You can easily grow your own native plants from seed. It’s simple. You just need the right attitude - the patience to wait over a year to get something you can put in the ground and the expectation that you will consider any plant that germinates as a gift, not your right that it should grow. If you plant seeds in year one you should have plants to put in the ground in the fall of year two.
Here are the steps
1. gather the seed when it is ready (year one)
2. put the seeds (a few seeds in each pot, not just one) in a pot (or the ground) in some dirt and cover it with a bit of soil and press down. I use the back of my fingers
3. Make sure it is open to the natural rain and that the pot doesn’t get hot (I bury mine in bark mulch because the pots are black and this cooks the roots and dries out the plant, requires extra watering - just bury it and you don’t have these problems)
4. Water it as necessary. That is, water the dirt (the roots), not the plant. I sometimes water the bark mulch when the roots are down near the bottom of the pot when the plants get big enough.
5. Plant in the ground in the late fall (year two), around the time it starts to rain a lot. Maybe late September, October, or even November depending on the year.
6. Water immediately after planting – within 30 minutes or less so you don’t forget. This first watering right away is critical. The roots have been disturbed and need help.
7. Mulch deeply all around the plant at least 6 inches out in a circle. This is critical. I use bark mulch.
8. Water again a few times if needed.
9. You should not need to ever water again. Yes, it is hard to believe. I have the worst gravel soil, right next to the house in the rain shadow on the east but, I watered twice in the fall I planted and then never watered again. If I can do it, you can do it. My roses and mock orange are above the level of the deck, about 6 feet tall.
Soil preparation.
It is best if you can prepare the soil ahead of time and do good soil preparation. Here is my recommendation. I did this so I know it works.
Here is what I did:
· Picked out the big rocks.
· Hand ranked to loosen the gravel.
· Planted by broadcasting by hand the following
- Field peas (for nitrogen fixation) also called maple peas
- Oats – seed not feed, less weeds
- Buckwheat
· I got all this locally.
· Let it grow.
· In the fall, just before I planted, I smothered it with bark mulch.
· DO NOT TILL THE SOIL. When the plants die they leave little tunnels in the soil for air, etc. I don’t know all the good things but what does nature do? Think about it.
· I then planted within a day (I was running out of time because I waited to get some growth on the cover crop (oats, buckwheat, peas) which I had planted late in the year, before I smothered it and thus stopped the growth).
That’s it!
