Creating borders for the first time

My garden was overhauled last year and I now have a fresh start with some empty raised beds and borders that are ready to be filled with flowers. I feel as if I'm now in the 'exciting' phase, where I can start to make my garden look attractive.

In order to save money I was hoping to plant some seeds now (late March / early April), in the hope that flowers will bloom in the summer time. I may see if my local garden centre has seed packets or I can buy online from Crocus.

I'm planning to keep a fairly consistent colour scheme, e.g different shades of blues, purples and whites. I'm leaning towards picking 2 or 3 hardy annuals.

Is there anything in particular I should be aware of when planting borders from seeds? Or is it as simple as creating grooves in the soil, spreading the seeds, covering & watering?

Maybe I'm overthinking things but gardening is more complicated than I expected, especially if you want to get things just right.

 

Seed is much cheaper from Wilcos:

Flower Bulbs & Seeds | wilko.com

I usually start my seed off in trays and then transfer to pots as they grow. You can then put plants where you want them.

I have mainly perennials with a few bedding plants at the front, but that's down to preference

 

@kazzawazza
@sandhun If you source Hardy annuals with your preferred colour scheme in mind for example seeds such as Borage
Cornflowers
and White night scented Phlox

both the Borage and Cornflower come in white and blue and the Cornflowers also come in dark and light blue also lilac and purple..... and as you can see the Phlox has purple undersides, and has the most amazing scent too. These are all hardy and in my experience when direct sown cope well against the elements and the dreaded potential slug attack
Hope this video helps too

 

Summer bulbs are readily available from places like B&M, the Range, QD, Poundland, wilko, the Factory Shop etc. There is often a good selection of seeds. Garden centres and DIy stores keep them too. I once ordered something from Crocus that I couldn't get any where else. It goes without saying that P+p is added to online orders. I personly wouldn't bother if I could get what I wanted locally.

G.

 

Sandhun..."exciting" indeed
Yes, go cheap with annuals for this summer. Enjoy a riot of colour,,whatever you choose.
At summer's end you will probably have caught the garden "bug" and start to think of perennials, shrubs, bulbs, etc
Rememeber, you wont make any drastic mistakes with annuals....they will last until autumn....but visit garden centres and garden nurseries to consider long term plants; see what your neighbours grow and that you like and gather ideas during the next few months.
Enjoy. Have fun

 

What size are the beds/borders?

Very exciting indeed!!!

When you go to select the seeds you wish to try, look at the packet to see if it states "sow direct". Those would be the ones you put out into the garden beds borders and not the ones which need to be sown in a propagator. There are a good number of seeds which can be sown directly into beds and borders so you won't be without choice. Beehappy has already given you some great suggestions.

Excellent question! Yes, there are a few things you need to bear in mind to increase your success with sowing direct. The soil should be free draining and fine. If you have heavy clay soil you would drastically reduce your success rate. The soil shouldn't hold water or be soggy when you sow; damp is ok, soggy/waterlogged is not. One way to think about it: if the soil sticks to your wEllies, it is too wet to sow
Remove any weeds or stones (unless decorative stones ).
One tip I picked up was to sow the seeds in a shape - a X works for me but you may prefer a circle or a triangle - the aim is to be able to *see* your seeds growing and not confuse them with any weeds which are determined to pop up despite your best efforts!
Another tip: when choosing your seeds, as you want to keep to a particular colour theme, do choose your packets carefully as a goodly number of suppliers tend to go the "mixed" route!
I adore cornflowers and, as stated above, can come in traditional cornflower blue or even a dark purple colour (called Black Ball, but it really is a dark purple). Easy peasy to grow.
Nigella is another easy to sow and grow from seed flower.
As also stated above, you could pick up some summer flowering bulbs from some of the cheaper shops. I bought some gorgeous deep purple gladioli from The Range plus a packet of white ones to contrast them with. Those I will be planting next month.
Cosmos it another annual which produces gorgeous flowers and the seeds can also be sown directly into the ground. "Purity", a white cosmos, makes a striking plant and almost looks like a small shrub by the time it has reached full growth.

One other thing to consider if you are using annual plants this year: the more you deadhead the flowers which are past their best, the more flowers it will produce. This is because its sole aim is to make seed! If you take away the flowers before they make seed, the plant should continue to flower until the end of summer/beginning of Autumn.

Enjoy experimenting this year with your direct sown seeds

 

....well actually an excellent comprehensive post by @"M" .... for mentioning Cosmos "Purity" one of me ALL time favs.... why did i not suggest it

 

I just watched the video. I couldn't be doing with all that. At the pace I work, summer would be over before I got to finish it.



G.

 

I've direct sown all of the following and had really good results, pics are off the net .......

Nigella "oxford blue"




Phacelia campanularia




Linaria purpurea (perennial)





Nemophila menziesii (Baby blue eyes)



Cerinthe major 'Purpurascens'

 

Just to add, California Poppy's are easy and can be sown direct. I've had good results with this one....

Eschscholzia californica 'Alba'

 

Lovely choices @Fern4

 

All good advice above and some nice plants to consider, this is my first main year growing my own flowers, most of what ive planted need light for them to germinate so just need pressing against the soil all instructions can be found on the packets, good luck have fun.

 

Don't forget to check the seed packets for plant height. If you get it wrong shorter plants would be hidden behind taller ones.

 

Thanks everyone for the helpful replies to this thread.

@"M" there are 2 raised beds. They are 240cm x 80cm. In addition, there are 2 borders which are 300cm x 70cm.

So far, I bought 3 seed packets which can be sown directly. They are phlox, cornflower and nigella. No idea whether these packets are sufficient to cover the space I have.

Interesting that you suggested sowing seeds in an 'x' or circle shape. My initial thought was to use rows of straight lines.

 

I use borage & phacelia tanacetifolia, they are great for bees and so easy to sow direct - they always come up quickly with ease. Also trying Phacelia campanularia this year - it prefers drier conditions I believe so may pot grow it.