I have had a woodland shade garden for a number of years in my mostly shaded front yard. A giant Pin Oak + mowed yard leaves have provided the woodland type mulch.
I have gradually added some Sun loving plants and now am ready to begin a "Sun plants" garden in the back.
I have many, many seeds that have been received in swaps and do not know where to start.
Should/can just scatter them in the prepared bed in sections. I didn't start anything indoors. I know most of the things I have seeds for would reseed themselves so am just wondering if I can Start a garden by scattering the seeds.
I am thinking I should cover them with either a very light layer of mulch or straw??
I am getting nothing started because i don't know how.
Sorry if this sounds dumb, but I just have always started with the plants and need a "push start".
A Big Thanks for any help!
Sheri
help me start!
What sort of seeds are they? are they individual flowers or like a seed mix? Seed mixes are usually 'sow and grow' and do really well when scattered in prepared spaces.
Many packets of individual wonderful flowers received by many DGers.....that is why I have been overwhelmed and therefore done nothing. If I were organized I would have probably put each type in its own little "mini greenhouse" tray (I have about 6), and labeled them.
Our night temps are in the high 40's with days 70's to this coming week is supposed to be 80's....so I wondered if it's warm enough to just scratch out an area for each type and scatter...or scatter together like a wildflower mix.......
I have great difficulty starting something I've never done before for want OF "DOING IT RIGHT" OR "NOT DOING IT WRONG"....oops!!! sorry for the caps!!....concequently a lot never gets done...cluttered house.........
But I've got some beds prepared and really want to have some Sun loving flowering plants.
The question is, will you plant the seeds per the instructions on the package? If you know you will never get around to it then you have nothing to lose. Pour all the seeds into a bowl. Add some sand. Mix and scatter. Will it work? Not really. But doing nothing won't produce flowers either. This way you'll have some fun and with a little luck a few will take root. And then you can have more fun trying to predict what each little sprout will turn out to be.
Personally, I've been known to cheat and use the little pre-made peat discs. They have their own mesh baggie and magically inflate when you add water. Makes planting seeds super easy and fast. Use warm water and then stick them in your mini greenhouse. I don't bother to label. I just make a list of what I planted in the order I planted them and make sure I use at least an entire row for each type of seed. The entire process takes something like 20 minutes to plant about 50 seeds. Since the weather is already warm where you are I would start "hardening" the seedlings as soon as they sprout starting with about an hour the first day.
My problem with many flowering plants is that they don't bloom the first year. And I like to see results. If you have the money I would add at least a few plants so you aren't staring at a bare bed all year. Or if you have friends, go make cuttings. You'll get faster results and it is an excuse to wander around other people's gardens - making notes about what you DON'T want to do in your own yard!
where do you get these discs...what you desdcribed sounds doable, and i could just have a lot of little greenhouses on the picknic table on the deck (Northern exposer, so not direct sun).......thanks so much.......like an old straight drive just needed a good puch / kick start hehehe ^_^
I thought I'd use about 1/2 of the seeds , then pass the rest on to a friend who is building a new home and then will be starting all new gardens.
YOu mentioned "hardening off" ....can you tell me more about hat?
I buy mine from Lowe's. I buy the trays that come with 72 peat disks, so if you have alot of seeds to sow, they work great. I paid $6 for mine at Lowe's
Oh, boy, I'm going to Lowes tomorrow and even have a credit voucher that needs spending so they really wont cost me anything (well, sort of ^_^)...Thankyou!!
Are these trays OK to just start the seeds in outdoors now since the temps are as I've described??
Oh...I'm geting excited.&.doing a happy flower dance here!!! ^_^
BirdieBlue-
I feel your pain, lol...
I had exactly the same problem...boxes of seeds, but Spring sometimes comes so quickly, and I don't get all the seeds started,so I save them for next year, which turn into the next year, and so on.
This year I finally just took all my annual seeds, and scattered them. I figured they are not growing in the box of seeds, lol....what can it hurt?
I can't say that I have scads of new things coming up, but I do have new things coming up. I saved the packets so that I can attempt to identify things later. Some may not even sprout until next season, but at least they are in dirt, now, not in a box :0)
As for seed depth, each seed has its own ideal weight, and given time, will bury itself to the right level, so dont' worry about that.
Yes, ideally, you can start all these seeds trays, but it is getting too late in the season for that, now.
I say scatter!, lol...then you can fill in the blanks with purchased plants, later. The seeds will have a better chance if not crowded by mature plants, anyway
And, besides, isn't that the quintessential cottage look...all flowers sorta mixed together in a natural way?
-T
I agree,SCATTER THOSE SEEDS !!!!! I too am a scatterer ,with some failures,you feel better when you have empty seed packets.lol,allthough i finally bit the bullet and started seeds under lights this yr. 1st time ever,and i must say ,i have a bumper crop,iam soooo happy,happy.I should be able to scatter some seed this week, finally warm enough,wish it was warm enough to get the plantlings in too, i love dirt under my fingernails !!!! I need to get my stuff together to start trading,maybe next yr !!!!