Wildflower catalogs tell you to kill the grass first or you'll soon have a weedy field. Poppies are best direct sown as they don't transplant easily (unless you plug in clumps when they are tiny plants).

>> direct seeding or peat pots

Neither. Plastic flats/trays.

Peat pots are problematic for many people as they end up stealing most of the water and growing mold and then when the plant starts trying to grow roots through the walls of the peat pot, the peat pots are very hard to break through. Many people have a hard time keeping peat pots watered and the plants growing good root systems.

Perplexingly, some people have good results with peat pots.

I grew regular strawberries from seed one year, and I had to germinate them at a certain (cooler) temperture, I got a head start and did them in a cooler room in the house near an east window.

They did ok, then I transplanted them into a planter and we got some strawberries, but they all had green shoulders that would not ripen, so I don't want to grow that variety again.

It might be too warm to start strawberries outside now. Can't help you with the other matters, haven't messed with peat pots for years, usually start seeds in old nursery containers, all different kinds and sizes, inside or out or direct sow an area that has at least had the dirt turned.

Don't know about bilberry, grew some poppies one year in a pot just to see if I would like them and didn't feel like digging, they at least bloomed but were muddy colored.

Now I direct seeded some poppies about 6 weeks ago but they aren't ready to bloom yet, don't know if they will, it's kind of poor soil where I just scattered them mixed with bachelor's button and baby's breath along with some older seeds. The kind I planted I mixed with sand, shook it up, scattered them (well my granddaughter did that part) and then stepped on them to press them in the ground a bit. But I cleared and dug the area first, can't mulch the way it is now.

Either way, unless you mulch, you are going to have to deal with weeds. I did plant some stuff behind the garage without digging, well had a neighbor girl do it. Then the weeds got to be a problem. Since I only had four plants at the time, I covered them with double grocery bags and my son sprayed. I left the bags on until the next morning. There are still a few weeds and it really could use another spraying, not right away. A whole bag of mulch and then some went on there and now it could stand a whole bag of mulch again.

One thing I thought of was to lay some old boards to kill the weeds or cover it with heavy black plastic weighed down with bricks and rock for awhile and plant small spots until the weeds die back.

I got a roll of that garden cloth but don't think I'm going to like it. It's fine for large plants but not good for areas where you want smaller plants and seeds.

I Wintersowed strawberries this year with great results. They went in the ground a few weeks ago and are doing great. You may want to check the wintersowing forum and try that out over the winter.

The other plants I haven't tried but I know there are a lot of people that wintersow poppies.

JP