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Container gardening with seeds
Hi,
I am really starting out gardening new. I would like to start decorating the patio with containers. I live in California. I have following questions: 1. Is it a wrong time of the year to start? 2. I would love to grow plants from seeds, rather than buying the plants and re-potting them. Can I sow seeds in the container directly? Or do I have to grow elsewhere first? 3. Any suggestions for beautiful flower plants that I can grow from seeds and have bloom soon, in fall/winter? Thanks a lot. Any pointer to web site or book will be great too. Uday |
"Udayan" wrote in message m... Hi, I am really starting out gardening new. I would like to start decorating the patio with containers. I live in California. I have following questions: 1. Is it a wrong time of the year to start? 2. I would love to grow plants from seeds, rather than buying the plants and re-potting them. Can I sow seeds in the container directly? Or do I have to grow elsewhere first? 3. Any suggestions for beautiful flower plants that I can grow from seeds and have bloom soon, in fall/winter? Thanks a lot. Any pointer to web site or book will be great too. Uday Spring is much better time to approach this, as you will have a much larger selection of plants to choose from, but you can also start cool weather annuals from seed now. I'd go with something like pansies or violas - they germinate quickly from seed and prefer the cooler weather of fall and mild winters. You can direct sow these into containers, but don't overdo and make sure the containers are sufficiently large enough to accomodate them without drying out too fast. If you can find seeds of Nemesia or Schizanthus or even sweet peas, these will also offer a long bloom season in cooler weather in mild climates. An advantage of buying starts at your local garden center rather than starting all from seed is that you can combine multiple types of plants in a pleasing color combination with draping groundcovers or ivy to have a much more visually appealing presentation. Look for something larger and bold for a focal point - fall mums, grasses or ornamental cabbages and kales work well with the smaller plants like pansies. pam - gardengal |
Thanks a lot pam. Yes it is easier to start out with plants, but more
satisfying to grow from seeds, I think... I'll try both... Uday Spring is much better time to approach this, as you will have a much larger selection of plants to choose from, but you can also start cool weather annuals from seed now. I'd go with something like pansies or violas - they germinate quickly from seed and prefer the cooler weather of fall and mild winters. You can direct sow these into containers, but don't overdo and make sure the containers are sufficiently large enough to accomodate them without drying out too fast. If you can find seeds of Nemesia or Schizanthus or even sweet peas, these will also offer a long bloom season in cooler weather in mild climates. An advantage of buying starts at your local garden center rather than starting all from seed is that you can combine multiple types of plants in a pleasing color combination with draping groundcovers or ivy to have a much more visually appealing presentation. Look for something larger and bold for a focal point - fall mums, grasses or ornamental cabbages and kales work well with the smaller plants like pansies. pam - gardengal |
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On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 20:46:56 -0400, wrote:
On 26 Aug 2004 15:52:38 -0700, (Udayan) wrote: Thanks a lot pam. Yes it is easier to start out with plants, but more satisfying to grow from seeds, I think... I'll try both... I had some good luck starting some containers from seed. Really? Where do you get container seeds? I need both a variety that grows small, seed-starting pots and another for great big ones I can raise herbs and vegetables in. How do you tell when they're ripe? :-) |
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