I've never had disease in my plants from old compost, or seed compost. I wonder what brand that was? But I live in France and I rarely use seed compost, it's expensive. I tend to use multi purpose for everything.
B & Q usually sell very cheap plug plants, if you want half hardy annuals.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
I don’t buy seed compost. I buy multi purpose and that gets used for everything, seeds and potting on.
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
I must admit, any seeds I have previously sowed (veg, mostly) have always been in mpc. But I've never been particularly scientific about why things have failed or succeeded and always blamed user error for failures!
It's seems there is no right way to do things when it comes to gardening (or maybe there's no wrong way!! 🙈)
@Latimer: in principle, yes--but I should have thought you could get away with two: one for your early sowings around this time of year, which will need protection, and one for a batch of later sowings. But with anything you want to have flower this year, early sowing is going to be pretty essential if the plants are to get big enough to flower. I tend only to sow biennials in around April, and start off everything else early. And I'd also agree totally with @Nanny Beach: you can often find inexpensive perennials (and shrubs!) in the remaindered section of garden centres, in end of season sales, etc. As you get your eye in, you'll be able to tell when a plant is viable or not. They often just slash prices once the flowering period is over and the plant won't look good on the stands. I once bought a Miscanthus in early February--it looked utterly dead and had been on the previous year's display. I took it home and waited until March when the new shoots were several cm tall. Then I divided it into sections, and planted up an area about 1m2--it made a wonderful show. Another thing to look out for this month is companies selling off bare-root roses half price. Providing you water well while they establish (especially in hot weather), you'll have a gorgeous rose for half the normal cost. Check out Peter Beales and David Austin, and get on their mailing lists.
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I'll give Pelargonium a go!
B & Q usually sell very cheap plug plants, if you want half hardy annuals.
East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
I must admit, any seeds I have previously sowed (veg, mostly) have always been in mpc. But I've never been particularly scientific about why things have failed or succeeded and always blamed user error for failures!
It's seems there is no right way to do things when it comes to gardening (or maybe there's no wrong way!! 🙈)