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Poppies
Jul 28, 2017 12:12:46 GMT -5
Post by prairiegardens on Jul 28, 2017 12:12:46 GMT -5
When I got the lot next door it had been sprayed to a faretheewell for years so I left it to weeds and such for a couple of years to flush everything out, hopefully. The first year nothing at all grew, not even weeds. The second year weeds started to move in slowly but I also had a whole lot of poppies and dillweed. They weren't sprayed or interfered with but neither has been seen again since! They hadn't been planted in the first place so it's a puzzlement as to why they were so abundant for one year and then just vanished.
I'd like to get them back but if the volunteers didn't grow, a good chance planted seed wouldn't grow? Any thoughts on why the one year only for them? It seems odd.
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Post by diane on Jul 28, 2017 12:16:02 GMT -5
Did they go to seed?
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Poppies
Jul 28, 2017 20:55:18 GMT -5
Post by prairiegardens on Jul 28, 2017 20:55:18 GMT -5
Yes. It had open vents so they should have reseeded themselves, nobody had planted poppies in there for at least 8 years. Or dill for that matter. This year was the first year everything got rototilled so any dormant seed will likely have been buried now. We've certainly had enough cold weather in the last four years to satisfy any chill requirements.
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Poppies
Jul 29, 2017 0:06:49 GMT -5
Post by steev on Jul 29, 2017 0:06:49 GMT -5
It may be that they felt un-welcomed; plants are mysterious, rarely speaking audibly to those not in chemically altered states of receptivity.
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Poppies
Aug 22, 2017 17:27:59 GMT -5
Post by stone on Aug 22, 2017 17:27:59 GMT -5
I would like to know...
specifically what poppy did you have?
and where are you gardening?
In my experience, some poppies need tilled soil, and some won't grow if it's too hot, and some won't grow if the soil is too poor.
If you tell us what kind you had, or post a picture (thousand words, you know)... we could give you some suggestions for successful cultivation.
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Poppies
Aug 24, 2017 21:44:05 GMT -5
Post by prairiegardens on Aug 24, 2017 21:44:05 GMT -5
This is a lot I bought, several surprises on it. I'd never seen poppies grown on it, rows of potatoes if anything planted on most of it. One year she had a small row of gladioli. Otherwise it was kept tilled bare soil. It's pretty heavy clay, rock hard in the summer unless mulched even after a few years now of straw or hay mulch. This in east central Saskatchewan. High water table, an annual spring pond lasting until mid summer about 50 meters away. Anything that manages to establish does pretty well, but by far the most exuberant growth in the tilled area is volunteer raspberries and thistle.
This year for the first time since I got it, it did get tilled to mix in the remnants of the mulch into the soil, maybe encourage the earthworms a bit, but then life got in the way and most of it didn't get planted, there is a huge crop of volunteer thistle and pigweed. Trying to get both pulled before putting on a layer of straw. The garden is already anywhere from 4 to 10 inches below the outside area, a mute example of years of tillage induced bare land wind erosion.
So the poppies grew the once on untilled soil that had been sprayed for years. Saw one dill plant this year, otherwise neither has been seen since.
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Poppies
Aug 25, 2017 2:21:32 GMT -5
Post by steev on Aug 25, 2017 2:21:32 GMT -5
That does sound difficult; any organic matter you can work in or mulch will be to the good; depending on what was sprayed, it's just a matter of waiting it out. Keep it mulched against wind-erosion.
Bring in as much organic matter as you can (there is no upper limit); work it into the crappy soil as often as you can (only because too thick a layer is hard to till in); that organic matter is what the earthworms need; it will get better; eventually, you'll be able to grow your own soil amendments and reclaim that damaged area to productive use. It's a process, not a quick fix.
Think of what it will take to bring Mars to productivity; your problem will seem a walk in the park.
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Post by MikeH on Aug 25, 2017 11:08:44 GMT -5
When I got the lot next door it had been sprayed to a faretheewell for years so I left it to weeds and such for a couple of years to flush everything out, hopefully. The first year nothing at all grew, not even weeds. The second year weeds started to move in slowly but I also had a whole lot of poppies and dillweed. They weren't sprayed or interfered with but neither has been seen again since! They hadn't been planted in the first place so it's a puzzlement as to why they were so abundant for one year and then just vanished. I'd like to get them back but if the volunteers didn't grow, a good chance planted seed wouldn't grow? Any thoughts on why the one year only for them? It seems odd. Ahh, you ask questions, the answers to which are hidden behind Nature's green door. That's not as silly as it sounds. This year we drove to Jardin de Metis/Reford Gardens. Everywhere and I mean everywhere, we saw purple loosestrife. I've never ever seen it like that. Where did it come from? Was the seed sitting dormant in the ground? If so, how long? If so, what triggered it? What triggered it across such a wide area? Was it established roots sitting in the ground? If so what triggered it? What triggered it across such a wide area? What questions re: purple loosestrife will I have next year? The mysteries of the green door rules. Regards, Mike |
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Poppies
Aug 25, 2017 13:06:41 GMT -5
Post by stone on Aug 25, 2017 13:06:41 GMT -5
This is a lot I bought, several surprises on it. I'd never seen poppies grown on it... So the poppies grew the once on untilled soil that had been sprayed for years. Saw one dill plant this year, otherwise neither has been seen since. Hmmmm.... What colour were they? Suggest that you compare to a couple of likely candidates, opium poppy, and corn poppy. I just googled poppies in Saskatchewan... Seems to be a likely place to grow them... As to why they didn't return.... Likely crowded out by the other annual plants. I'd be surprised if you didn't get some poppy volunteers after you put in a vegetable garden... At my house, I usually get plenty of returns in following years after having planted them once.... |
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Poppies
Aug 25, 2017 20:13:54 GMT -5
Post by diane on Aug 25, 2017 20:13:54 GMT -5
Are you sure no one sowed poppy seeds?
There is a mystery opium poppy sower who sows them along the paths of the 85 plots in the allotment gardens where I grow my vegetables.
Then he collects the seedpods. Most of the ones are plain, but occasional ones are beautiful big doubles.
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Poppies
Aug 25, 2017 21:13:25 GMT -5
Post by steev on Aug 25, 2017 21:13:25 GMT -5
Somebody always seems to be seeding the street median strip behind the El Cerrito police station.
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Poppies
Aug 26, 2017 3:03:00 GMT -5
Post by prairiegardens on Aug 26, 2017 3:03:00 GMT -5
I thought at the time they were likely somniferum but how and why they got there... this is a very small conservative community with no obvious candidates who might be suspected of any sort of guerrilla gardening. The people across the road used to have poppies in their back yard but that's kittycorner across the street, downwind, behind a 10 foot hedge and around the corner of the house. I don't remember what colour their poppies were, these were a deep pink iirc. They've replaced their poppies with dwarf sunflowers, their poppies probably had come with the house when they bought it.
They just appeared scattered randomly across the entire garden, it's a real puzzle why none have ever showed up again, it's been 3 + years now. Maybe someone did collect the seed pods and I didn't notice. Still you'd think one or two would have lost a few seeds even so, at least some of them the vents were open. I was thinking of collecting some seed then didn't because I thought they'd selfseed. It's just a mystery.
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