Fall Cool Flowers

Direct Sowing is exactly what it sounds like: you will decide exactly where you want that plant to grow, and place your seed(s) in the designated spot. Great if you want to space or spread things out in specific areas. I do recommend labeling where you plant seeds so you can keep an eye out for seedlings. Seedlings are baby plants that consist of 3 parts: radicle, hypocotyl and cotyledons, which are the seed leaves, aka the aboveground part of the plant you see. A word of warning: Some seedlings do not look like their adult counterparts, as cotyledons can have a completely different morphology from photosynthesizing leaves which develop a bit later. We often will use tomato cages, or some other device, to ‘mark’ where we plant seeds in the garden, as a visual guide to look for plants. Placing tags near the area you plant seed is always a good idea to remind you what to look for when you’re out weeding, tidying the beds, or looking for your plant babies.

Direct sowing is different from growing in trays, a method where you place seeds into growing medium in celled trays, and wait for a mature enough plant to transplant into the Garden.

Direct sowing may also necessitate thinning, which is where you may get crowding of seedlings if many seeds germinate close together. If your seedlings are too close to each other, that can lead to loss of plants, as they will crowd each other out while they compete for nutrients, water, air and root space. Thinning is the act of deliberately pulling out all but the seedling(s) you want to keep, thus creating the needed space for the mature plant to grow.

The next level up from growing from seed is buying Plugs. Plugs are trays of already growing plants that are fully ready to be transplanted into your garden. Buying plants in plug trays can be more cost efficient than buying nursery size pots, but they do take a bit longer to bulk up. Plug trays are more expensive than starting your own seed, as you are paying a professional for their labor, time, and materials expense. This is a great way to get many of the same type of plant for those that don’t have a greenhouse, space or time to start their own seeds. However: when you buy plug trays, you are getting whatever that tray size is, 50-cell, 72-cell, 128-cell, all of the same plant.

1. Let the flower be your guide.

Most blooming flowers, if left to go to seed, will spread their seed when it’s ready to be planted.That is, the plant has ripened the seed to the point that it can be on it’s own, with the right seed coat dormancy, and let to go when it’s the best time for planting.

This is not true for all flowers, as we grow many flowers that are not native to areas that have climates similar to ours, so their seed is a bit more fragile, and suited to different environments. This type of seed should be collected when it is viable, which is when the seed has been hardened off to exist on its own from the parent plant. Most flower heads gone to seed will desiccate to a point of falling apart where the seed is easily accessible, or falling out. This is when the seed should be collected, before it falls to the ground, or is blown away by the wind. An Introduction to Seed Gathering

For example: Cosmos are a wonderful addition to our gardens, but are native to scrub and meadowland in Mexico. Areas that typically are much drier, and have a different soil substrate than we do in the PNW. While I have had a few cosmos volunteer, it is unreliable and inconsistent, which tells me as the gardener that particular seed is not suited to Fall-Winter sowing. Zinnias and Dahlias, cousins to Cosmos, are from similar climates, so similar results. However, Calendula, in the same family, is from the Mediterranean, and as we have a similar climate, Calendula will readily and easily volunteer, and often sail through our winters as it prefers cooler temps (below 85º F) and can survive down to 25º F. I’ve had Calendula plants survive in pockets in our garden (microclimates) over the winter, and we occasionally drop below 25º F. Microclimates are smaller areas where the climate can differ slightly or dramatically. For instance, next to buildings can have a different climate zone than out in the middle of a field, or the farthest edge of your property.

2. Pay attention to what volunteers. Volunteers are plants that plant themselves, from seed, without any human assistance, and thrive. Weeds can be considered volunteers, as they certainly help themselves to any space available in the Garden and are volunteers that pop up from seed. Over the years, certain plants have let me know that they require absolutely no effort or babysitting on my part, and are happy to do their thing, on their own. These cool flower champs are in my lineup of field volunteers, and seeds that I deliberately direct sow in the Fall for a crop of earlier flowers. See my Direct Sow List below for what you can plant in your gardens now (late Summer - Fall).

3. Be mindful of temperature requirements of plants. Plants that are cooler-weather loving, and often stop growing in the heat, such as Ranunculus and Anemone, are often best planted in cooler weather. Then, there are plants that have vernalization requirements, which is a prolonged cold period that promotes flowering. Plants that fall into this category are all spring bulbs, such as tulips, daffodils, alliums, as well as Peonies.

4. Keep notes. Your Garden notebook will be your guide, as to what you did and what worked, and didn’t. I keep copious records on everything we grow, when it was started from seed, transplanted, etc. so that I can reference that. It’s a great place to mark down things like “bolted on x date” if you are having issues with Brassicas that keep bolting. Bolting is when a plant, usually an edible, will quickly go to flower and seed before we want it too. This is almost always guided by temperature, and/or stress to the plant, and typically renders an edible a loss in the Garden. Plants like lettuces are too bitter to eat once they initiate the flowering process.

No one is going to know your particular garden like you do. You are the one that will be spending time in your Garden, and paying attention to how the plants do. While the internet is a good general guide for looking things up, paying attention to what is happening, and keeping notes for yourself is going to help you start to troubleshoot what works, and what doesn’t. We see a lot of people giving advice on social media platforms, and frankly, some of it is not appropriate for all gardeners. You have to consider so many factors: soil types, zones and temperatures, plants you are growing, time of year, amount of light, disease/pest pressure. There is also a lot of information that I find to be watered, or dumbed down, or that doesn’t explain the nuances, that it’s not actually helpful, and in fact, can be a detriment to your success.

In some cases, growers will tell you that you need a greenhouse, tunnel, or frost cloth to protect plants. This is true for some more of the tender things that can get frost damaged. However, most of the truly Cold Hardy annuals, mentioned for direct sowing below, do not require any supplemental protection and do just fine planted out. We have found, in our wetter environment, that frost cloth can actually damage plants if it is touching them, by causing rot. Unless you have the ability to hoop frost cloth or polyvinyl, by what’s called a caterpillar tunnel (see linked video), you should not lay frost cloth or other material directly onto plants in the winter. Again, knowing your climate, your environment, is key to making the right decisions.