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sowing tips

Ilona.SIlona.S Posts: 162
in Plants
Hello all.I was wondering what the most reliable seeds to sow now for flowers this summer are?.I have alot of seeds from my amateur gardening magazine and am determined to use some of them this season!.Also any tips would be welcome as i haven't really started from seed before only with sunflowers which I planted straight out.I have a seed tray with a lid thanks☺
Ilona

Posts

  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    What seeds do you have? If you let us know we could tell you if they are easy. Among the easiest are hardy annual that you sow straight into raked earth, such as nasturtiums, Nigella (Love in a Mist), Calendula (Pot Marigolds), Eschscholzia (Californian poppies). Easy ones for growing in a seed tray on a warm window sill are French Marigolds, Nicotiana, Tithonia, Dahlias.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,384
    Your question is a bit too general really.  Can you  let us know what sort of flowers you like?  Do you want to grow annuals (which die at the end of the year) or perennials (which come back every year)?  Alternatively, if you list the varieties of the seed packets you already have, we'll be able to tell you which are the easiest. :)
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • Garden noobGarden noob Posts: 260
    I have a no-hassle approach to gardening: I pop seeds in multipurpose compost and hope for the best. If they grow, great. If they don't, it wasn't meant to be.

    I expect seeds given away with magazines should be easy to germinate, so you probably won't need to worry too much. Personally I would prioritise the ones you like the look of the most.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    If you're sowing now it's best to make sure they're hardy or else that you have a safe space to grow them on as individual plants until the last of the frosts are over some time in May.  Even hardy seedlings appreciate some shelter after being pricked out into individual pots or cells.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • BorderlineBorderline Posts: 4,700
    I have found the following reliable, if started indoors now with some multi purpose compost with plenty of grit or vermiculite. Then plant them out around mid to late April and they will flower in the summer.

    Ammi Majus, Nasturtiums, Limnanthes Douglasii, Cerinthe Major 'Purpurascens', Centaurea Cyanus 'Blue Boy' and 'Black Ball'.
  • Ilona.SIlona.S Posts: 162
    Thanks for your replies ,I have shasta daisy,foxglove Alba,Dahlia mignon mixed,viola,verbascum,nicotine.poppy,Canterbury bells,echium,lavatera,sweet William,nasturtium,aster,dahlia variabilis,chamomile,echinops and a packet of butterfly annuals.I love all flowers but would be nice to have a mixture of annuals and perennials love having cut flowers in the house.oh just found a packet of echinacea !.I like your no nonsense approach garden noob.
    Ilona
  • hogweedhogweed Posts: 4,053
    Read the packets and they will tell you when and where to sow. You have a mixture of annuals, half hardy annuals, perennials and biennials. All need sowing at different times. But all the ones you mention are easy. If in doubt, go by the sowing times on the packet but the further north you are, or how bad the weather is, the later you sow (by a few weeks). Sowing from seed is exciting - enjoy!
    'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
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