How to sow flowers indoors

BBC Gardeners' World Magazine

Published: Wednesday, 9 January 2019 at 5:10 pm

Find out how to sow flowers under cover in late winter, for early flowers a few months later.

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For an early display of flowers, sow seed indoors in winter and early spring. This will give you a head start on seeds sown outdoors from April, with blooms appearing up to four weeks sooner.

Flowers to sow in late-winter to early spring include ageratum, antirrhinum, clary, cornflower, echium (Viper's bugloss), French marigold, nigella, rudbeckia, salvia, scabious and zinnia.

Follow our guide to sowing flowers indoors, below.

You Will Need

Multi-purpose, peat-free compost
Vermiculite
Seed tray or small pots

Step 1

Firm and water the compost before sowing. Check sowing depths so you know how much space to leave at the top of the pot for covering seed. Space them evenly and cover with vermiculite, perlite or sieved compost.

Step 2

Keep the pot in a well-lit postion and short, stocky seedlings should emerge. As soon as the true leaves are large enough to hold, they are ready for you to transplant. Leggy, tall seedlings are fragile and prone to damage.

Step 3

Gently tap the pot so you can pull out the seedlings. Take care to handle the seedlings by their seed leaves, rather than their stems, and gently prise them apart. Pot seedlings singly.