Some of the prettiest cottage-garden flowers are also the easiest and cheapest to grow: hardy annuals you can scatter straight onto the soil where they are to flower. As the ground begins to warm in early spring, the season for them opens.
What counts as hardy
Hardy annuals shrug off a late frost, so they can be sown outdoors weeks before the tender bedding plants dare appear. Calendula, cornflower, nigella, poppies and larkspur are all reliable, generous performers.
Prepare the ground
The seeds are small and need a fine, firm bed to grow in. A little effort here pays off in even germination.
- Rake the soil to a crumbly, level tilth.
- Remove weeds, stones and big clods.
- Wait for a mild spell and reasonably dry soil.
Sow in drills, not a scatter
It feels natural to broadcast the seed, but sowing in shallow straight drills has a real advantage: when the seedlings come up in neat rows, you can tell your flowers from the weeds, which arrive in a random muddle.
Thin without mercy
Once the seedlings are a few centimetres tall, thin them out to leave the strongest standing at the right spacing. It feels wasteful pulling up healthy plants, but crowded annuals stay weak and flower poorly, while well-spaced ones grow sturdy and bloom for months.