[garddwr]

I am planing for next year and interested in raising a lot of summer bedding plants from seed.

Has anyone had success in doing this ?

Which plants are best to grow from seed ?

I would be interested in doing busy lizzie,pansy,marigolds,sylvias,dahlias,petunias,lobelia and asters

any instructions would be useful when to sow indoors then poting on and so on

thanks

[mtoyne]

Hiya, i was a total novice this year. I grew Geranium f2 super hybrid mix, french marigold  glowing embers, calendula orange king, swan river daisy,
petunia f2 colorama mix, lobelia cascade mix, and trailing nasturtiums.
Sowed them all the same way, in a seed tray with a plastic lid, stuck them in airing cupboard to germinate, potted on when they got big enough to handle. Thay were really easy and i had the satisfaction of spending less than £10 on all the flowers for 5 hanging baskets and 15 pots ( went a bit over the top with seeds.) I did this late jan.
Marigold and calendula were duel purpose, i chose them as they are great companion plants, kept all the nastys away from my veg.

[garddwr]

Where did you buy the seeds ?Did you raise them in a greenhouse ?
thanks for ur reply

[mtoyne]

Hiya, the lobelia, daisy, nasturtium and petunia seeds came in a pack for about 50p from a shop near me called Range.
Geraniums were from Suttons seeds. I grew them as my neighbour buys them every year as plants and they last till late Autum in his garden.
Marigold and Calendula were B&Qs own.
After germination i grew mine on my windowsills, hubby wasnt amused. I put them in a cheep plastic greenhouse ive got to harden them off.

[garddwr]

Thats cheap unfortunatley I dont have any range stores near !!