Early sowing annuals Advantage/disadvantage

[Muhammad Arif Khan]

AA, In your opinion what are advantages and draw backs of early sowing of Annuals?
Arif

[Izhar]

In my opinion it promotes early and prolong blooming... it is observed that early sowing may reduce the germination rate, but in my opinion the seeds remain viable and germinate as soon as the temperature becomes suitable...

[Muhammad Arif Khan]

My observation.
Seeds left in the ground if not disturbed germinate usually later than availability of seedlings in the market, but some self seeded keep germinating from early to late. The early germination give early bloom and late bloom late. the best results are of blooms in March.
The early bloomers also mature early and need to be replaced while others are in full bloom.
Sanwal Mali who used to work for me (a real professional), believed that spring should come like a blast, all flowers coming to bloom at the same time, de-budding and clipping the early bloomers, while I feel there should be colour in the garden all around.
Arif

[Muhammad Arif Khan]

Farhan what have you to say?

[Farhan Ahmed]

There are many advantages in my opinion. I always try to get the seeds into soil as early as possible for various reason.
For summer say......Temperature rise can be sudden resulting into either lower germination....chances of mistakes, such as over/under watering,drying out, fungus outbreak etc and also plant will suffer once transplanting because it would have gotten hot enough/ High UV that seedling will bake unless provided shade, now chances are that it will survive but the shock will stun its growth. Like i would sow summer annuals in early March...and you know April in Lahore can easily mean highs of 30 C.

For cool season annuals, Wonder if i had delayed sowing till mid November here, temperatures this year were down to below 10 at that time meaning by poor or no germination.
Early started cool season annuals, will be strong enough/big enough when frost arrives/or you can say cold arrives if someone's area is frost free. Early starting means early establishment in ground. This mean utilizing time before cold arrives to gain growth, because they will be actually no growth in coldest time.

Now every plant blooms when a certain temperature is reached, so if one has started earlier the vegetative growth is exceptional therefore manifold increase in blooms. For instance this season i started petunia in early October. Transplanted around end Oct in ground, believe you me each plant is more than 1 1/2 feet wide and its not even spring yet( this is not that growth when petunia starts to branch out and becomes ugly, this is compact bushy growth)

Another very important aspect is that annuals are not like bulbs that they will give specified number of blooms and then die, life of annuals is dependent on favorable weather accompanied with gardening techniques such as dead-heading, pinching etc etc. So even if i start early the plant will continue to bloom good till suitable weather , if i provide it with good nutrients and water and ofcourse deadhead. This is true that if you continue to dead head extensively plant will gradually lose its strength and start to present slightly low quality blooms but that is also manageable by dead heading a little late or using shearing.

Now this being said, there is individual behavior to annuals also, for instance sweetpeas will only perform when started early, they are bound to finish in March if sown any later than Mid-October. Calendulas, Nemesias and Pansies for instance are early bloomers. Pansies won't tolerate hot weather at all. Nemesias, Linaria, dahlberg can give winter color and can be sheared for another flush.

In case of frost damage, if plant is bigger(early started) it will always spring back.
More vegetative growth means more pest resistance.(vegetative growth will only come if the bloom temperature is far away)

Now you see you can not expect mesembry to last when plants such as Godetia will bloom. Mesembry is early spring plant where as godetia(farewell to spring) is almost last plant to bloom. Therefore either you should bent you back and deadhead every single bloom of mesembry, or replace it with something else at late spring or most importantly....this spring plan is flawed if you are looking for simultaneous bloom (sudden burst), then you must plant annuals that peak around same time.

Now this being said sudden burst does not mean that every plant in your garden will bloom at one time, never, sudden burst is even if 50% of your plants are blooming. This is something that i have learnt with experimenting. This 50 % is more than enough to give a look of AWWWW. So many blooms. ofcourse careful placement/mixing is important here, or else one corner will be dull and other bright.

Now some plants will take longer time to reach to the size (size/temperature matching) when they are bloom able. For instance i have been using Gaillardias as spring plants, whereas they are not. If started early gaillardia can bloom in mid to late spring only by the virtue of early starting.

There are so many advantages....like for instance take X annual started early, as soon as weather gets little hot it will bloom as the plant size is capable enough, BUT its not hot enough to disturb the plant, therefore bloom lasts long, there is better color and appearance of flower, unlike April(summer) when a flower doesn't even last for one day because of heat. Moreover heat destroys the color. In current weather(Feb) the plants that are blooming with me are actually enjoying, flower lasts for several days, opens and closes, waits for pollinators which are very few at the moment, therefore it says to itself lets try tomorrow maybe something comes and pollinates me

i think i should stop ......LOL

[Farhan Ahmed]

For annuals, early sowing means extending season, which can enable year round blooms
If you want i can discuss every annual. For instance poppy can not withstand heat, only solution early starting, therefore countless blooms
I agree. self seeded germinate late, that is because of poor soil culture.

[Muhammad Arif Khan]

Thank you Farhan, print of your post is attached in my garden dairy for reference.
It is a good advice to all.
Arif

[Izhar]

excellent elaboration Farhan...

[khabbab]

Farhan, great job. Many gardeners are not aware of which annuals to sow early to perform well. I think one small list of such will be very beneficial.

[Hamad Ahmed Kisana]

great job farhan bhai...i am fully agreed with him...this season i am enjoying healthy and early bloomers.so early sowing proved very useful for me.flowers remain opened as farhan bhai said for many days.