I showed some hardy annual seeds in my garden a week ago and they have started to germinate and they are really tiny at the moment. This morning we had a frost and I wondered if this would kill them or can they survive a frost?
None of my hardy annuals are outside. Most haven't even been sown yet. Too early here, in any year.
They might survive, they might not. You'll just have to cross your fingers, and be prepared to sow more. If you want to sow direct, it's always better to wait a bit, unless you live in one of those very mild parts of the south or similar.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I bet all the annual weed seedlings that are coming through here will be fine. Hardy annuals might be too, but all you can do is wait and see, and try again in a few weeks if they don't make it.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
That's always the problem at this time of year - a nice spell of weather.
Sowing is always dependent on your local conditions. At this time of year, it can swing wildly from one extreme to the other, and it has in many areas. Snow isn't really a problem as such, especially if it's powdery dry stuff falling on drier ground. That can insulate [think alpine plants] but it's the other stuff that's more difficult. Freezing ground/frost/ice after a wet spell is more harmful - for any plant. Soggy wet ground is also more of a problem for seed. We're used to all of that happening here, but if you aren't, that's when it can be tricky. Always safer to sow indoors, and wait a little while
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
You don't have to sow after the frost, you can start them indoors, but it depends what room you have, and what they are. Sowing direct is always trickier. Always tempting to go mad with the plants when there's nice weather!
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Well I do have a greenhouse but the thing is I have quite a big area of bare soil so I wanted to just sprinkle lots of seed to make a kind of wild flower meadow with the seed mixes for bees and butterflies from wilko. I would never have been able to fill that area by sowing indoors.
I wanted to just sprinkle lots of seed to make a kind of wild flower meadow
It's fine. Just best to wait until threat of frost as passed - May-June in most of the UK. You have to keep a close eye on the weather. The ones you sowed might be fine, you never know. They need to stay moist in order to grow but freezing won't help them. Chalk it up to experience. See what happens and if you don't get a good result, sow again in a few months.
Posts
They're best started off inside, though.
They might survive, they might not. You'll just have to cross your fingers, and be prepared to sow more. If you want to sow direct, it's always better to wait a bit, unless you live in one of those very mild parts of the south or similar.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I only sowed them because in the box it said sow from late march and plus we had that really nice weather.
I will have a look later if the snow has gone and hopefully they will still be there!
Sowing is always dependent on your local conditions. At this time of year, it can swing wildly from one extreme to the other, and it has in many areas.
Snow isn't really a problem as such, especially if it's powdery dry stuff falling on drier ground. That can insulate [think alpine plants] but it's the other stuff that's more difficult. Freezing ground/frost/ice after a wet spell is more harmful - for any plant. Soggy wet ground is also more of a problem for seed.
We're used to all of that happening here, but if you aren't, that's when it can be tricky. Always safer to sow indoors, and wait a little while
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
It's stopped snowing here so I'm hoping as it hasn't lasted long and it was only -1 degrees this morning they will be fine. Fingers crossed!
Sowing direct is always trickier.
Always tempting to go mad with the plants when there's nice weather!
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...