What to sow now troubled gardener

[Farhan Ahmed]

I was late in sowing summer seeds and then Damping off, drought(sandy soil) and scorching heat from above(risalpur..Avg 44-48 C ) all played their part and most of my seed starting ventures didn't pay off.

As the weather is improving a little my impatient nature wants me to sow seeds to fill places and have some early blooms of late summer/fall but i m not sure whether it would work or not. But any way i want to take the risk. Kindly can you peeps recommend plants that can be sown now (indoor in pots or outdoors), with "any" chance of success. Failures have caused my seed bank to grow enormously so you can recommend whatever you can think of especially annuals......Any tips would also be a great help

Would be grateful.......

[UMARKHANMARDAN]

Farhan wait till first week of August.i,l recommend to purchase seedlings from Islamabad(rooted cuttings are better,if available).after first week of August plant Mari golds F-Inca.

plant single color in separate bed for max impact.if you want to enhance the color range you can also plant French Mari gold Bonanza series.if you want some thing different try African Mari gold F-1 Vanilla,producing creamy white flowers.you can also get Dahlia rooted cuttings from Islamabad or Murree.these days are not fit for any annuals seeds sowing.Zinnia elegans is already in bloom which will come to an end because of heavy rains.Rains cause powder mildew in Zinnia elegans finally killing it.

[Izhar]

For filling up the spaces and year-round blooms i recommend Zinnia "Profusions" series... the best feature is that you can cut a branch and poke it in to the bed just like perennial portulaca and you will have a new plant in no time... prolific bloomer.. French marigold is another filler plant.. you can sow the seeds now... "Bonanza" series is excellent and comes true from seeds for atleast 2-3 generations... Dahlberg daisies have a beautiful fine foliage and cute yellow blooms in abundance.. these all plants readily reseeds themselves...

[khabbab]

I would recommend wait till temps go down. I am as impatient as you in sowing seeds. I sowed lots of seeds in June and only passionflower sprouted, rest no success. Even echinacea and hollyhock did not sprout at all. I will resume sowing after Eid now.

[Farhan Ahmed]

@ Umar bhai.....thanks for the advice......so i i will hold till 1st week of August but that would be limit of my patience ......

@ Izhar.......Marigolds, zinnias, gomphrena, tithonia, celosia and vinca i am growing these days, however zinnias, celosia F-1 and vincas are not very healthy. Oh i envy your weather of Karachi

@ Khabbab bhai lets order from T & M and start sowing August first week....the main consideration is that further we delay sowing , smaller will be the growing season that we will get. Winter will be round the corner in November.

[UMARKHANMARDAN]

Profussion is ultimate for monsoon.but if you have planted it before monsoon.the reason is its not from the elegans class & rain do not cause powdery mildew.mine will be in flower after a week.it produce runners.so you can even plant the runners in another place as already stated by Izhar sb. the only thing the flower size is small(2 ich)

[Izhar]

Take a look at the Profusion double Zinnia, they produced much much more blooms after that:

[Rizwan]

there are seeds called " shades of pink" that suttons sell, i have sowed them they look really good and make excellent cut flowers.