Planting Zinnias from Seed in the Cut Flower Garden

Hey everybody, what's up and welcome back to our series about how to grow flowers today We are focusing on how to grow zinnias. Now. This is one of the most popular flowers here on my channel Um, so let's get right on into it. First. We need to decide How we are going to start the seed now It's important to note that zinnias are not tolerant to frost So that means if there's any chance of frost it is not good news for your zinnias So the first thing we can do is direct sow the seed That just means we're going to prepare our soil bed and put the seeds right into the soil This is a great option If you are a beginner gardener it works well and for zinnias you're likely to get a pretty good germination rate I like to do when I direct sow zinnias is just surface sow them and then Lightly rake some soil over top and water that bed really really well When you are doing this you want to make sure that all chance of frost is gone in your area It's likely if the conditions are good You want to keep that bed nice and moist if the conditions are good those will germinate within a week and you'll have Small little seedlings. There are a couple of other options Of course, you can start them in seed trays indoors under grow lights. I personally do not start any seeds indoors So i'm not qualified to tell you about that Uh winter sowing is an option You can winter sow these about I don't know I would say about two to three weeks before your last frost date using the winter sowing method If you're unfamiliar with that, you can search that here on my channel Just type in winter sowing zinnias and a video should pop up to help you You can do kind of a hybrid method of both of those Which is what I like to do is where I prepare a seed tray And then I sow the zinnia seeds into the tray cover them with soil make sure that the Potting mix is nice and you know, nice even moisture And then what I do is I place that tray into an unheated low tunnel If you don't have access to an unheated low tunnel, of course, this can be you know an unheated greenhouse It can be a cold frame. There are a lot of options. I usually do this around the end of march My last frost date here is about the first week of may So I usually begin this process about the end of march because obviously zinnias are fast growing We don't want them to get too large in their tray But when the time is right the zinnia seeds will germinate And by the time that our last frost has passed here where I am Those seedlings will be plenty large enough for me to transplant into the garden into the flower bed Transplanting the zinnias is really helpful because not only do we get flowers sooner But those plants can get really nice and established before, you know, summer insect pressure arrives In general zinnia plants like weather that is hot and they don't seem to mind my humidity at all So you really want to make sure you're providing them with those conditions Here in my yard It is not uncommon for zinnia plants to be you know Six foot tall by the end of the growing season just because it does get so hot here Once you have transplanted these zinnias, there's really not much maintenance that you need to do You can pinch them back or remove the growth tip Once they have about four or five sets of leaves if you want them to start branching earlier But that's totally optional and up to you. I personally don't even do it um The zinnia plants will branch and produce more blooms as they grow When they do flower you want to make sure that you are deadheading them Or removing the spent blooms because that will keep the blooms coming throughout the entire growing season In general when it comes to zinnias I like to say the more that you cut the flowers the more flowers and more new flowers that you're going to get It's going to look absolutely Gorgeous might have some problems with pests if like me you're on the east coast of the united states. I have japanese beetles Japanese beetles always come and they can pretty much destroy the looks of my zinnias for about a month straight There are all kinds of ways you can control the japanese beetle. Um, I personally just you know Flick them into a soapy water bucket here in my yard. I don't use any chemicals in my yard. So that's just what I do Most bug damage that is done to zinnia plants If the plants are well established the zinnias will be fun They'll just look a little bit ugly for a while and ratty look out for usually in the fall where I am When the temperatures begin to get quite a bit cooler at night Uh, the onset of powdery mildew will show up. It's only a matter of time here in my yard I'm, just waiting for it to show its first suns. There are some treatments for those You can probably find more about that online if you want to combat the powdery mildew. I know I usually just pull the zinnias out from my yard when that happens just because you know They've already had a long growing season If you're interested in getting the most out of your zinnias for cut flowers, you can definitely succession plant them and plant new flowers Every two weeks this will ensure that you have a constant supply of the nice big blooms Um in general the bloom size does seem to decrease a little bit As the season goes further along so some people like to plant new plants to keep those looking just replenished and nice If you live somewhere that is very windy or prone to strong thunderstorms You might want to consider using a horizontal trellis netting to support these a little bit to keep them from blowing over um That might not be necessary in all places, but it definitely Is helpful here in my yard Overall, you just want to make sure you're giving these plants some nice consistent moisture I usually fertilize once at the beginning of the year with a seabird guano. That's just what I use Again, it's up to you what you want to use in your yard for your flowers Not only are these just a great addition to the cut flower garden that you can cut and put in a vase They have extremely long vase life, but they are so incredibly attractive to pollinators like butterflies And the hummingbirds here seem to absolutely love them as well. They're so easy to grow I just think they are a great choice, especially if you know, you're growing your very first flower garden for the first time That's really about it for this video. Hopefully it was helpful As always you can leave any questions or comments that you have down below I'm always trying to answer those usually I get to them in about a week Sometimes longer depending upon how busy I am with work and you know the channel and everything If you're new to the channel, be sure to subscribe. I'd absolutely love to have you we are making new content all the time Sometimes it's diy projects. Sometimes it's gardening Um could be even soap making you really never know Uh quite what i'm gonna upload so if you like a little bit of a surprise you might like this channel, too Always gonna just keep on growing Be sure to tell your friends hit the little bell icon all that good stuff I hope that you guys are having such an amazing day and i'll talk to y'all later. Bye guys