I do quite a bit of this work and run a nonprofit organization that helps people work with native flora. I'd love to know what you are doing and help in any way we can. We are working on a seriously degraded property right now. Typically there are a lot of alien seeds in the seed bank, and breaking ground creates conditions for more exotic to move in. Some of those will be native early succession species. Send me a message and we will get you on the right course.

You can spot kill the grass with a foam paint brush and a non specific herbicide but the problem
is that you already have lots of grass weed seeds down in the seed bank aka the soil. Your best
bet is kill the whole area off by an herbicide or plastic and start over next May or June. You want
that weed and grass seed to germinate if possible and kill it off in 2026. If you have some good
wildflower seed heads in your project go ahead and pick it now and put them into a paper bag and
store it in an unheated space to use next year.

If you just want to till the area keep it tilled until late August. You can plant some of the seeds in pots
and plant them in the fall of ‘26.

Make sure your wildflower plot has a next mix of grasses … I like VA wild rye & Canada wild rye,
native flowers that bloom from spring until fall, and some legumes. It takes time.

I'm debating the same thing for next year.

You are better off to getting the unwanted seed to germinate and then killing the plants.

I do quite a bit of this work and run a nonprofit organization that helps people work with native flora. I'd love to know what you are doing and help in any way we can.

Your best bet is kill the whole area off by an herbicide or plastic and start over next May or June.

I should have added that I'm in northern Alabama, USDA zone 8a, and planted mixtures of wildfower seeds appropriate for my zone which were purchased from American Meadows.

I'm a rank novice at anything that grows in dirt, and am really just looking for low maintenance ways to make my yard look better while being a little bit socially conscious and help out local pollinators.

Last year I had waited for grass to green up (in mid March as I recall), sprayed with herbicide, waited two weeks and sprayed again, then waited another two weeks to till in some compost and plant.

Did I jump the gun on planting? Given my location does the advice for planting in May or June still hold?