Does anyone grow grass and weeds?

Spaniel

Spaniel

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Which soil/compost is best to use? Where do you buy the seeds?

Looking to attempt grass, dandelion and plantain.
 
If you're planning to grow them in a container, then potting soil will be your best choice. Grass seed should be easy to buy, though generally in large quantities; you'll want to read the bags to make sure you're getting the mix/species you want. You could also pluck a seed head if there's some unmowed grass around; it's ripe when the spike opens up and usually starts turning less green.

For dandelion and plantain seeds, the easiest is probably to pluck a seed head off and existing plant ... public places won't care if you take a dandelion seed head and bag it; they're not cultivating them, and the same goes for plantain, though the ripe seed spikes aren't quite as easy to spot from a distance as the waving white puffs. You may also be able to get both sold as salad greens, though dandelion is probably more common than plantain.
 
Princess Dustmop said:
If you're planning to grow them in a container, then potting soil will be your best choice. Grass seed should be easy to buy, though generally in large quantities; you'll want to read the bags to make sure you're getting the mix/species you want. You could also pluck a seed head if there's some unmowed grass around; it's ripe when the spike opens up and usually starts turning less green.

For dandelion and plantain seeds, the easiest is probably to pluck a seed head off and existing plant ... public places won't care if you take a dandelion seed head and bag it; they're not cultivating them, and the same goes for plantain, though the ripe seed spikes aren't quite as easy to spot from a distance as the waving white puffs. You may also be able to get both sold as salad greens, though dandelion is probably more common than plantain.
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Thank you, that’s really helpful.

We actually have it all growing in the garden but it’s looking a bit unhealthy now.

I didn’t know you could pick the seed heads off so I’ll definitely try that.
 
Dandelion seeds, as you probably know, will be those big round puffs when ripe; plantain seeds spikes will turn brown when ripe, instead of green, and grass seed stalks will open up, so instead of being slender and tight together at the top, there will be open branching where the seed is formed, at which point it will turn brown and fall off ... you obviously want to catch it before the falling off point, but not too early or it may not be ripe.
 
I have dandelions that just seed themselves around the garden, when they look tired and on the way out I cut all the leaves off, leave the stump and they sprout again. Plantain I brought in by picking some seed heads on my walk a few years ago and sprinkling them in the veg patch. We also have sow thistle which they love, that just arrived by itself. I buy grass seed from whichever shop has it cheapest, B&Q, The Range, Wilko etc and grow in compost in large pots and planters to supplement the lawn during winter when growth slows down. We are lucky here that the grass doesn't stop growing altogether, especially the pots pulled in close to the house. It's best to buy plain grass seed, I wouldn't go for anything with growth accelerators.
 
Looks like I’ve missed the dandelions but there are plantain stalks and long grass stalks/seeds :tu:
 
There's always more dandelions - it's just that they get strimmed a lot by councils before the seed heads can set. In the meadow near us it's tricky to see them at the mo because the grass is so long it hides them but if we dig down they're still there!
 
Spaniel said:
Which soil/compost is best to use? Where do you buy the seeds?

Looking to attempt grass, dandelion and plantain.
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Plantain seeds are easy enough to get for free (but you can buy them)
I have added a photo of what the seeds heads look like, pick some and you can just sprinkle them around where you want or plant induivually

You can buy dandilon seeds but I wouldent reccomend it as the ones I got turned out to be mostly sow thistle, as with plantain I reccomend collecting seeds yourself

In terms of compost any peat free multi purpose compost will be fine
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piggieminder said:
I have dandelions that just seed themselves around the garden, when they look tired and on the way out I cut all the leaves off, leave the stump and they sprout again. Plantain I brought in by picking some seed heads on my walk a few years ago and sprinkling them in the veg patch. We also have sow thistle which they love, that just arrived by itself. I buy grass seed from whichever shop has it cheapest, B&Q, The Range, Wilko etc and grow in compost in large pots and planters to supplement the lawn during winter when growth slows down. We are lucky here that the grass doesn't stop growing altogether, especially the pots pulled in close to the house. It's best to buy plain grass seed, I wouldn't go for anything with growth accelerators.
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where do you buy your compost please!
 
Yes nothing special, usually the cheapest. Wilko's good, I sometimes get it there as they do small bags that fit in my shopping trolley.
 
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