Hi friends! I got some flower seeds as a gift recently, and while they say they should be planted in late May early June, I’m worried about them lacking sun in our weird unseasonal weather! It’s been completely overcast and 50s and raining constantly. I’m sharing the planting with some kids in the neighborhood, so I really don’t want them to fail… is it okay to plant them despite the abysmal conditions? They call for full sun, but I’m honestly not sure when we’ll be getting full sun again and I don’t want to plant them too late.
“Full sun” refers to the plants adaptation to light levels from shade. The shade is from things like trees or buildings blocking the sun not weather.
Plant species have many different requirements for their seeds to germinate. Some species need cold temperatures (freezing) to trigger germination. Some need warm weather within a certain range. So cool wet conditions could be ideal seeding conditions depending on the species. Look up the germination conditions for each species you want to plant.
About those germination conditions: often seeds won’t germinate until the good conditions finally arrive. So even sowing in bad conditions is often not so bad. Keep in mind that in nature, seeds often fall at the end of summer just to lie around until next spring.
seeds often fall at the end of summer just to lie around until next spring.
I can definitely corroborate this. The compost I used for a bunch of nursery pots had some of last years uneaten produce tossed in. Seeds and all. I started off growing peppers, and now I’ve got cucumbers and cherry tomatoes growing alongside them.
With cherry tomatoes especially (since they’re small and some will inevitably fall off the plant) you’re bound to see tons of volunteers the next year. This can really happen with anything you leave in your garden, but tomatos seem to be the most prolific.
Oh, cool. Yeah, they are wildflower seeds native to our area, so they should be fine with that logic. We’re trying to make the bees in the neighborhood happy!
Make sure you know your zone and the flowers’ zone. Planting can vary based on that too (although, you probably already got that part handled!)
I think the seeds are likely to call for being sown with something like ⅛"-½" of dirt above them so really would be in the dark until they sprout. (some seeds - like veggies in a garden - you poke a hole in the dirt and put the seed down in the hole, and brush dirt back into the hole; some seeds you scatter on top of the dirt and maybe lightly pat into the loose dirt or maybe scatter a little bit more dirt on top)
As has been mentioned, “full sun” or “full shade” would refer to the sunlight being blocked by something large like a tree or a building. If you have a yard (or neighborhood park) that is hit by sunlight most (usually 6+ hours) of the day, with no trees or buildings or walls casting shadows, that should work well for these seeds.
Also, with the rain you don’t have to water them as much!
Ah, that makes more sense. Guess I wouldn’t really need to worry about the clouds then, there’s nothing obstructing the empty beds from lots of beautiful sun once it decides to make its return! I’ll go ahead and plant them since we at least aren’t having frosts anymore, so no risk of that. Thanks!
