Season Long Blooms - Easy Seeds

If you are on the gardening side of social media like I am, you know how often you see promises of "easy gardening", only to find out it's actually not so easy. Unfortunately, if gardening was always easy then my job wouldn't exist. Still, there are things you can do to brighten your garden that don't break the bank AND only take minimal effort.

Have you ever tried planting with seeds directly into your garden? This process is called "direct sowing" and it's much easier than starting seeds indoors and caring for seedlings for weeks on end. Indoor sowing requires lighting, watering, air circulation, soil, trays, and more. It can be fun, but let's face it, it's a lot for beginners. I once tried to indoor sow hundreds of flowers and it took over my entire living room, and while I did end up with a lot of seedlings, poor planning and too much ambition caused most to fail.

So, how do you direct sow? Honestly, it really is pretty easy. Throw some seeds, cover with some dirt, add water, and there you go. If you take minimal care of them something should come up within a couple of weeks. The real trick is choosing the right plants for this kind gardening, which can be referred to as "chaos gardening". You need flowers that are quick to grow, bloom often, and can be direct sown outdoors in our climate. Not everyone knows why some people choose to start seedlings indoors, but it's often because the plants need a longer and warmer season than our climate can provide, so they need to be started early. Here are some of my favorite flowers that can be direct sown, require little maintenance, and can produce blooms all season long if you stagger plantings correctly.

Zinnias

Zinnias are beautiful, full of color and life, and make great cut flowers! They have far more variety than most know, and can be mixed and matched to create texture and height amongst other plants. They bloom early to mid-summer, but I direct sow from spring to early summer to ensure blooms all season long. Make sure to wait until after the threat of frost, and stagger your plantings by a couple weeks each time. When the blooms are done, they can be deadheaded and, depending on the variety, more flowers will grow from the same plant. At the end of the season, you can leave the spent flowers up and the birds will eat the seeds, or, you can harvest them yourself for replanting next year!

Cosmos

Reminiscent of daisies, cosmos grow incredibly well, come in a variety of colors, and they have very interesting leaves which can adds to the texture of your garden. They are fit for an English cottage garden vibe, and do well all summer and even into the fall. After the frost warnings are gone, you can direct sow them and repeat that every couple of weeks until summer. Sometimes cosmos can get very tall, so you may find staking them or putting them along a trellis will work best. Keep this in mind when planting, they aren't meant for the very front of the garden as they will outshine the shorter plants.

Sunflowers

A statement flower if I ever saw one. Sunflowers grow tall and strong, with giant heavy blooms ranging from light yellow to dark red. The bees love them, and they can bring so much contrast to your garden (especially where height is concerned). My advice, plant in full sun near the back of your garden. While these are annuals, you will be treated to so many seeds in the fall you likely won't ever have to buy seeds again! There are dwarf varieties which grow to around a foot tall, and others that can get as tall as six feet or even higher, so be careful to check the seed bag before you purchase them.

Those are some of my favorites, but there are many more. If you would like more ideas, send us a message!