Higgledy Flower School 2016. #33. Early vs late sowing.

Now I’m no stranger to science…oh no no…I love a read of the periodicable tables and can oft be found engrossed in deep conversation with the great minds of the age using all the well known big science words…I’m usually in a lab coat covered head to foot in permanganate and iron fillings…lots of pens in my top pocket…science is in my blood you could say. So when I was asked by NASA if I would help them out with some problems they were having with Hardy Annuals I was of course happy to help….and no…you can keep your nobel prizes and your fancy science awards…I’m doing this one for the kids.

This is how the conversation went when NASA phoned this morning.

NASA: Hello can I speak to Benjamin Higgledy please?

Lauren Laverne: Yup sure…he’s right here in the hot tub…hang on…

Me: LOOK! I told you! I’m not going to bloody Mars.

Nasa: No, we just thought you might be able to help us out. Could you do an experiment to see if hardy annuals flower earlier if they are sown earlier…could you sow some in buckets today…and then sow some more at the beginning of April and see how it all goes? We would do it ourselves but frankly we haven’t got that teckie know how that you’ve got in such abundance.

***

…so here goes.

I have sown some Calendula and some Cornflowers. I will germinate them indoors where they will be kept under the watchful eye of Prof Furface…then we will put them out in a coldframe…we will do the same with the batch sown in April.

 

I wager £50 (Payable to Amnesty International) that there will be less than seven days between the first flower in the March sown buckets and the first in the April buckets…if I am wrong then Amnesty get a nifty…if I am right…then I take the day off to drink ale and listen to 70’s disco all day long.

Watch this space.

Kind regards

Prof Higgledy.

Related post: When to sow annual flower seeds.