Gardening has changed my life so much, and I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to explain how fully. I love documenting my gardening journey on YouTube. Still, I also wanted to write a few posts, starting with easy seeds to sow for the beginner gardener.
It can be overwhelming if you’re thinking about starting to garden, not knowing where to begin. I get it. Sowing seeds is a great way to grow your confidence while growing some beautiful flowers, and the best place to start is with some annuals.
You’ll get one season out of the seeds I list below, so it’s not a huge commitment. But if you start sowing seeds, they’ll fill you with so much joy, and you’ll be so proud of yourself, knowing you grew all of those flowers yourself from seed! You’ll be hooked!
If you follow me on YouTube, you’ll already know I’m seed-obsessed. No, I mean it. I’m not well! But sowing seeds is one of my favourite parts of gardening because it’s therapeutic, it’s easy, and when I sow seeds, I’m filled with hope and excitement at what’s to come.
And one of my favourite things about gardening is keeping an eye out for when the seeds germinate! Yes, I’m known to check on them a few times a day, and sometimes, I’ll check on a batch in the morning, and that evening, they’ll have sprouted!
For lots more garden content, visit my YouTube channel, where I’ve been documenting my gardening journey each week. I include the good, the bad, my successes and learnings over the last couple of years, so there’s lots to catch up on.
Sunflowers
Sunflowers are my all-time favourite flowers and have been for years. Growing my first sunflower was so much fun, albeit stressful, as I’d bought a giant variety! Some grew to the height of the back wall, and one got snapped in a windstorm one day. Nothing a bit of masking tape didn’t fix!
In the last couple of years, I’ve loved growing different varieties. Little Dorrit are perfect for pots on the patio, and this year, I’ll grow them in pots, but I’m going to try them in the ground, too. They’re great for cutting as the flower heads aren’t too big.
I’ve also grown Sunspot sunflowers and love that I never know what colour the petals will be as the seeds all look the same. This variety produces a lot of sunflower heads. So, they’re great for cut flowers, but they will need support because even though the stalks are thick and sturdy, the number of flowerheads you’ll get can weigh things down a lot.
Sunflowers love being planted in a hot, sunny position in the garden, as they like 6-8 hours of sunlight daily. However, that is never a guarantee in Ireland, but mine have fared quite well over the years.
I don’t think there’ll be a time when you look out into your garden, see a sunflower you’ve grown and not smile! They’re magic. And they will also make you very aware of the wind too. My nerves for those stalks every time it’s windy!
Sweetpeas
Sweetpeas are so easy to grow, and you can start sowing your seeds now! Sweetpea roots can be really long, so it’s best to grow them in a long root trainer or the cardboard centre from a toilet roll. You can plant them out as is, toilet roll and all. The cardboard will disintegrate in the soil, so happy days.
There are so many varieties of sweetpeas to choose from, and they’re so beautifully fragrant. Cut them as they flower to maximise their blooms, and the plant will put more energy into growing new blooms instead of seeds.
Sweetpeas like the roots to be cool and the flowers and foliage in the sun. I’ve had great success planting them in both pots and the ground. They’ll need support, and I’ve grown mine up bamboo canes and up an archway, too.
They’re fantastic as cut-and-come-again blooms. The more you cut them, the more flowers emerge, as the plant won’t send energy to make the seeds. But when it comes to the end of
the season, I let some seedheads develop, dry out and save them for the following year.
Cosmos
Another must-have in my garden are cosmos. I’ve only grown them in shades of pink and white, but last year, I grew the apricot lemonade variety, which was gorgeous.
You can grow cosmos undercover from March to April or sow directly in pots or the ground in May. They usually germinate quickly, and as they get taller, you can pinch out the tips to get bushier plants. If you are looking for height, don’t pinch them out and let them grow tall in all their glory.
As long as you keep picking the blooms, they’ll keep producing flowers, and towards the end of the summer, you can let some go to seed and then harvest them, ready for next year. You can get so many seeds from one seedhead; they’re a productive flower. Still, most importantly, they’re super easy to grow.
Poached Egg
These are so much fun to grow and look more like a fried egg than a poached one! But they’re quick to flower, are so bright and friendly, and they’re hardy too. When the family is over for BBQs, we’ve stepped on them many times, and they’ve survived.
This plant is self-seeding, and as the seed drops at the end of its cycle, come next spring, you’ll see more plants sprouting up around the original plant. The leaves are pretty distinctive, so they’re easy enough to dig up and move around the garden.
I recently learned that the poached egg plant attracts hoverflies, which eat aphids. So I’ll be sowing more seeds this year and leaving them close to my tomatoes, asters, cosmos and zinnias, which aphids love!
Zinnias
I grew these for the first time last year and loved the burst of colour they brought to the garden. They work well in pots and in the ground. Once you protect them from the slugs when they’re seedlings (this works for all of the baby plants), you’ll have great pops of colour in your garden or on your patio or balcony.
Again, there are so many different varieties of zinnias to choose from, so go wild and experiment! Check out this week’s YouTube video to see which varieties I’ll be growing this year and next week, I’ll be explaining how to sow these seeds and many more!
