Annual Seed Planning

Baskets of seeds, garden maps, seed catalogs, and planting calendars covered my table today. Planning for Summer planting and ordering seeds are two of my favorite Winter activities! People often ask me what are easy annual flowers to grow in Alaska for cutting. If you have the space and want to get a head start I recommend starting sweet peas, calendula, and zinnias indoors 4-6 weeks before the last frost. All three of these are easy to grow and transplant well after the last frost. Sweet peas are best to start in larger containers with a little compost mixed in with your seed starter mix and calendula and zinnias are best started in a seed starter mix such as coconut fiber in small cell pack size containers.  If you don’t have space to start seeds indoors you can always go for the flowers that can be direct seeded into the ground. My four favorites to direct seed in Alaska are Borage, Chinese forget me knots, Bachelor buttons, and Nasturtiums. If you decide to plant ten plants or 500 it is a good idea to start a notebook and record all of the details. I promise you will thank yourself the next year when you are trying to remember dates and varieties. When it comes to sourcing seeds I usually purchase Johnny’s Seeds, Renee’s Garden Seeds, Seeds of Change Seeds, and Swallowtail Garden Seeds. Renee’s are the beautiful seed packages in my photos!