Seeds and weeds 23 July 2020 at 12:34PM in Greenfingered MoneySaving 1 reply 61 views

bouicca21

I have collected ripe seed heads from my lovely poppies.  No idea what sort they are as inherited from mil but they are tall and red.  Do I just scatter them on the flower bed or start them off in seed trays?   Rummaging around i also found some forgotten foxglove seed heads that I must have collected at least a couple of years ago.  Are they likely to be viable and if so, same question. Scatter or put in seed trays?

My battle against rampant alkanet continues.  I think the alkanet is winning.  It smirks at attempts to dig it out and laughs at glyphosate.  I need a plan of attack.  Is it a good idea to use glyphosphate regularly - say once a week or every couple of weeks in order to weaken the plants? 

twopenny

Poppies you can scatter. It's said they can stay viable for years. They wouldn't survive transplanting as individual plants. The dried seed heads make good decorations.

Foxgloves you can do either with. They tend to be tough so some will grow. They are beiennials so will grow green probably the first year and then flower the second so it's worth scattering a second lot next year. Though they have a habit of not always following the rules.

You should only need glyphosphate once. Try topping the plant to a few leaves, scrunching it with your foot then spraying. It gives more chance for the plant to absorb the poison. Alkanet is tough indeed. I learned to live with mine then it suddenly disappeared.