SOW these seeds NOW. Cottage garden flowers you can sow right now!

I'm going to list all the plants that I'm going to be sowing from seed in June to flower this summer. Yes, this summer. These are really fast growing seeds, so you will still get plenty of flowers this summer. So if you've missed the boat and you're thinking, oh, my garden's looking really boring, but it's too late, then take heart. You don't have to go to the garden center and spend a fortune buying mature plants. You still have time to grow some gorgeous plants from seed that are going to put on a show this very summer. Obviously, the trick is to buy annual seeds, that seeds that will grow and flower the same year, the same summer. And two, you need to buy quick flowering seeds, quick growing seeds. Usually the window you're looking at is 60 to 90 days from sowing to flowering. So you sow on day one and in 60 days you get a flower or in 90 days you get a that leaves you just enough time for some mid to late summer flowers and late summer flowers. All the flowers that I'm picking will take between 60 and 90 days to grow from seed to flowering. But of course, those numbers will vary depending on how sheltered your garden is, how hot a summer we have, et cetera, et cetera. But generally all these plants should flower well before September. And of course, some will flower sooner than others. Nasturtiums being an example of ones that just flower really quickly. And these are in no particular order of favorites or anything like that. So we'll just crack on. And number one is cosmos. You can grow it in the back of a border as well because it can get nice and tall. It's multi branching. So that gives the impression of loads of flowers. Pollinators love it. You can use it as a cut flower and it's just a fantastic showbiz plant. It does like full sun and you can grow it in containers. Number two is sunflowers. In fact, I find trying to grow sunflowers any earlier than the end of May or June is just too early. They don't like the cooler conditions in my garden and the damp weather. So now is the perfect time to start sunflowers. Many varieties shoot up in like 60 days, especially in a sunny spot. Remember, though, sunflowers like deep roots. Unfortunately, the slugs love the young plants. So I tend to cover with one of my plastic bottle plushes just to provide a barrier between them. But once they get going, they are obviously the splendor of the garden in mid to late summer and even early autumn. Make sure when you're looking at the seeds, you see what size they are because there are so many different varieties now that are suitable for cut flowers. Some that branch, some that are only a single stem with one sunflower at the top. And remember, some can grow up to seven, eight feet tall, while others are much smaller and probably don't even reach a meter. And those are perfect for much smaller container or balcony gardens. So don't forget to take this into account when you're selecting your seeds. Number three is nasturtiums. These are one of the fastest growing and they really will take over your garden as well once they get established. They're beautiful, not in an invasive way. They're just an annual. They will die back, of course, and you can pull them up really easy if they're getting too much. But in contrast to some of the taller plants that we've talked about already, these are nice, low growing plants and they kind of climb and clamber. So they'll go over rockeries and things like that in front gardens, front of borders, pathways. They're just really jolly. They are great in the vegetable garden as well. So if you're a vegetable gardener and you're looking for companion planting, then the nasturtium will attract all your pests and diseases away from your prized vegetables because the caterpillars love the leaves of the nasturtium, which is why they are often grown as a companion plant in a vegetable plot. They don't make the best cut flower, but I find them really cute because they just grow like an abundance in my garden. I often pick them as little posies and have them on the garden table outside. Most often they come in that bright blazing orange colour, but there are a few versions now which have different sort of shades and I have a sort of a creamy yellowy one that also grows in my garden now. And they self-seed all over the place, so once you've established some in your garden, they will come back every year and they are a joy. And if all that isn't good enough, then they are also edible. People make nasturtium pesto, you can put the flowers in a salad to jolly it up. They're just really, really adorable cottage garden plants. They're really idyllic and they're so easy to grow from seed. If you grow nothing else, try these. Number four, almost as easy as nasturtiums, is calendula. So these are kind of mid-range, short to mid-range flowers in the front of a border, great in containers. They also self-seed, you can collect the seeds really easy when they've dried out. They're often used as a herbal sort of essence in face creams and oils and things like that. They are also edible, the petals are edible. They also grow super fast and if the conditions are right, they can be flowering in 60 days from seed, that's super fast. And