Gardening With Natives     Zone Map   
 Land Contouring     Soil Protection & Improvements   
 Stratify & Scarify   

Soil Preparation

• Good soil is a great boon. It holds water and allows young roots to grow more easily.
  
• Start with a weed free area. Only rototill if your soil is hard packed like a parking lot. Most importantly don't till if you live on farm land - you have hundreds of weed seeds that will come to the surface, receive light and water and spring into competition with all you plant.
  
• If you must till, wait before sowing your seed. Water and allow the first flush of weeds to appear. Remove those weeds by tilling again and continue the cycle, till, water, weed, till, water, weed, until you've got those weeds up and out. Now you can sow your seed!
  
• In a small area hoe or hand weed to remove existing vegetation. Be sure to remove any and all roots, not just chop them up.
  
• Compost, organic fertilizer, or any organic material gives nutrient-poor soils, typical of the Southwest, a boost. Add them individually or in combination for extra richness.

When to Plant

• In cold winter areas, sow annuals in spring after danger of frost has past. You can also plant them in the fall, after nights turn colder (the end of September in Santa Fe) for germination the following spring. In warm winter areas, you can sow annuals anytime.
  
• Unless noted otherwise, the perennials we offer require no special treatment to induce germination. Sow anytime up to six weeks before your first frost, or in late fall, when night temperatures drop, for germination next spring.
  
• Warm-season grasses are green and growing during the hottest time of the year, turning dormant and beige when it gets cooler. They may be planted at any time, except the six weeks before fall's first killing frost. The soil must be warm for them to germinate. Take advantage of the rainy season in your area by planting with nature.
  
• Cool-season grasses grow in the spring and fall when it is cool, and go dormant in the summer months unless they receive extra water to keep them green. For best germination, plant them when the days and nights are cool.

Sowing

• Don't sow too much seed in too small an area.
  
• Hand broadcast the seed over the area to be seeded. Since it is hard to evenly distribute a small amount of seed over a large area, you may wish to mix seed with sand or organic material to increase the volume you are spreading. For best coverage, go over the area twice, North/South then East/West.
  
• Rake to cover the seed with soil to a depth of 1/4" to 1/2". Use topsoil, or if your soil is low in organic matter, cover with a mixture of well-composted manure or other compost and sand. Covering the seed is critical so that it does not blow away, get eaten or dry out.
  
• For slopes, stamp out contour lines perpendicular to the hillside to slow erosion.

Mulching

• Don't sow your seed unless you are ready to mulch. Many seeds have built in feathers specially made to waft them into your neighbor's yard.
• Mulch helps keep your soil moist and can add nutrients, depending on what you use. Soil is the best mulch, but any organic material helps.
• Look around your property and neighborhood for possibilities. Do you or your neighbor have a bountiful field of native wildflowers or grasses? Native hay makes an excellent mulch. Other possibilities are leaves, weed-free straw, or aged sawdust. (Be careful of straw contaminated with deep-rooted field crops like alfalfa - they can take over your garden or fields.) We often use old cloth (sheets or burlap bags) on top of the soil in the newly-seeded areas. Cloth holds moisture on the surface and provides even shade for emerging seedlings.
• If you do mulch, make sure the mulch is not too heavy. Compacted straw can inhibit seedling emergence. If you use cloth or burlap, remove it after 2-3 weeks so that the seedlings don't become spindly and white beneath it.
  
• A binder will help keep your seed, soil and mulch in place (especially on steep slopes and in windy areas). Sprinkle the binder at a rate of 1-2 lbs.. per 1,000 sq.. ft. over the soil and the mulch. On steep slopes, more binder may helpful.

Watering

• Water at least 2 times a day for the first 3 weeks. Be sure to keep the seedbed damp. If the seedlings dry out, they die. Water once a day for the next 3 weeks.
  
• After the initial 6 weeks, water deeply 2 times a week for a month, then once a week for another month, then twice monthly until first frost (certain cool-season grasses may require much more water); make appropriate adjustments for the weather and other conditions.
  
• After establishment, only occasional watering is needed during dry spells.
  
• Obviously these watering recommendations are for dry times. If you sow during the summer rains or other wet periods, nature will do the work better than we know how.

Weeding

• Weeds and feuds grow quickly. When weed seeds appear, pull them out before they get too big. Otherwise a seemingly small problem will take over your native planting. With our hard work, we are attempting to jump over years of successional weed growth to a stable climax grassland or meadow.
  
• Once established, your lawn or meadow should require only minimal hand weeding.

Mowing

• Mowing stimulates tillering (vegetative growth) of grasses and helps control weeds by removing their seed heads before the seeds mature.
  
• Do not cut newly sown grasses (especially bunchgrasses) shorter than 4" high.
  
• Wait to mow a wildflower meadow until after the flowers have all bloomed and set seed.

© Entire contents of this website copyright 1998-2002, Plants of the Southwest, Santa Fe,
NM 87501, USA. All rights reserved. Reproduction by any means strictly prohibited.