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Thank you to Sharon Dankwardt for sharing this beautiful photo. This is a mix of our dry and moist meadow mixes.
Seed Mixes
INSTRUCTIONS FOR SOWING YOUR NATIVE SEED MIX
You'll find these instructions printed in your seed mix as well:
We’ve selected a variety of species to fill many niches: heights, root systems, seasons, and time over years. You’ll find some species are quick to grow and bloom and will fade after a few years while others will take time.
Timing
Native seeds, for the most part, need to be sown in the fall so that they can go through winter’s freezing and thawing prior to germination in the spring.
Choose the Right Site
Pick an area with conditions that match the mix. Remove vegetation by mowing, raking, or hand weeding to reduce competition. Scarify soil to depth of approximately ½”. Aim for at least 50% bare soil. If you have a larger project you can use solarization (temporarily laying plastic down) but this needs to be done months ahead of time. We urge you not to till the soil of where you are sowing unless your soil is usually compacted. Tilling is detrimental to soil structure and also brings up more weed seeds from the seed bank.
Sow the Seed Your seeds are packaged in two parts:
A. Large seeds: Mix the larger seeds with a gallon or more of a substrate, such as weed-free compost, packaged weed-free soil, or par-boiled rice hulls (we sell rice hulls in person only). The substrate helps to equally distribute and also acts as some covering for these seeds. Broadcast the seed evenly by hand over the prepared soil. You can use a rake lightly to spread the mix if that’s helpful.
B. Small seeds: These seeds will need light to germinate so should be surface sown (not covered by soil at all). Sprinkle on top of the sown area. If you prefer to use a substrate to help distribute these don’t use soil but use sand instead. This will help keep the seeds in place but the sand will allow the necessary light through. After sowing, press seeds firmly into the soil with feet, shovel back, or roller for good contact.
Watering
No watering is needed until spring. In the spring water gently and keep soil moist (not soggy) until seedlings are established.
Patience and Expectations
EXPECT WEEDS FROM THE SOIL SEED BANK. Learn to identify your sown seedlings and remove invaders over time. You will find quick growing and flowering species will dominate the first two years before slower growing species establish themselves. This is by plan. Many native plants take 2–3 years to fully establish. Don’t worry if germination seems slow or uneven—native seeds are genetically diverse and will sprout at different times, building a resilient planting.
Extra Large Areas
Optional but not required: You can mow or weed whack to 6" high every six weeks for the first year only and then every three years after that. You won't get first year blooms from annuals included in the mix but you'll favor the new species over current weeds. Depending on where your extra large site is located, you may need to mow down the site in the early spring every few years to keep any woody species in the seed bank from growing. Much of New England is naturally forest and will revert to forest over time without occasional mowing. That process naturally begins with some quick growing woody species returning.
Examples of a Meadow Project, Customer Photos
Autumn Sowing
Our seed mix was sown into bare soil, in fall of 2024. The ground was well prepared and bare of vegetation. Although you don't have to have such a prepared site, if you can have at least 50% of your soil bare it will help with germination and establishment.
Due to the time put into this site ahead of time, the project was very successful. You can find more info at the bottom of this page to learn how this customer prepared the ground.
Many thanks for Christian Berardi for these great photos of his highly successful project!
Growth Year One
If the first year of growth, the main species were black eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta) and partridge pea (Chamaecrista Fasciculata). These quick growing, and short lived, species sow themselves with abandon although they are not aggressive. As the longer to establish species (like butterflyweed, Asclepias tuberosa) take their time, the quicker species give us blooms and fill in spaces temporarily so non-native weeds don't settle in.
Growth Year Two
In the second year of growth, the black eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta) lessened a little, the partridge pea (Chamaecrista Fasciculata) stepped up especially at the end of this summer. Echinacea, bee balms, and asters started really filling in this year. More insects were spotted and plants started to settle into their roles. Next year we would expect to see more goldenrods and milkweeds.
Sowing into Dense Turf
If you are sowing into bare soil or into a patchy garden you should not need to do so much site preparation.
If you are converting a patchy lawn into a meadow, you can likely just scratch up the lawn and spread seed mixed with bagged compost on top. There are things you can do (mowing, change the pH, etc) to favor the native plants. Check out this project from NDAL.
If you are converting a dense lawn into meadow you'll have to do more prep work for success. You can cover the lawn with cardboard, add weed-free bagged compost or soil on top, and sow on top of this. OR you can dig up your lawn, OR you can "solarize" your lawn. This is best done in hot weather, after a good rain (or after a good wet down with the hose). Covering the lawn with tarp, idealling weighing down the edges. This is left for several months to kill the lawn underneath.
HAPPY SOWING!