Annuals - Am I too late to get into ground

Redmond, Wa

I'm looking for a really good mix - something to fill in the large blanks in my garden area for the summer. Currently ornamental grasses that are just planted at 1' tall (they'll go from 3' to 6'), some 3' wide x 3' tall bushes as well there.

I found this on another site

Sunflowers, marigolds, morning glories, bachelor buttons, calendula, castor bean, cosmos, nasturtiums, sweet peas, sweet alyssum, larkspur, annual poppies, Ammi majus, zinnia, hyacinth bean

That I can plant directly outdoors.. I may be a little late though - as I understand our last "frost" period was supposed to be a week ago.

It's been a lot longer then that.

Maybe my next question - since the site said I can pop these right into the ground now - this is a sunny area... do I sow the seeds in then mulch (as I need to add mulch asap) or try to mulch and add in the seed after?

Broken, I usually toss in a few flats of annuals at the edges of my perennial beds and haven't even bought them yet. Are you working from seeds? If so, I would work your soil as you care to- add amendments etc, sow/plant the annuals; wait for them to come up and then mulch the more mature plants. Otherwise I'd think you'd smother the seeds.

Why do you need to mulch ASAP? We've got plenty of moisture on hand, that's for sure.

If it's not too late for seed - i'll go seed (cheaper)

It's not too late for some seeds - check the packages for time to germination and time to full bloom.

...I'm planting seed (cosmos, sunflower, poppies, sweet peas) and starts in the garden this weekend.

In spring (March), we prep our garden by tilling in steer manure and peat moss. It then lays fallow until May when it gets re-tilled for planting.

If you're worried about the level of nutrients in your soil, you could always amend it with top soil, steer manure, peat moss, etc. prior to planting the seed. Alternately, if your soil is rich in nutrients (e.g., not too sandy or clay-like), you might want to plant the seeds directly and then follow-up with a small application of a product like Miracle Grow when they're entering their second growth spurt.

Best wishes.

Poppies are simple and rise to flower very quickly. Only they will reseed in the area year after year. I like that in my area I planted them. Again living in the Pacific NW you can do anything. Your flowers will not start for about a month but they will hang out until end of september.

I planted some sunflower seeds right before the rains began a week ago. Do you think the seeds have rotted in this wet weather? I wonder if it is too cool for them to thrive.

You don't have a bird feeder do you. My sunflower seeds start and thrive any time from April to October. Wet is good, cold soil is the only thing to prevent germination. under 60 F is slow to allow germination = bad time to plant seeds.

hi tiffanya, what kind of poppies do you recommend? I would like to start some from seed. thanks