Novice gardener needing help - seeds

[georgedawes]

I know very little about gardening so help gratefully received!

I have some cornflower, borage and sunflower seeds to plant in my new garden. It says on the pack I can plant directly outside but someone else told me I need to germinate them inside first. Is this true? Last time I tried to do that with tomato plants I killed them :(

Thanks

[BornToFolk]

I always start off seeds inside. Hardier things (like sunflowers) should be OK planted outside but last time I tried that, the slugs ate the seedlings as soon as they sprouted!

IMHO, it's safest to start seeds inside, in small pots or seed trays, then pot on into larger pots but keep inside during the night. You can put them out during the day (this is know as "hardening off") Once they get really big and tough you can plant where you want.

What happened to your tomatoes?

[georgedawes]

Thanks. The tomatoes just seemed to die, a couple of days after planting. Not sure what I did wrong!

[Talkinpeace]

its called "damping off" - very common and happens to experts too.
try another sowing.

[daisydee43]

Main thing is try not to over water new seedlings - use perlite in the compost mix. You can sow in ground but you may not see them from the weeds to start. Would plant sunflower direct

[georgedawes]

thanks for the tips. Wish me luck :)