Always store your seeds in a cool, dry, and dark place. Seeds most often have a long shelf life, but heat and moisture will shorten that life significantly. Reserve a drawer or cabinet for your seeds as well as your garden journal so you have everything you need in one spot to dream, plan and get organized.
Planting flower seeds is quite easy for seasoned gardeners, as we all know, but it is a bit challenging – like any good project. These steps are meant to help the home flower gardener create that beautiful garden that will be the envy of the entire neighborhood for years to come! Planting guides – Variety specific ( scroll to bottom of page )
STEP ONE
Determine the Best Time to Plant Flower Seeds
One of the most ancient surprises many a gardener receives is that of being able to install seeds of flowers several times throughout the year. Spring is the most popular time of year for planting flower seeds but sow as early as summer and late as fall for equally great results. Such seasonal diversity is clearly a major boon to the flower gardener and has a number of great advantages and potential.
SPRING PLANTING
The clearance area of the United States and its warmer locations, may do the spring planting from about a month after the last frost in winter. Obviously this would depend on where you are in the country and how bad the winter weather has been. It is essential not to “jump the gun” and recruit too early; any seeds put before a late-season ice are gone for the season and will have to be reseeded.
SUMMER PLANTING
N/A: You can plant this one anytime your winter temperatures stay above 32 degrees.
FALL PLANTING
While it may sound like a strange way to plant flower seeds in the fall is actually preferred by many experienced wildflower gardeners. The primary benefit: an earlier bloom the next spring! But if you do sow them in the fall, the secret is to sow after the first killing frost of the season and when the ground is almost frozen to prevent germination. Plant the bushes at the time to do it, but never about the weather – this is groundless.
STEP TWO:
Choose the Right Location
It may sound like the most obvious of points, but selecting the best site location within your grounds is one of the biggest factors as to whether your flower garden is going to be able to be a hit, OR a disaster. Among the factors to consider are the average number of hours of full sunlight your spot gets every day; the quality of the soil; and ease of access to water, either through a hose or sprinkler system.
While many flowers handle some filtered shade (and some even do best in it), most want full sun to show the most blooms. As a result, when deciding the best possible planting site in your property, it is always best to remember that the sunnier it is the better. This of course translates to a location with as few trees about, or in sight, and with the least interference from any building, whether it be a house, garage or barn.
Finally, in choosing the right site for your seed install, the presence of a steady watering source is good-but not typically present. But generally, in most places, for most of the year, the natural rain will provide all the water your plants need for a good bloom. But if you are in an especially dry region, are planting in the drier months, or are simply in the middle of a long drought, then yes, you should water your site every other day or more for up to the first 2-3 weeks, until roots have some hold and the plant is situated to take it from there.
STEP THREE:
How to Plant Flower Seeds
This is a crucial procedure in order to set up any flower seed endeavor. As probably intriguing as it sounds to catapult seeds into the winds of uncertainty and pray that they may one day yield fruit, at the end of the day, it is a waste of both your time and money planting on a site that has not been adequately prepared for planting. While some flower seeds are pretty sturdy — others are a bit delicate and may need some pampering. The top rule of the thumb, therefore, is to always clear off any unwanted debris from the site before planting the seeds on the soil.
There are many options for successfully clearing the vegetation and preparing the soil and the size of the land is usually the deciding issue on what method to go with. A rake, hoe or shovel is usually satisfactory for smaller sites to pull the unwanted grass and weeds etc up, whereas a roto-tiller is generally used for bigger sites. Because when it comes down to it, no matter what tool or machine you have access to, the more of that growth that can be killed off, and the more of that soil that can be loosened, the better the ground that your seeds are going to be set to grow in.
And wet, you are now ready to sweat when you go to plant! A variety of methods will work well when you’re installing metal components, though in all likelihood, the scope of the project itself will likely dictate which is the best one for you. For homeowners, the two methods recommended from the UMASS trial are 1) the old fashioned hand-broadcast method (for smaller jobs) and 2) using a rotary or “cyclone” seeder (for larger jobs).
The first way is to just basically toss the seed on the site by hand and the second way is through a hand-cranked spreader which can be had with a trip to your local garden center for all your favorite gourmet gardening accessories. No matter which method you choose, it is highly recommended to mix your seed with standard “sand box” sand (using about 5 parts sand to 1 part seed. This allows for a more fair distribution, and also provides a way to easily label which parts of a site are seeded, and which is not. You do not have to do this for a successful planting, but for most people after sowing, lightly press your seeds into the soil – no more than ½ an inch – putting them deeper in the ground will protect them from birds, wind disbursement, etc. The trick is to fold it all up… but not to bury it. If it is a small site you can do with some gentle footsteps to cover up the recently planted portion or if it is a bigger location you may think about utilizing a conventional seed roller; frequently made use of when planting yard seed.
The take-home message is this: till as best you can, but don’t fret when some weeds pop up with the flowers!
STEP FOUR:
How to Care for Flower Seeds
All you can really do once the seeds have been sown is sit back and enjoy your flowers. But it is something you can, to a few degree, manipulate, to keep the blooms looking wonderful. Weeding the area regularly will allow the nutrients in the ground to go to your flowers. This means to keep the flowers watered during dry spells. Deadhead blooms when the blooming season is ending to also encourage new growth.