Too late to sow seeds for summer?

I'm a little late getting started, is it too late to sow potted seeds to grow and transplant into beds in time for summer?

Any perfect flowers come to mine, I'm just looking to make the garden more presentable, not specific about themes/colours etc

 

Hi , I only started planting my annual seeds yesterday so in 6 weeks they will all be going out into the beds and borders just when the frost are over with me , have you a greenhouse or cloche and what you thinking of planting ?

Spruce

 

I have no idea what I'm doing, I have a north facing garden but it's seperate to the house so gets sun all day long.

I would love to be able to plant something very low maintenance that grows back or stays alive all year round (flowering annually)

Variety of colour would be nice but I'm really just trying to create a garden... As apposed to the waste land it currently is!

Thanks for your help

 

No green house, hoping to cover the seeds outside (make shift cold frame) or use windowsills in the house.

 

No it's not too late. I will not be sowing some annuals until beginning of May. Others grow very quickly and can be planted quite late and still flower. Marigolds, lobelia, nicotiana, cosmos and sweet peas can all be sown in pots over the next few weeks to flower this summer.
Dahlia tubers and many summer flowering bulbs are available from gardening centres and can be plant to flower later this summer.

 

Even perennials, which are what you need to grow for permanent plants, can be sown now and will need less molly-codling than early sown seeds. Here's a few suggestions for reliable, low maintenance flowers; Alchemilla mollis, Aquilegia, Aubretia, Nepeta, Oriental Poppies...I'm sure others will be along with useful suggestions for all the ones I can't think of at the moment You could also browse the perennial section of seed catalogues online to see pictures of what's available. Even if not all of them will flower this year, they'll make nice big plants ready for next year

 

I have not sown a seed yet, actually carried a bag of compost into the greenhouse today, so it warms up a bit, will probably do some tomorrow.

 

Where in the UK are you located? (North/South/East/West?) That could make a difference to what you can sow and when.
I'm going with "direct" sowings this year ... I simply do not have the windowsill/ propagator/ cold frame space to do too much else.
There was a recent thread on Sowing Seeds Direct ... I'll have a search and link to it ...




... DONE! Lots of ideas to give your garden some bountiful colour this year (and you can collect the seeds to do the same for you *next* year too ).

 

South east, North hampshire/Surrey.

Direct sow, to what kind of soil? Top soil..... Or just turned soil (what's alreasy there.... Once I pull some of the grass up to make the bed)

 

Turned, dug and raked soil

 

You can be direct sowing from March through to June/July (depending on whether that is for flower or veggies).

 

How about direct sowing for this year of old cottage favourites such as candytuft, larkspur, godetia, clarkia and then sowing perennials such as lupins, carnations, hollyhocks, sweet Williams, pyrethrum, delphiniums to plant out in early autum when the annuals are finished

 

It's definitely not too late. I'll be sowing marigolds, cosmos, nemophila, linaria "fairy bouquet" and california poppys this week. Most I will direct sow into containers.