Hello there one and all,
This is going to be a brief guide to get you started. I will use bullet points as it will make me look organised. Your flower patch will have its own personality and it will favour some flowers over others and it will prefer some sowing times over others. Try and make a mental note of what you do when. I tend to use Instagram as a sort of photographic journal. Instagram dates all the photos so I can look back and see what I did, and how and when I did it! I am constantly learning about my gardens. Every year I have some failures but the successes make up for it.
Direct sowing has advantages and disadvantages over sowing into pots into a greenhouse. I won’t go into all those right now but suffice to say that one big advantage is that you can cover a large area much more easily by direct sowing. This season I will have about 350 square meters to cover. That would mean about 3500 pot grown seedlings. I will be growing some pot grown seedlings too, but only to plug the gaps where direct sown seedlings have not behaved themselves.
Tips for direct sowing annual flowers in spring.
*Make sure that your flower beds are totally weed free. Do not skimp on this bit!
*Add some compost to the soil. It will help with soil structure and drainage.
*I like to cover the rows in an inch or so of compost, and sow my seeds into that. This gives your seeds an advantage over the native weed seeds that may (will) be ready to spring forth and be bothersome. It has a second advantage of not allowing your soil to become compacted in heavy rain.
*I mark out my rows by tying string between a couple of sticks. Leaving the sticks and string will help you identify your seedlings as they germinate.
*Make a shallow ‘drill’ with a stick. When I say shallow I really mean just 2 or 3 mm…as a rule of thumb seeds want to be three times their width deep. DO NOT overthink this! Just don’t bury them too deep…they are seeds not moles.
*Sow your seeds into the drill. I would say sow a seed every inch or so…but again…don’t over think this. Cover the drill lightly with soil or compost.
*The chances are that your seeds will not germinate evenly…but when the seedlings are about the size of your thumb (Rule of thumb) they can be transplanted to neaten everything up. I space all my seedlings to about a foot apart. If there are too many seedlings in a row I will often just leave them be…they tend to sort it out among themselves.
*”Don’t sow your flower seeds until you would sit on the bare earth with your bare bum!” Granddad Higgledy. Letting the soil warm up will MASSIVELY increase your success rate. Leaving direct sowing until after mid April is a good idea. I sow a few early rows in March because I’m impatient and I’m not short of more seeds if I want to resow rows in April.
*At this time of year (March) I don’t water my seeds. There is plenty of moisture for them in the soil.
*The vast majority of flower seeds can also be sown in May and even June…don’t feel you have to get everything in early…there is no rush.
*Slugs can be an issue. Make sure you deal with them before they eat all your seedlings and make you feel like a loser. Here’s a slug bashing post.
I hope this helps. If you have any questions you can find me on the socials under ‘Higgledy Garden’ (I am no longer on the Twitter.)
Kindest regards….hope you have a fab weekend.
Best
Higgers
PS Get your sweet peas sown in March if you can.