Growing Flowers
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Growing from seed Growing flowers from seed is not always a trouble-free occupation. Hardy and half-hardy annuals in particular are not the easiest things to grow - they need care, good soil, plenty of light and water. There is nothing to be gained by buying a packet of seeds and scattering it about on a piece of dry, weedy soil - you might just as well give up, or wait to buy bedding plants at a shop. Gardening is not entirely easy and carefree, and you must care for and love the plants and treat them well. Perennials Perennials are bought as plants from nurseries or garden centres and can also be grown from seed. They live for years, dying down in winter and coming up again in the spring. In late autumn mark their place with a label or stick, it is amazing how easy it is to have forgotten where they are by spring. They are generally sown during the summer in a well-dug and prepared seed bed. If the weather is dry they must be well-watered. In temperate climates the smaller seeds should be sown in a greenhouse or propagator at 13 °-18 °C. (55 °-65 °F) in seed compost in spring. Many perennials sown this early will flower and can be picked the same summer Hollyhocks, Asters and Aquilegia (Columbine) for example. The seedlings should be carefully pricked out into a frame or protected bed and after three to five months they can go into their permanent positions. Many, naturally, can be bought as plants, but the best way of all to acquire plants is from friends' gardens. When your perennials are firmly established remember that large clumps need lifting and dividing every two to three years. Hardy biennials These can be sown in a greenhouse in a temperature of 13 °C (55 °F), or in a prepared seed bed in the garden in early summer. Keep the seedlings well-watered and in early autumn, when they have grown into bushy, plump little plants, plant them out into their places for spring. Some, such as Wallflowers, Brompton Stock and Iceland Poppies will flower in their first year if sown early. (Poppies should go on seeding themselves.) Hardy annuals These can be sown into seed boxes in seed compost but are more usually sown into their flowering positions in a well-prepared bed. The ground should have been dug over in the winter and forked and raked to a fine tilth (that is, with no lumps). Seeds are sown evenly in fairly dry soil in late spring, raked lightly over and watered with a fine rose on the watering can (too rough a spurt of water might knock them right out of the ground). Water them every day if the weather is dry and hot. When the seedlings come up close together thin them out when they are two or three inches high, to about three-quarters of their ultimate height apart. (If for example they will grow to a height of two feet, then plant them 18 inches away from each other.) Half-hardy annuals These are, of course, not as easy to grow as the hardy varieties, and could be bought from a nursery early in the summer as plants.Sow the seeds in pots or seed boxes in spring, in a heated greenhouse, frame or propagator, and keep the soil moist at all times. Prick the seedlings out into a box of potting compost (about 30-35 to a box) holding them by their leaves and never touching or disturbing the roots. Then keep them somewhere warm and protected. When all danger of frost is past gradually harden off the seedlings. Put them outside in the open in a sheltered spot in their boxes during the day, and return them to their warm protected quarters at night. In early summer plant them out in the bed. |
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