Seeds to sow for summer nectar
Attract pollinators to your garden by sowing seed of nectar and pollen-rich plants.
Plants with simple flowers, such as cosmos, ox-eye daisy and echinacea, are a great source of pollen and nectar for pollinators, flowering from summer through to autumn. And they’re easy to grow from seed. Follow our step-by-step guide to growing pollinator-friendly plants from seed, below.
You Will Need
- 10cm pots
- Multi-purpose, peat-free compost
- Watering can with rose attachment
- Hardy annual seed
- Pencil
- Vermiculite (optional)
Step 1
In March or April, fill your 10cm pots to the top with seed-sowing or sieved multi-purpose compost. Gently tamp the compost down in the pot and then level off with a pencil or stick.
Step 2
The size of the seeds will determine how you sow them. Larger seeds, such as those of cerinthe, will need pushing down into the compost to the same depth as the size of the seed. Small seeds, such as cosmos, need only scattering thinly across the surface of the compost.
Step 3
Use your hands to sprinkle compost or vermiculite carefully over the top of the seeds so they're covered to a depth of about 3mm. Label your pots.
Step 4
Use a can with a fine rose to water the seeds in. Place in a greenhouse or on a warm, bright windowsill indoors. Keep the compost just moist.
Step 5
When the first true leaves show, use a pencil to prick out each new seedling, holding it by the leaves, and planting out into individual pots.
Step 6
Grow on indoors until after the last frosts (in May or June), when you can plant them out into your patch. If slugs and snails are a problem in your garden then wait until the plants are large enough to withstand attack, before planting out.