Eager to plant out!

The attached picture is about a third of the plants I’ve been growing over the last 4-5 weeks. (Once bits get started they are promoted to window sills around the house!).

I have started cosmos, nigella and cornflowers in batches for pots. I have dahlias doing well but also bulb type things like liatris, gladiolus and echinops that have beginning to sprout too. I’ve also got a range of plug plants that I bought online, echinacea, clematis and salvias.

When can I begin to plant these bits and pieces out? I’m keen to free up space and start more bits and pieces now.
Could I wait a couple more weeks then get all the bulb type ones as well as dahlias out? Or should I just be patient and bide my time for the greater good!?

 

It's still early days @kriss,I 'd wait a while longer

 

Another month minimum Kriss before planting out . As space does become a premium, and you can't move for plants. If you have a sheltered spot outside. You could put the plants all together on a small wooden pallet. And cover with horticultural fleece plus a layer of bubble wrap. Uncover every day and recover at night.

 

Those blowaway cheapy greenhouses are great at this time of the year, you can keep the hardier plants there quite safely. But do bring them in for the first couple of nights, and any time when low temperatures are expected.

I find washing up bowls invaluable for carrying the various pots back and forth. Asda smart price type will do well

Another option is large, clear plastic storage boxes with lids. They'll last for years.

Dahlias probably can't go out at all yet, and I'd be cautious with anything less hardy. Even the hardy ones (Nigella, cornflower and Echinops) will need to get used to the new temperatures.

Yet another option is to build temporary shelving on windowsills, so that you can have a second layer of pots. Not the most elegant solution, but works. If you don't have spare shelves or pieces of wood, the local charity shops might have something useful. Piles of books make sturdy uprights, and some families have allegedly even tasked their offspring to build the supports with Legos for awkwardly shaped windows. (That didn't work very well as Legos are too light and topple over)

Your garden will be a haven when all those plants are out there flowering.

 

Hi @kriss , the Gladiolus and Liatris should be planted direct outside now. The Cornflowers and Nigella should also have been direct sown outside where you want them to flower.

@Marley Farley I''d always believed it to be the May blossom as well.

 

Eek. I thought i was being clever by starting the gladiolus and liatris indoors... as look as I phase them being outside they should be ok though?

 

Kriss, where abouts do you live? If it was me I would plant the bulbs out now, bearing in mind the correct planting depth, they shouldn't freeze now.

 

It's perfectly fine to try to cheat a bit, we all do it with interesting results My Gladioli will be started in pots indoors this weekend, and I plan to sow another round of hardy annuals in the greenhouse in modules as well. It's so much more satisfying to have something to poke out of the soil rather than just sow where things are to flower and then wait for weeks to see even the first seedlings, provided that the birds and cats don't get them first.

Staged cheating seems to work well i.e. sowing the first lot indoors and when planting the youngsters out, sowing the rest of the seeds between the plantlets. This seems to prolong the flowering period nicely.

The important bit is to acclimatise anything grown indoors carefully. A lot of carrying back and forth, and a jungle of washing up bowls on the kitchen floor, but it's worth the trouble and will give you abs of steel, or a bad back.