being sown, depending on the weather. Be patient and keep looking out for the tiny green shoots of life.
Water your seedlings regularly after sowing and while the seedlings are establishing. Ideally water your freshly sown space twice a week and more frequently in hot weather.
To protect wildflowers already growing in the countryside from cross-pollination with the flowers in your seed kit, please make sure that you don’t sow seeds in or near open countryside or near nature reserves.
You can get lots more hints and tips from https://growwild.kew.org or ask us
Thanks to generous local businesses, we provide seed packets to primary school children each spring and at our events
Or we can advise on the best type of seeds for your needs – and can supply insecticide-free, organically grown seeds from the UK. We choose organic, pesticide free, seeds grown in the UK.
We carefully vet our suppliers and only ever bring in seeds of flowers that are already recorded in Guernsey – either native species or garden flowers that are already here and have not shown any invasive tendencies
