11mo ago

Request for advice on how to get started

I'm in the Piedmont (South-east US) region with a hardiness zone of 8a. I have a large area of turf grass, and I want to plant native plants, attract butterflies, native insects, fireflies, all of it. I'm looking for trees, shrubs, small plants, anything would be nice to plant.

Where do I start? I see a lot of different species online, but where can I get seeds for them to plant? Is planting from seeds a viable option for a beginner?

Any help would be appreciated!

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I, personally, haven't had much luck direct-sowing natives. I always get extremely low germination rates, then pests or weather kill the ones that do survive. Perhaps I'm buying old seeds or not buying/sowing enough. The only things I get good results from direct-sowing are annual vegetables.
What I've been doing for the past couple years is picking up truckloads of mulch or getting ChipDrops (I've waited months for ChipDrops, and when a request expires, I raise my donation amount), then sheet-mulching an area (cardboard or paper paint drop-cloth), and covering with 4"+ of chips or mulch. I then go to a local nursury, ask what plants may do well in a particular area (full dry shade, part shade, deer resistant, etc), and pick up a variety of plants. I only pick up 1 or 2 plants of a species/variety, because plants are expensive, and I want to see if they survive before investing in more. I then dig a hole in the mulch, stab holes in the sheet mulch, dump purchased soil into the holes, then plant the plants into them.
I've just started collecting seeds from some of my plants, and I should be able to divide some of my plants or try to root cuttings soon. Hoping I can avoid spending shitloads of money by just propagating what I have to fill all the mulched areas out.
- Ooh thank you for the advice about ChipDrops, it sounds really cool! Their website suggests that the deliveries can be very large (https://support.getchipdrop.com/article/6-can-i-get-a-smaller-load). Are they really this big often? How would you recommend handling it if the load is that big?
  
  Both times I've received ChipDrops, the loads were an entire dump truck; ~20 cubic yards. I just used a wheelbarrow, a many-tined pitchfork, and a garden rake to make multiple large mulched beds, and a small pile in my back yard. I now have multiple large mulched beds, use it to cover food scraps in my compost bin, and use some in my vegetable beds/paths. It's about a full day's work to handle it all. I think ChipDrop also allows people to notify other users you're giving some away if you can't use it all, or you could try something like Craigslist.

9 comments