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Praarda Graz, Styria
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Orders and questions: hello@praarda.com

Seed

Seed Mixes

Five mixes and one on its own. All grown here, all cleaned by hand-fed machine, all native to this part of Austria.

A cleaning tray with four heaps of seed, garden, dry bank, shade and verge mixes, each labelled GardenDry bankShadeVerge Cleaned by hand-fed machine, one mix at a time

  • Garden Meadow

    For a sunny corner of lawn or a border you are happy to cut once a year.

    • Ox-eye daisy
    • Meadow sage
    • Field scabious
    • Bird's-foot trefoil
    • Knapweed
    • Quaking grass
    4 g per m², 100 g sows 25 m²€14.50per 100 g

  • Dry Bank

    For thin, stony, sunny soil that has dried out by June.

    • Wild thyme
    • Lady's bedstraw
    • Kidney vetch
    • Meadow sage
    • Sheep's fescue
    4 g per m², 100 g sows 25 m²€16.00per 100 g

  • Shade Edge

    For hedge bottoms and the dappled ground under trees.

    • Red campion
    • Bugle
    • Hedge bedstraw
    • Wood avens
    • Germander speedwell
    4 g per m², 100 g sows 25 m²€17.50per 100 g

  • School Patch

    Tough enough for feet, and quick enough to show something in the first summer.

    • Ox-eye daisy
    • Bird's-foot trefoil
    • Selfheal
    • Yarrow
    • Ribwort plantain
    5 g per m², 250 g sows 50 m²€32.00per 250 g

  • Styrian Verge

    For roadsides, banks and village greens, sown thinner than a garden.

    Also in a 5 kg sack for €445.

    • Knapweed
    • Field scabious
    • Meadow cranesbill
    • Yellow rattle
    • Upright brome
    3 g per m², 1 kg sows about 330 m²€98per kg

  • Yellow Rattle

    On its own, to thin the grass in a lawn or meadow you already have.

    Sow August to November only. It needs a winter's cold before it will come up.

    • Yellow rattle
    1 g per m² over existing grass€11.00per 50 g
One square metre of raked ground in plan, divided into hundred squares of 10 cm, with 4 g of seed scattered across it 1 m 1 m 4 g of seed 3 g on verges
Fig. 1 One square metre, raked, with 4 g of seed across it.

How Much You Need

Sow 4 g per m² in a garden and 3 g per m² on a verge, so 100 g covers 25 m² of garden. Measure the patch, then buy to the nearest bag rather than sowing thicker: crowded seedlings shade each other out.

Mix the seed with a bucket of dry sand so you can see where you have been. Scatter half walking one way and half walking across, then rake it lightly and press it in with a board or your boots. Never bury it. Most meadow seed needs light to come up.

The year in twelve columns, with spring sowing from mid March to the end of May and autumn sowing from late August to the end of October marked as bars JFMAMJJASOND Spring sowing Autumn sowing Autumn sowing gives the better second year
Fig. 2 The two sowing windows in a year.

When to Sow

Spring sowing runs from mid March to the end of May, autumn sowing from late August to the end of October. If you can wait, wait for autumn: the seed sits in the ground through a winter, the frost breaks the hard coats of the slower species, and the second year is fuller for it.

June and July are too dry to sow unless you can water every day. You can always see this month on the calendar.

What We Won't Sell

  • Bright annual mixes in a box, sold as if they come back every year.
  • Showy species from elsewhere that do not belong in Styrian ground.
  • Seed for ground that will be mown every week. A meadow needs one or two cuts a year.

If you want it to look finished this year, turf is the answer.

Postage and Ordering

Seed goes by post anywhere in Austria for €6.90, free on orders over €120, and leaves within 3 working days of your email. There is no minimum order.

Write to hello@praarda.com with the mix and the weight you want. Here is how to order if it is your first time.

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