Seed sowing in autumn
- patrickwiltshire3
- Oct 1
- 4 min read
Get lots of new plants in your East Yorkshire garden to fill gaps or to put in pots for a display on your patio, courtyard or balcony. How? By sowing seeds of biennial and perennial flowers now, keep cosseted over winter and planted outside in spring. Did I mention it's a budget-friendly way to garden?
Every autumn I fill seed tray after seed tray with light and fluffy compost to prepare for the seeds I collect from my garden plants. Why? To sow and let these seeds germinate post-summer. This works with a lot of biennials (plants that flower in Year 2) like evening primrose and hollyhocks (pictured above) and some perennials (plants that flower every year) too like heleniums.
I recommend sowing seeds in September to get a head start but if like me you're too busy that month it can roll over to October.
Why sow seeds of biennials now?
Sow seeds of biennials now to:
give your seedlings a taste of the cold months of winter and toughen them up
get flowers for next summer
to fill the greenhouse in autumn with lovely seedlings and small plants
to get lots of plants growing without spending a fortune at the garden centre
for peace of mind, knowing you'll have an arsenal of plants for your garden next year
Give your seedlings a taste of the cold months of winter and toughen them up
Plants fare well to getting a bit of hardening-up at the early stages of their life. They produce robust leaves and stems and are more able to withstand stormy spells the following summer. In winter cover the young plants with a horticultural fleece overnight and then remove the fleece by day.
Get flowers for next summer
Biennials produce a collection of leaves in Year 1, rest for winter and then flower for much of Year 2 then die; this is their life-cycle. If you sow seeds of biennials in spring you have to wait until Summer 2 before they flower so sowing in autumn is a great way of getting flowers in Summer 1. This works for hollyhocks, foxgloves, wallflowers, evening primrose and perennial heleniums.
To fill the greenhouse in autumn with lovely seedlings and small plants
After the last of the tomatoes have fruited and you remove the tomato plants the greenhouse can often become bare and unused in autumn and winter. What better way to keep your greenhouse lively and productive than with lots of new seedlings and young plants growing into late autumn. The greenhouse is a lovely place for a bit of quiet time as well; trust me, I know this from experience!
To get lots of plants growing without spending a fortune at the garden centre
A garden full to the brim with colourful flowers in all shapes and sizes. A delight to the senses. Combine this delight with the fact you've spent relatively little on plants by sowing seeds in the autumn. Good for the purse and good for the satisfaction levels.
For peace of mind, knowing you'll have an arsenal of plants for your garden next year
Planning for next year means that you're free from having to make choices in the spring when it all gets busy in the garden and your mind's elsewhere. Anything to lessen the load of stress is surely a good thing- again I personally know this well.
What you'll need for sowing seeds in autumn
A5 size seed tray with drainage holes
A4 size seed tray without drainage holes
Seed and cuttings compost (light, fluffy compost, not too rich)
Dibber (gardening term for little pointy stick to handle seedlings)
A5 flat piece of board (to press compost down)
Seeds
Vermiculite (a topping for seeds which offers a bit of protection but allows air and some light)
Water tray
Label and pencil
Instructions for sowing seeds in autumn
Clear an area on your greenhouse workbench to put an empty seed tray on it.
Overfill the seed tray with seed and cuttings compost- pile it up to look like a mini-mountain
Take your flat piece of board and strike off the excess compost. I do this in a saw-like motion to leave a seed tray with soil flush to the surface.
Take the board now and press down the soil to compact it a little.
Next sprinkle the seeds you have evenly over the surface.
Sprinkle vermiculite over the seed tray thinly.
Pop this seed tray in a seed tray without holes.
Water from the bottom (i.e. fill the bottom seed tray with water).
Pop a label in the corner of the filled seed tray with plant name and date (if you don't know what the plant is fair enough, it's fun to sow mystery seeds and see what happens).
After anything from 5 days to 2 weeks little green seedlings with start to pop up in the seed tray. This really rewarding - a time as a gardener I love. Keep the soil in the seed tray moist by filling the seed trays up every morning and emptying excess water in the seed trays every evening.
When do you start growing the seedlings in their own pots?
After the first pair of true leaves appear. What does this mean? The first pair of leaves to appear that are not the original seed leaves. Pair 1 = Seed leaves Pair 2 onwards = True leaves.
How do you handle seedlings to put in their own pots?
Never pull seedling out of the tray by their long central stem. Pull them out with the help of a dibber or stick.
Lift the roots out of the soil, holding the seedling by a leaf rather than the stem.
Using the aid pop the seedling into a module tray filled with seed and cuttings compost, tamping the surrounding soil around the roots, firming the seedling in.
What's the watering regime for the seedlings now in individual pots?
Water first thing in the morning filling a seed tray without holes.
Empty excess water in the evening after a full day of the plants taking up water by the roots.
