Seeds!

[PinkDaydreams]

Hello all!
Completely new to gardening, attempted a couple of years ago to keep lavender plants but they died!
Anyway, I have a Belfast sink that I’m thinking of putting by the front door planted up. Can I just sow some flower seeds and hope for the best? Also I have no idea when to sow? And what do I do about the plug hole, do I need to block it up?
Thanks all!

Honestly I’d get some little plug plants, you can buy them on line and have them delivered, even amazon do them. Seeds are very hit and miss in my experience, and some need bringing on in a green house. Plug plants and someone else has done the work for you.

Thank you! I’m going to sound very stupid now, but do they need replacing every year? Or do they grow back?

It depends what type you buy, if you buy annuals they need replacing,if you buy perennials they don’t.

I’d not be buying till may, then you can plant them straight in your sink. Leave the plug hole for drainage.

For masses of flowers that last all summer I personally like petunias, they are usually annuals, but flower all summer long. Non stop begonias are also good, but they are not as blousey.

Begonias are self cleaning, but petunias just nip the dead flowers off and they bloom more.

If you decide to go with pugs there is a great offer on moneysavingexpert

Oh gosh I’ve got so much lingo to learn!! I think I’ll need a gardening dictionary

I’ve just found the offer on mse, thank you for that @Straysocks

I remember each year when I was little helping my gran plant up her hanging baskets. She has so many and they were beautiful! Flowers spilling over them, they were so full, vibrant and colourful. She had an old toilet that she planted up also and wellies!

Every bit of life and colours adds to the world. You’ve now inspired me! Getting the wellies out tmrw

I say every year that I’m going to plant up the sink but never do! The two large pots that had lavender in are still there with stones in so they need something doing with them. They’re in front of the living room window but it’s very shaded, gets hardly any sun. What can I do with those please?

I have lots of seeds here, flowers and vegetables, but tbh they are a real pain in the backside.
If you can afford to do so I’d go for ready grown plants.
Seeds can be hard to germinate, things like to eat them or crush them or dig them up outside and indoors they can really leggy

Put a layer of broken pot bits or small stones at the bottom of the sink for drainage, then top up with compost.
Add a packet of wildflower seeds, sprinkled on top of the soil, and gently pay them down.
Most of them will germinate (they're wildflowers, by definition they grow anywhere), and by summer it'll be a riot of colour, attracting bees and butterflies.
If it doesn't rain for a week or so, water it, but otherwise just leave it be.

@InMySpareTime wildflower seeds sound lovely! A few years back my local park had a large wildflower patch which looked lovely and was always full of butterflies and bees. Each year since it’s grown back but not as much.

The Council ones were almost certainly mixed annuals rather than wildlowers - most I've seen have been a mixture of garden varieties and flowers that are wild but not in this country. Still lovely! And usually bee-friendly, and it'd be lovely to see even more of them around in parks and gardens. But calling these displays wildflowers means when people see a restored hay meadow or lightly grazed grassland they may be disappointed and wonder why so much conservation effort is being put into native wild flowers.

No, wildflowers don't by definition grow anywhere . Many of them have very specific requirements. The ones in a "wildflower" packet usually have a lot of arable "weeds" - things like cornflower and corn marigold and poppies, which need newly cleared ground to grow. They won't compete with grass, so you can't get them to establish in your lawn.

Lucky you with a solid sink to plant up. Yes put stones in it at first, best not to put a PLUG in it because it would then fill with water if it rains too much. You could just throw seeds down (make sure you put the name next to them on a label) otherwise you'll have lots of other quicker growing wild plants coming up and it's confusing!!

I tried last season with Evening primroses and had lots of other things and NO flowers!! Pot marigolds are good if you buy small plugs and put them in full sun they spread around nicely eventually.

That’s the trouble, the front of the house is very shaded, I think that’s maybe why my lavender died? Not enough sun.
I just want to brighten the front up a bit, make it feel more welcoming, not that we have any visitors at the minute!!

Mmnn I'm trying to think of a pretty shade loving flower! Yes lavender LOVES full sun. It'll live in slightly shaded circumstances but not too happily. Some bulbs are good in semi shade like crocuses, snowdrops. Aah cyclamen are good in shade. they're autumn flowering and very reliable in my garden anyway.

So not for NOW but you could plant up Camassia bulbss for the summer. that's pretty and like a slim tower of pointed daisies.

Ramonda are good in shade, they like walls though so you could put lots of grit in your sink.

If you get more sun in the summer you could also try Aquilegia or Campanula porrscharkyana (btw I'm using a book called What Plant Where) !! By Roy Lancaster it's a great help.

I hadn’t thought of looking through a book! Thank you for the advice @ppeatfruit

You're welcome It doesn't give comprehensive care advice though. There's another book which does, it's called RHS Good Plant Guide , maybe there's a more up to date copy of it than mine.

Have you heard of the app Libby? It’s linked to your library card so you can borrow books on your kindle etc. had a quick look before and there’s a lot of interesting gardening books on there that may help inspire others like me who have no clue!!

You're chatting with a non tecchie I'm sorry, I've even stopped googling because of security !!

I find the information is never very comprehensive and they want to sell me stuff ALL the effing time!!!! Also my ipad keeps telling me what IT wants to do (there's no choice and it cost too much!!!!).