Little success with direst sowing flowers

[MerylSqueak]

I have only really tried this this year but I haven't had much success. I can see I have some Stocks, larkspur and Nigella coming but no flowers yet. I planted an entire packet of Omphalodes and I have only one ( very beautiful) plant.

Is it my clay soil or is it the long dry spell?
Do you have any tips for greater success?

For earlier flowering on better and bigger plants sometimes it's better to plant in the late summer / autumn of the year before. I do this for annuals such as Ammi, pot marigolds etc.

Having said that, I try not to direct sow where possible. Instead plant in plugs or small pots. Often there is too much competition if you sow in open ground.

Yes I don’t seem to have much success sowing seeds directly into the ground. Works much better sowing them inside in seed trays or small pots, hardening them off and then transplanting outside after the frosts.

Yes I have much more success with starting off indoors but some things call for direct sowing only - at least on the packet - and they seem to be the things I want!

But thank you for the tip about sowing the autumn before

I sow stocks and Nigella in pots. The only place where plants reliably self seed for me is in gravel.

If sowing in pots, sow a few seeds in the tiniest container you can, so you can wait till it’s rootbound, and plant out as a plug without disturbing the rootball

I wonder if that would work for putting in the ground too. I might try it next year as the packet instructions haven't lead to success.

I've not heard of this trick before - is this for those plants that call for direct sown only? I've not had success with my Papaver Amazing Grey; Californian poppy; Strawflower; Viper's bugloss; daucus Dara... sown in pots under light and heat as per instructions on the seed packet.

It's only the equivalent of sowing runner beans one to a cell so you don't have to disentangle and risk damaging roots when you plant out.

And the thing about letting the cell completely fill with roots means the rootball doesn't collapse. I think it means less stress for the plant, as you're simply replacing a plastic wall by one of soil, so good for something that doesn't like disturbance, Don't let it get so rootbound that the roots get fixated on going round and round and don't branch out into the new soil.

Generally if it's something I want only 4 or 5 of, I'll plant 6 seeds in a small pot and gently separate them as soon as they have proper leaves, But if it's something like Clarkia or Night Scented Stock, I'll sow a small pinch of seed in each cell, and not separate them, just plant each cell's worth into a bigger pot.

There's no guarantee that this is accepted horticultural practice. But I've learnt two things over the year

1. Accepted horticultural practice has often been developed in a nyrser or the garden of a stately home, with a full time gardener, and aiming to absolutely maximise yield. Not in a modest garden where the "gardener" has limited time, can't always get into the garden when needed and is aiming for "good enough" yield.

2. No-one knows your garden as well as you do. Experminent for all you're worth and try to push boundaries.

I'm going to try it next year. Thank you.

Thanks, I shall take this on and see if it does well for me, @MereDintofPandiculation Btw. have you sown the list of plants that I've failed to grow youself?

@Nachtvlinder Papaver Amazing Grey no, just Shirley poppies a long time ago; Californian poppy yes but not recently Strawflower a very y long time ago ; Viper's bugloss About 4 years ago, but I pricked them out singly then planted out when they’d filled a 3inch pot, since then I’ve let them re-seed; daucus Dara No never. That’s basically a purple flowered wild carrot so should be reasonably easy.

I got fed up of wasting packet after packet of wildflower and poppy seeds so I did this too- sowed in a pot then planted out in clumps. It worked well. I think when I sow direct a lot get eaten straight off by slugs.

@MereDintofPandiculation you seem to be more advanced than me - I'll give it another go for next year as I think its too late to sow now we're in early summer.

@Nachtvlinder When I say "a long time ago" I mean I haven't grown them for 10 or 20 years, not that I sowed them several weeks ago.