Thinking about direct seeding? Here’s what you need to know for your best chance of success.
Planning and implementing a direct seeding project is not something many people get to do, so if you are about to sow native grass seed this post might be helpful. Everything I do here can be scaled up or down, from a garden bed to a project of landscape proportions, so if you want to do some direct seeding, come along on the journey and let’s get some seed in the ground!
1. Planning your project site
Before you order your seed, think about any limiting factors on your project site. Is the soil fertile? What is growing there? Are there many weeds, and if so, are they easy to eliminate? I say eliminate because that is the main goal of site preparation, the less weed seed in the soil the better your results. There are many ways to prepare a site and you might not want to wait 10 years like I have to get it right!
Tip: Site preparation is all about removing weed seed from the soil seed bank. The cleaner the site, the better your results will be.
The 600m² plot marked for sowing, part of a much larger 7.5ha site. Photo credit: Chris Findlay
The custom seed mix arrives pre-mixed with a light material that makes it easier to scatter evenly. Photo credit: Chris Findlay
2. Ordering your custom mix
Following a few conversations with Native Seeds about my project, they sent me a very comprehensive species list. I ordered a custom native grass and wildflower seed mix of 16 species of plants found locally in my project area. They suggested seeding rates to sow a 600m2 plot which was very helpful. My plot is part of a 7.5 ha area I have been preparing for 10 years, so hopefully all that time and effort pays off.
3. Choosing the sowing location
I chose an area at the bottom of a shallow valley with good topsoil.
This was my first gamble. The area can occasionally be inundated for days, risking seedling loss. But I decided it was worth it.
4. Timing your sowing and being flexible
It had been a bad season for sowing. We had a good week of rain in early Autumn followed by a couple of months of dry weather. Ideally, I would have sown before the downpour and the follow-up rain would have allowed the seedlings to grow quickly before the cold weather slowed their growth. If I had sown then, many of the seeds would have germinated, then died when the soil dried up. Luckily, my second gamble paid off when I waited and sowed in early June just before it started raining again.
Cracked soil surface after dry Autumn weather. Photo credit: Chris Findlay
Creating deep grooves to retain moisture and protect seedlings. Photo credit: Chris Findlay
5. Final weed spray and preparation for sowing
Although the surface of my plot is almost completely bare, I saw the odd weed and decided to boom spray once more before sowing. I then cultivated the soil surface using a tractor and cultivator, but small areas can be loosened up with hand tools. I chose to plough deep furrows because they trap moisture and shelter seedlings from wind and frost.
6. Sowing the seed
I scattered the seed evenly over the plot by hand. Native Seeds process the seed and add vermiculite, resulting in a non-clumping, easy flowing mix that makes it much easier to spread. Make sure to sow very lightly so you cover the whole plot. It’s always better to go over the plot more than once rather than run out of seed on your first pass. I have plenty of grazing animals like kangaroos, rabbits and hares so I fenced the plot before the seed germinates.
When sowing the seed, light, even coverage is key. Photo credit: Chris Findlay
Curious visitors while waiting for germination. Photo credit: Chris Findlay
7. Waiting, watching and weathering the winter
This Winter has been cold with many nights below freezing. This slows germination and establishment, but as the days become warmer and longer the seedlings that have germinated early will have a head start and grow faster. Hopefully there will be reliable rainfall through mid to late Spring. Now the sowing is completed I’ll wait patiently for germination and see how effective my site preparation has been.
Native Seeds have all their seed tested independently, and certificates are available on request. Sowing clean viable seed is as important to me as spraying my project site for 10 years. Gambling with weather-related problems is always a given, but every aspect of direct seeding we have control over gives us an opportunity to increase our level of success.
Good luck with your direct seeding!