although they mostly come in yellows and oranges, there are also now other shades that people have developed for cut flowers and things like that. They look really jolly in a posy of cut flowers. So calendula is number four. Number five is zinnias. Of course, zinnias are just smashing, but zinnias do require full sun. And when I've tried to sow my zinnias direct, this is what everybody has always said you should do because they don't like root disturbance, etc. But I will just say the birds eat them. In my garden, I have encouraged so many birds and on the one hand, that's fantastic because they eat all the bugs and the slugs and the snails. But on the other hand, they also like my zinnia seeds. So I now sow my zinnias in the same way as I sow my other seeds, which is in a tray in the greenhouse. I should do a little video on how I do that now. I've got a really nice little setup. And then I plant them out when they're a decent size. But I do obviously have to take care of the roots. They don't like root disturbance. There are so many different varieties of zinnias now and you can kind of succession sow them. So I've already sown some, but I've got to sow more so that you have them ongoing throughout the summer. They're just absolutely fantastic. They're quick to flower. And once they flower, boy, do you know about it? And the pollinators love them. You get them in all sorts of different colours and they make a great cut flower. Number six is the cornflower. That's really jolly. Comes in a variety of colours. The seeds are really easy to get hold of in garden centres. Make sure you buy the annual one, not the perennial, which will take longer and probably won't flower till next year. These are edible. They're fairly medium height, so will probably do well in the mid-border. And they make an excellent cut flower, but they're more of a kind of a filler flower. The next one is number seven and that's gypsophilia covent garden. There are two types of gypsophilia. There is a perennial gypsophilia and there is an annual gypsophilia. If you're going to grow the perennial gypsophilia, that's likely not going to flower until next summer. But if you want to grow the annual gypsophilia, you can grow that now. But anyhow, they are very quick to grow from seed. They're very, very branching and spangly. They're very fine, so you might want to grow them between other plants and just have the little flowers like dazzling through other plants. They are absolutely beautiful and excellent to grow. They look fantastic in a cottage garden and in a bouquet of flowers. And on that note, number eight is sapenaria, which is very, very similar to gypsophilia, except that it's pink and it's slightly different kind of stem. But it's also airy. It's very beautiful, looks fantastic in a bouquet of flowers. But again, because it's so airy, you might want to weave it throughout other flowers and have it growing up through other flowers. But it's multi branching, lots and lots of flower heads on it. And it's just absolutely delightful and really quick to grow from seed. Number nine is what I only started a couple of years ago and I came across it. I just threw these seeds around now in a prepared bed and the blow, blow me down. They all came up as easy as wink, but they had no special effort. They weren't in a propagator. I didn't baby them in the greenhouse. I just threw them in a raised bed and they all grew up and they grew into this mass, riotous mass of gorgeous cottagey flowers. I mean, there is nothing more cottagey than these clarkia that I grew. I highly recommend them because of their ease. They are, they do grow quite tall and I did not stake mine because I didn't know they were going to grow that tall and kind of wiry and branching and just gorgeous. So I think now I would probably try and tame them or just give them enough space to just collapse and fall about among the front of a border. If you want them a bit taller, you might want to stake them in the mid of the border around other plants, but they are just delightful plants. If you want to have a billowing cloud of plants somewhere in your border, somewhere in your garden, I highly recommend these. Although I grew the lighter pink color, they do come in darker pinks and a range of shades. So definitely explore buying clarkia from me. And then finally, number 10 is Ami. Ami again is a bit like dill. It's going to grow tall and riotous, probably not quite as tall as the dill, depending on the variety of Ami that you buy. Some are more airy and tall and some are more sort of compact and tightly knitted. Again, take that into account depending on the size of your garden and the space that you have. But the Ami are just beautiful. They look a bit like the cow parsley that you see in the hedgerows around now all up and down the UK. So Ami is just easy and beautiful to grow. And that's it. I've taken up enough of your time. It's going to be a beautiful weekend here in the UK. We've got a heatwave this bank holiday. So off you go and do some seed buying. And then when you get back, do some seed sowing. And I hope you enjoyed this video. And if you did, don't forget to subscribe, like, share with your friends. And I'll see you again in the next video. Thanks for watching. Bye.