We have seen them everywhere, from Pinterest to garden centres and even in supermarkets. Plant seeds are readily available for anyone who wants to give them a try. No fancy equipment required. All you need is a container, a plant medium such as compost or soil and the seeds you wish to grow.
For as long as I can remember my mum and late nana grew annual seeds on the windowsills of the house every spring. Annual seeds are seeds of fast-growing plants which often only last one season meaning when they die off in winter, they will not regrow the following year.
Popular annuals are cosmos, sweet pea, nasturtium, and poppies.
Growing your own annuals from seed can save you a good chunk of money and is a very enjoyable process while doing so. Being able to watch a plant grow from such a tiny seedling into a mature plant in a matter of weeks makes the blooms that bit more enjoyable to see.
Now, let’s talk about biennial and perennial seeds.
These are seeds of plants that will last year after year or a couple of years at least. The only thing is they are not as quick to grow as annuals and may not flower in their first year. So that means you need a little patience for these kinds of seeds.
The payback and savings on these seeds tend to be a bit higher than that of annual seeds. I like to look at growing these seeds to be an investment. They take that extra bit longer to mature but it allows me to achieve planting I otherwise would not be able to afford.
Last year we made the four berm gardens which are planted with prairie style planting. To achieve a prairie aesthetic it requires a lot of ornamental grasses mixed among a variety of billowy flowers.
With an average ornamental grass from a garden centre costing between seven to ten euro this option was way outside my budget.
But seeds were not.
I purchased a variety of ornamental grass seeds online and grew them in my little greenhouse. Not many people would have the patience for growing grasses from seed as they are slow growing and do not flower until the following year. But for me it was worth the wait.
Growing from seed meant I could produce countless grasses for the cost of a single grass if purchased from a garden centre. This year I planted in a total of fourty five large ornamental grasses. A mixture of Maiden Grass, Stipa Gigantea, Feather Reed Grass and Miscanthus.
A mixture that would have cost me approximately five hundred euro in a garden centre cost me nine euro and eighty-seven cents.
So, even though I had to wait a whole year before I started to see blooms, a saving of €490.13 was definitely worth the wait for me.
Planning a garden in advance will allow you to choose what perennials to grow from seed and hopefully you too can develop the garden of your dreams without breaking the bank!
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