Need a bit of advice. I've recently moved into a new house. Back garden hardly gets any sun, but I'm not ready to tackle that yet. At the front, I've got a raised bed that gets lots of sun. My neighbour has got all sorts of colourful flowers growing, she said she grows tomatoes there as well, so seems to be a very good spot for growing things. I've cleared my bed, which has been untended for years, and mixed into the soil some organic matter that Nunhead garden centre recommended to me a few weeks ago.
I'm on holiday now, but before I went away, I sowed a few sunflower seeds, plus hollyhocks, lupins and foxgloves. I've grown sunflowers before, pretty easy. For the others, the instructions on the seed packets said I should grow them in a seed box and then transplant the seedlings. I've ignored that and planted them straight into the soil in my raised bed.
It's ten years since I last had a garden, but I'm sure I did this before and got away with it. Is there a specific reason they recommend planting in a seed box first? Presumably they grow naturally in the countryside and so on, without going through this process. What's the consequence of planting them straight into the ground? When I return on 7 May, am I likely to see any growth, or have I planted a load of seeds that are never going to do anything.
Grateful for any advice from the multiple experts on here.
Your issue is that they will grow too close to to each other if they take off and you’ll have to thin them out pretty drastically. Holly hocks, lupins and foxgloves take up a lot of space when they mature and you’ll only need a couple of each to fill a fair sized bed. Not a major problem though so long as you’re prepared to be brutal if they all germinate.
Doing open gardens for the village in 6 weeks time, going to have to work very hard to get it presentable !! Will post some pics if everything works out.
Need a bit of advice. I've recently moved into a new house. Back garden hardly gets any sun, but I'm not ready to tackle that yet. At the front, I've got a raised bed that gets lots of sun. My neighbour has got all sorts of colourful flowers growing, she said she grows tomatoes there as well, so seems to be a very good spot for growing things. I've cleared my bed, which has been untended for years, and mixed into the soil some organic matter that Nunhead garden centre recommended to me a few weeks ago.
I'm on holiday now, but before I went away, I sowed a few sunflower seeds, plus hollyhocks, lupins and foxgloves. I've grown sunflowers before, pretty easy. For the others, the instructions on the seed packets said I should grow them in a seed box and then transplant the seedlings. I've ignored that and planted them straight into the soil in my raised bed.
It's ten years since I last had a garden, but I'm sure I did this before and got away with it. Is there a specific reason they recommend planting in a seed box first? Presumably they grow naturally in the countryside and so on, without going through this process. What's the consequence of planting them straight into the ground? When I return on 7 May, am I likely to see any growth, or have I planted a load of seeds that are never going to do anything.
Grateful for any advice from the multiple experts on here.
Your issue is that they will grow too close to to each other if they take off and you’ll have to thin them out pretty drastically. Holly hocks, lupins and foxgloves take up a lot of space when they mature and you’ll only need a couple of each to fill a fair sized bed. Not a major problem though so long as you’re prepared to be brutal if they all germinate.
I did all the work myself @DaveMehmet (I’m no gardener/chippy and it shows) but £33/44 for a trellis panel and plants £12/25 for root or grown on rose plants.
I’ve had four jumbo bags of compost and one of top soil delivered at over a £100 a throw.
It stands me for about 2.5k and that’s without replacing the decking still to be done.
Still I love being out there, even in the greenhouse when it pi55ing down.
I’ve not a cue what I’m doing with plants but it’s fun learning and surprisingly I’ve not killed anything yet, varying success with seeds but apparently that’s the norm, not every seed will grow.
I’ve never gardened before and didn’t realise how good it could be mentally and even though most of it has been a struggle after recent surgery I just chill out for five minutes before going again.
I’m always online looking for cheaper sources for plants/seeds so if anyone has links to good ones please post them I could do with all the help I can get. 😂
I’ve always enjoyed gardening but like you, I’m no expert. Not done it a lot but love growing things from seed. Managed to keep his apple plant my daughter grew from seed as a school project about 6 years ago. Also the purple plants below (Coronaria) self seed like mad and we always have them every year. The originals came from my grandad’s garden, my dad then took some and gave some to me about 15 years ago. We’ve had dozens of them since.
Just seen the apple plant has its first ever blossom
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