Wild Gardening

[BDutch]

My chickens eat seeds too. Tried to grow a mixture of grasses and wild flowers. But the chickens discovered it shortly after I broadcasted them.

Flowers and herbs they like, get eaten and don't have a good chance to survive. when I want to grow young berry bushes I have to put hwc around for 2 years.

But I do have wild cherry , oak trees , ash, maple leaf, haw thorn and cotoneaster in my garden from spontaneous sprouting.

 

[hysop]

I like flowers without needing any purpose for them. My honeybees also like flowers and make the most awesome honey there is.

I don't consider grasshoppers to be a good kind of bug.

I have not noticed my poultry messing with flowers until they have produced seeds at which time they will harvest the seeds.

Oh I see grasshoppers as good because they are good snacks for my chickens haha not because they help with the garden.

And beautiful flowers don’t need a reason or purpose except pleasing to the eye.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Flowers will attract beneficial insects as well as give them a place to live and hide. Sometimes they also will attract the harmful bugs away from crop plants. Marigolds are said to help keep rabbits out of the garden...

One thing with the chaos garden video that my DH showed me was the awe the guys had for the vast array of insects that were living in there. And they were still getting outrageous harvests from what was planted. They said it was just fun to go out there and wade through the growth and see what they could find to harvest on any given day.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Menard's has seeds on sale for 10 cents a pack. I buy a bunch of the wildflowers, mix them all together and broadcast them in areas that I water. If they come up, I get bonus flowers. If they don't come up, I am only out a couple of dollars.

I wish we had a Menard's here!

Are the flowers just to look pretty or do they serve a purpose? I want to plant flowers but my husband says they attract bugs. But I would think it also attract the good kind of insects/critters like bees and grasshoppers or something.

Do chickens normally mess with flowers or just crops?

Flowers attract all bugs, feeds the good bugs and even when you attract bad bugs it will in turn attract more predatory bugs that eat the bad bugs, it's a balance. If you don't spray with pesticides the good bugs will come. Flowers can actually act as trap crops sometimes too and keep the pests off of your vegetables.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Flowers will attract beneficial insects as well as give them a place to live and hide. Sometimes they also will attract the harmful bugs away from crop plants. Marigolds are said to help keep rabbits out of the garden...

One thing with the chaos garden video that my DH showed me was the awe the guys had for the vast array of insects that were living in there. And they were still getting outrageous harvests from what was planted. They said it was just fun to go out there and wade through the growth and see what they could find to harvest on any given day.

You explained this much better than I did, I just didn't read your post until after I commented. lol

 

[hysop]

Flowers attract all bugs, feeds the good bugs and even when you attract bad bugs it will in turn attract more predatory bugs that eat the bad bugs, it's a balance. If you don't spray with pesticides the good bugs will come. Flowers can actually act as trap crops sometimes too and keep the pests off of your vegetables.

Thanks! I’ll keep that in mind. I don’t like using pesticides or strong chemicals because of my chickens and other birds. I rather call it a loss than risk killing good bugs or for my birds to eat chemicals. But I never thought of planting flowers as a great alternative to pesticides. I knew about sunflowers but not other flowers. I shall start doing some research!!