Seeds!

I'm a novice too and have been using the RHS site as a valuable reference for all things gardening. It's pretty comprehensive. They also sell seeds of all sorts that are guaranteed to be from one of their gardens so should be very good. I'm certainly going to have a go!

Thanks for that - I will take a look.

We can monitor each other's progress!!

I'm not holding my breath... I think I must be too impatient and I really haven't a clue!

Positive thinking needed! My mother told me that seeds and plants of their nature want to grow and we only help or hinder them, you will soon learn....let’s face it a true gardener would say you are always learning. Try the books by Dr Hessayon, they are really helpful without fuss.

I’ll try to give some advice later today, when I have more time. It will be Spring before you’ll start growing any seeds for next summer but there are lots of bulbs in the shops now so you could buy some and plant in containers. They might encourage you as they’re so easy.

As well as buying packets of seeds (which have instructions on the back), you can also gather your own seeds. I had some pansies which flowered beautifully this summer. As the flowers died off, I kept checking and put all the seeds that I found into a paper bag. I planted some of these in a seed tray and put this into a plastic bag. I have just planted some of the small plants out and am hoping they will flower before the really cold weather kicks in. The rest of the seeds that I collected will be planted in spring. If you need pots, you'll easily find some on freecycle.

Hi again Luckygirl - back as promised with a few hints.
First collect some seedtrays - no need to buy, just start to wash and keep some of the plastic containers that come with some foods - eg mushrooms, meat etc. Examples in photo attached (I hope!).

In February/March, watch out for seed displays in shops - some supermarkets (Lidl, Aldi and others) have them as well as the hardware/garden shops. I'd suggest you start with big seeds, like nasturtiums, sunflowers, calendula, marigolds. Other easy ones are "love in a mist" (Nigella), cosmos, cornflowers and snapdragon.

You can read the instructions on the back of seed packet, but even if they say you can plant directly into soil, I always start off in trays as when seedlings come up, you won't know if they're weeds. I've been known to carefully nurture seedlings, only to realise after a while that they're weeds! You can also get flowers earlier when planted indoors to start.

You'll need seed compost - Lidl and Aldi stuff is fine - don't buy till you get your seeds. Then take one of your food trays (a smallish one that will fit inside a bigger, shallow one) and make some holes in the bottom for drainage. Fill it with compost, add some water to make it moist but not sodden, then put seeds on top. Spread them fairly thinly - most seed packets have far too many to plant in a small tray. Sprinkle a thin layer of compost on top, and cover with a transparent plastic tray as a lid. Add a label so you know what's in the tray and put on a bright windowsill.

Depending on the seeds (and temperature), they should start to come up in a few days, or may take a week or 2. When they start to appear, just make sure the compost it still moist. You need to wait till they're an inch or so in height and have some proper leaves - the first ones aren't. Then you can "transplant" into small pots. This means carefully lifting the individual seedling - holding by leaves, not stem. You can use the handle of a teaspoon to loosen the compost around the roots first. Make a hole in the compost in the pot and drop the seedling in - gently firming it down. They should then start to grow into proper plants, but you need to keep them indoors or in your dilapidated summer house till risk of frost has gone (mid/end May) and then plant outside in the ground or containers.

Hope this helps - ended up longer than I intended!

Your summerhouse sounds like it might be the ideal place for overwintering seeds that you can sow now.

Nigella (Love-in-a-Mist), Digitalis (Foxgloves), Lupins and Sweet Peas will get off to a good start and leave you room and time for others in the spring. There are plenty of good instruction videos on YouTube.

Protect the seeds before germination with a sheet of glass or clingfilm. Mice are hungry at this time of the year.

Dwarf dahlias are very easy to grow and germinate quite quickly. A packet of dwarf mixed dahlia seeds will give you many plants, and flowers right up to the first frosts, and then you can dig up the tubers they leave behind, store them over winter and plant them again in the spring.