Lots of flowers for just a few dollars.

So we tell ourselves that growing flowers from seed must be awfully difficult, and only for serious gardeners with lots of practical experience, and definitely not grown by me. Well, no, actually, it’s the exact opposite!!!  It’s counter intuitive.

If you know nothing about growing flowers, then you are already fully qualified!!! Now, if you know a bit … you may be put off from trying, so I think it’s much better better to know nothing.

I am a case in point. I had never grow flowers before.  If I can do it . … you can too.

So what do we need to get going? A little enthusiasm and the desire to not give the nursery man a small fortune just for a couple of plants.

The key ingredient is you. Yes, you. So tick the most important item off the list already.  At all times know that all that is required is a bit of Action, of Doing, half an hour should be enough.

As an approach … you could go either of two ways.
Buy any seeds, especially something foreign and exotic, and then battle your way through fighting nature every step of the way.  This is very tiring, and demoralising, and is no fun at all, and is why some people think it’s difficult.

Or …

Look at what already grows in your neighbor’s garden, down your street, in your local neighbourhood. For me it was a plant called Black Eyed Susan. It’s everywhere, except in my garden.  I had a few shrubs and that was it. No flowers.

What you want to find out is … what flower grows naturally in your own environment? In your own neck of the woods? (Not on the other side of the country or the other side of the world.)

And grow these first. (Don’t fight nature!!!)

These flowers will then grow like weeds, meaning without much effort from you.
This makes it fun, and rewarding, and you feel it’s worth your effort.
(By the way, if you have animals or young kids that chew things, don’t buy seeds that are poisonous … I am just saying.)

Five Things …

1. A packet of seeds … (Mine were two dollars per pack)
2. Light (and therefore warmth) – provided by the sun
3. Water – out of the closest tap, rain barrel, bucket or hosepipe
4. Potting Soil – buy a bag from your closest retail store.  Later on you can make your own, but for the first time, just buy a bag,  just to keep the enthusiasm going strong.
5. Seedling tray – if you want to look fancy use a seedling tray, otherwise any small container with holes made in the bottom to let the water drain out will do. Yogurt pots with a few holes in the bottom seem to work just fine. (If you are planting directly into the ground, then you won’t need the seed tray)

The main aim is … moist and warm soil makes happy germinating seeds.

Steps to follow…

• Put the potting soil in the seed tray
• Using your finger, or a small stick, make a small hole in the soil about a centimetre or half an inch
• Drop in a seed
• Use your finger again, to lightly cover the seed with the soil
• When you are all done burying the seeds
• Water lightly with a watering can, or a tin can with a few holes punched into the bottom, to give the soil a gentle shower

If you really want to, you can read the instructions indicated on the packet, but please don’t allow yourself to  be put off from Action and Doing.

If you harvested the seeds yourself (as in free seeds from last autumn) then there aren’t any instructions to read. Just do it the same way as last year.

Place the seed tray on a windowsill where it will receive direct sunlight (which provides warmth) and where you will see it several times a day.  This is how you keep an eye on them without much effort.
Wait a while , anywhere from few days to two weeks, and up come the seedlings. (If it’s too cold nothing will happen.)
Job done.

Really …. that’s it.
That’s all it takes to grow most seeds!!!

When the weather warms up, transplant the seedlings into a flower bed, and water well. Or if you planted them directly in the first place, your already done.

Water when thirsty.

So I grew ten seed trays,  of seventy-two pockets per tray.
So seven hundred odd plants.
I figured some might not work out … right?
Most worked just fine.
If you have too many seedlings, give them away.
Otherwise … Plant them in your garden 🙂