11801 Lunigiana Garden centers

Hello wise people who are lucky enough to live in Italy, do I sound jealous?

We have an acre of mostly meadow that I would like to sow lots of poppy seeds and corn flower seeds and any others in to bring a bit more life into it and attract butterflies etc.
Does anyone know if it is possible. to sow seeds into existing meadow as all instructions talk about starting with new soil.
Also can anyone in the Lunigiana area, recommend a garden center that is inexpensive and able to deliver a large order to the Bagnone area as we are hoping o get a job lot of plantings done when we visit this Easter.

Also with reference to the wood thread what kind of trees are grown to provide fast stuffa wood as we may plant some for later on. We are on the edge of a bosco and some odd bits fall in to our garden but not enough.

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Bianca

Category
Gardening & Agriculture

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 03/03/2009 - 03:57

Poppies and corflowers are annuals. That means that they grow from seed every year, and in order for that to happen the earth needs to be freshly turned to a) prevent perennial plants from crowding out the annuals b)cover the seeds to encourage germination.
That's why a field that is ploughed for the first time in ages and not weedkillered will become a forest of red in its first year. However after that the perennials will take over and annuals will quickly disappear
If it's a wildflower meadow you're after, then they work best if the soil itself is not too fertile (encourages rampant species which squeeze out the "goodies" who are adapted to poor soils without much competition), and you will need a mowing regime of once or twice a year. Time of mowing depends on whether you want a spring flowering meadow or an autumn one, since cutting plants before they can set seed will mean they don't survive for long.
And you could set aside a patch for your "cornfield annuals" - poppies, cornflowers, corn marigold, corncockle and the like, which would need to be turned every year.
But don't be surprised if your Italian neighbours give you quizzical looks, and I would be a bit careful about introducing "weeds" into an arable area - your neighbours might not be happy with an introduced weed invasion.

Oh - and the seeds of corncockle (an endangered species) are quite poisinous!
There's a blog on gardening somewhere in teh forum - I'll come back with its coordinates shortly

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 03/03/2009 - 04:01

Here's the blog
[url=http://giardinoumbro.blogspot.com/]Giardino in Umbria[/url]
And Yvonne is also a member of the gardening group here on this very Forum......

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 03/03/2009 - 06:23

Hi Bianca - hope you are enjoying your new place:smile:

What sort of plants are you looking for and what do you call a large order - i have some ideas but would rather respond around specifics.

Would you consider hiring a van?

Do you want an instant solution or small plants to grow on?

Do you want your ruler back still?:bigergrin: