subject: Plant Material And Planting Strategies [print this page] Looking through seed catalogues throughout the winter months is one of the pleasures of the gardening year. From catalog shopping nurseries, High street shops and garden centres they sell about 90 million packets of seeds each year, half are vegetables and half are flowers. Many gardeners gained their first horticultural experience with a packet of Radishes, Nasturtiums or any other hardy annual. Perhaps we move too quickly from sowing seeds to buying bedding plants and container-grown specimens.
A significantly wider selection of annuals and biennials could be raised from seed plus some perennials can readily be obtained in this way. Poor storage greatly reduces germination capacity. In order to save left seed you will want to tightly close the package and place it in a jar with a screw top. Close the top securely and state the range and date about the label. Store in a dark and funky place. Do not store opened packets of pelleted or dressed seed. Starter kits are widely available - plastic trays filled with pre-sewn seed compost. They are useful if you're short of time, however the selection of plants offered is limited and also the cost is understandably greater than starting from scratch.
Sowing seeds indoors:
Some popular flowers are too tender to be grown outdoors until the end of spring. The seeds are sown in compost in March or April and also the trays or pots are saved in a greenhouse, garden frame or about the windowsill. The seedlings are set in your garden in late May or early June. Some half-hardy vegetables (Tomato, Cucumber, Aubergine etc.) will also be sown indoors at the begining of spring for greenhouse culture or planting outside once the danger of frost has past. Indoor sowing is not restricted to half-hardy subjects. It's also employed for raising hardy types of flowers and vegetables when early blooms or early crops are needed. Transplanting indoor sown plants instead of sowing on-site is wonderful for wet and cold areas.
Sowing seeds outdoors:
To be able to germinate a seed should have warmth, air and moisture. March and April are the usual months for sewing hardy annuals, once the soil is sufficiently warm for germination and dry enough to allow you to make a seed bed. The elements is more important than the calendar - hold up operations when the weather conditions are winter, though it might mean as being a little while late. Some annuals (Larkspur, Cornflower, and Pot Marigold) could be sown in September - these autumn-sown annuals bloom earlier than their spring-sown counterparts. Half-hardy annuals could be sown outdoors in late spring when the danger of frost is past - these outdoor-sown ones bloom after bedded-out ones. It is quite impossible to generalise about the correct time for you to sow vegetables, it depends about the type grown and you ought to consult the seed packet or a guide book.
Sowing bulbs:
Bulbs are among the most popular kinds of planting material. When the soil is affordable and also the bulbs are large and healthy enough then almost nothing can go wrong. The overall practice is to plant in autumn for flowers to brighten in the spring garden, but this basic pattern could be greatly extended. By careful selection you can have bulbous plants flowering all year round.
