In this batch I have Blue Flax which I will direct sow in the new front garden. It will not bloom in its first year but there is nothing to be done about that. I am thinking of spreading it out across the entire garden and weeding it back to make room for the other perennials as needed. This may not be a bad strategy to cut back on other weeds in a brand spanking new garden when there is so much soil exposed.
Crazy or inspired?
I also have California Poppies for the new side garden where I want to revel in my love of orange as much as possible. An essentially orange garden with blue accents. Of course I already have bought some reds and yellows for that garden but moving forward I will try my best to really build up the oranges.
All the articles say read your seed packages. But not all seed packages say when to sow indoors. Neither the poppies nor flax mention it. Is it because they can both be direct sown easily? They say how long to germinate but that is not enough information.
I am only going to sow indoors those that I am not confident in their ability to be direct sown or that I really want a lot of and can not see a cheaper way around it, like Lupins.
"Russel Mix" Lupins are for the cottage where I am making life a bit easier for myself with a mixed colour palette. They will have the feel of a natural wildflower as I mix them in around the boarders of the roads around our cottage where I hope to see them naturalize over the years.
White Shasty Daisy, white Lupins and white Alyssum are all for the Moon Garden between us and our southern neighbour. The Alyssum I will direct sow; I will try all of the Lupins and half of the daisies indoors and direct-sow the rest. They are daisies after all and I have seen them grow in the craziest inhospitable roadside environments. They are tough.
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I have Blue Flax in my garden and I love it. You are right, you probably won't see anything the first year, but after that it self seeds and comes back every year. Being from Cali, I love CA poppies. I had a few here, but it was just too hot for them. I've tried starting seeds indoors, but I prefer direct sowing. I've never had a problem growing anything I've done this way. Good luck, it sounds beautiful!
ReplyDeleteChristy,
DeleteThanks for the reminder about direct sowing, I am even more eager to try that out than the indoor sowing since it sounds about 1,000 times easier. 2 more months before I can start that though!
My gardens are mostly native plants and I hardly ever plant annuals, so I'm not much help here. I do know that my dad never started seeds indoors, he always direct sowed and his gardens were fantastic. That was in Nevada, but the weather is pretty much the same temperature-wise as here in Nashville.
ReplyDeleteI am certainly going to try my hand at direct sowing. I am skeptical that after making it through a proper germination and first leafing that I will move onto a successful hardening off without incident, LOL.
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