Late sowing

I've been late and disorganised with my sowing as usual (away at Easter, never caught up since)and have just been chucking seed into pots whenever I've had a minute. I've sown N sylvestris and alata recently, just a few green dots so far. I also sowed a tray of sweet peas last week. There's a few other things I wouldn't mind sowing this week, as well as nasturtiums which I usually sow direct in June/early July as I reckon they'll avoid blackfly.

My question is, can I expect to get a result from sowing as late as this, especially with the sweet peas? I'm quite happy for things not to flower until late August, as I'm a teacher and am often away in the summer, anyway. I like to have lots going on in the garden in Sept/Oct and plants that I can pop into a late gap are very useful.

Does anyone have any does/don'ts about what we can get away with re late seed-sowing?

 

I am sure you can get good results Madahhlia. As days get longer and warmer, the rate at which plants grow accelerates. So anything sown eight weeks ago, may only end up a couple of weeks ahead at the end of the season.

Christopher Lloyd, in his books, warns about sowing seeds too early, and he specifically says he won't sow Cleome and Tithonis till May, because they get knocked back badly by cold weather.

 

I've always wanted to grow tithonia but my attempts have always met with dismal failure. Cleome is a bit easier, but they grow fast and if sown too early they get hard to manage in terms of space/potting on before planting out time.