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Sowing flower seeds for hanging baskets
Jonathan Anderson
Posts: 2
in Plants
Hi,
I have been given the task of creating 4 hanging baskets with red, yellow and blue flowers and have chosen the seeds Nasturtium, Bidens and Lobelia respectively.
Please can anyone give advice for sowing?
- Do I need to stagger the sowing so they flower at the same time?
- Shall I sow them now (South of England) or would it be better to wait a month until the weather gets warmer?
- When transplanting into the baskets what is the best way to arrange them? For example shall I put the nasturtiums in the centre of the basket with the lobelias around the edge, or shall I dot them all around randomly?
- How many seed trays shall I use for each packet? Bidens average 75 seeds per packet and Lobelia average 2500 seeds per packet. The sowing instructions don't state how finely they should be spread out!
Many thanks in advance to anyone who can help 
0
Posts
Sow the Lobelia as soon as possible, it's a bit of a slow starter. Very fine seed so you will probably get more seedlings than you thought! Nasturtiums grow quite quickly when they've germinated. Put the nasturtiums in the middle and the lobelia around the edge. I've never sown Bidens, only bought it as plug plants.
Biden germinate quite fast, grows a lot faster than lobelia but not as quite as quick as nasturtiums, I would sow bidens now. Nasturtiums grow really fast I would sow within the next 2 weeks or you could sow directly into the basket. Lobelia what BL said
How big your baskets?
Thanks for the advice. The Nasturtiums have shot up and the Lobelia have also germinated well but only 23 of the 75 Bidens Ferulifolia seeds have sprouted. They range in height from 1-6cm and are quite thin and weak looking. Is this normal? (They were kept at about 22 degrees in good damp compost with a sprinkling to cover)