January Seed Sowing

Which Seeds I started now and why

Plus the one seed you NEED to start now!

In this blog post I will:

• Tell you why January actually isn’t a great time to start seeds

• Share with you the seeds I have started

• Show you my seed set up (no fancy lights here)

• Tell you the only seed you NEED to start now

First things first, I have something to confess:

I promised myself I wouldn’t start too many seeds! And what have I done?!? Started lots of seeds…

But really, what is a girl to do? There are just so many gorgeous plants out there.

Last year I grew too many and my garden was a bit of a jumble. I planned for my garden to be more restrained this year. Well, we will see if I manage that but it isn’t looking good seeing as I am already growing more plants than I said I would…

January seed sowing:

Ok, so first of all: January is NOT the time to start lots of seeds! It really, really isnt.

You might be thinking, “is she crazy, she’s both telling me to start seeds and telling me not to? In the same post?!?”

Well yes, and no.

First of all the reason not to:

• the days are still short and there isn’t a lot of day light

• we will have frosts for many weeks to come so we won’t be able to plant things outside for a long time

  So most seeds SHOULD NOT be started yet but as always there are exceptions!

Here are the reason some seeds do need to be started now:

• they take a long time to get germinate

• they need longer to grow before they are productive

• the cold helps them develop better roots and leads to healthier plants.

In essence, don’t start your half hardy perennials yet (your cosmos, for example) but some you definitely should start now!

My Seeds:

I sowed my first batch of seeds on 10.01.2024

The seeds I sowed were:

1. Cobea Scandens (Cup and Saucer Vine)

2. Erysimums (Wallflowers)

3. Foxgloves

4. Hollyhocks

5. Sweet Peas

The longest to germinate (by far) was Cobea Scandens. They took about 17 days to get going by which stage all the others had already shot up

Hollyhock seeds

Cobea Scandens seeds finally getting going

The Process

I start all of my seeds on a windowsill in the utility room.

The window in there is west facing so gets quite a lot of light (well, as much as possible at this time of year). The seeds sit above the washing machine so there is a fair bit of natural warmth and moisture in the room.

My utility room is a naturally warm and moist room to start the seeds.

Because the light comes from one side the little seeds quickly grow towards the light so I end up having to turn them every other day or so. Otherwise they grow to be lop sided

Sweet Pea Seeds Growing

When to move the seeds on

Once my seed babies have all germinated I move them onto a less ideal home. They have had a soft gentle slow start to life in my warm utility room. But now it is time to move them.

I move my trays of germinated seeds to one of two places:

1. My unheated conservatory

2. Outside

Where they go depends largely on the type of seed I am dealing with.

Delicate Seeds

Anything that isn’t fully hardy needs to stay inside at this time of year. In January we will get frosts at night and will continue to get frosts for many weeks so any plantlet that is delicate CANNOT go outside yet.

So why do I put them into my unheated conservatory, you ask. Surely that’s not so toasty for them either?!?

It isn’t and that’s why it is perfect.

The colder (but not freezing) conditions tell my little plant-lets that it is not time to start really growing yet. It tells them to focus on growing their roots.

This is how you avoid leggy seedlings!

Seeds in the Conservatory

Less Delicate Seeds

There are some seeds you can treat pretty mean and they will reward you:

Hardy Annuals - in my case Sweet Peas.

They really benefit from cold after they have germinated so don’t be afraid to put them outside. You should protect them from severe frost and heavy downpours but mostly you can leave them outside to get cold and grow strong.

By being exposed to cold they will develop good, healthy strong roots so that by the time they flower in summer they will give you many more flowers!

Sweet Peas are hardy so benefit from some winter cold

The One Seed to Grow Now

Cobea Scandens

You just have to grow this plant!

You absolutely have to, trust me!

You will not regret it, I promise you!

So why do you HAVE TO GROW this plant?

The main thing it does brilliantly is cover your vertical space quickly and beautifully.

I germinated the seed in January 2023

I planted them out in May when I was pretty sure we were past our last frost date (although technically the last frost date is the end of May here in Edinburgh).

The little plant completely covered my trellis in a few weeks and then produced the most gorgeous purple flowers from August until the middle of November!

My Cobea Scandens Journey

What else should you grow?!?

There are so many gorgeous plants to choose from! In this free download you’ll discover my 10 absolute favourites!

My FREE 10 Favourite Plants

These are:

• GORGEOUS blooms that will bring you joy

• flowers that will attract butterflies and bees to your garden

• lovely colours

• MONTHS of bloom

• structure to give your garden interest

GET IT HERE

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Thank you for spending your time with me fellow mum. I know your time is precious.

Anything you want to share with me? email me: elisabeth@joyfulgarden.co.uk

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